Ember Wednesday of Whitsun Week
Posted on June 8, 2022 by under
Scripture: Acts 8:14-17 (NKJV)
8:14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Devotion
As Jesus had foretold, the apostles proclaim Him in Jerusalem and all Judea, then to Samaria and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Peter and John were sent to bring the believers in Samaria the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. By this, the Church there was assured they had full authority to proclaim Jesus as the Christ.
They had already been “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That phrase doesn’t mean that only Jesus’ name was used in the Baptism, but that they were baptized in connection with God’s revelation in Him—baptized the way He commanded (Matt. 28:19) and as the means of connecting them with His salvation. The apostles didn’t need to baptize them or proclaim the Holy Spirit to them, but simply laid hands on them to commission them to dispense Christ’s forgiveness.
By the visitation of these most prominent disciples, those who had been despised by the leaders of the Jewish nation would see that in the redemption won by Christ, the Samaritans were no longer outcasts, but were as much His Church as those in Jerusalem. With such assurance given there, the same Word comes to the Gentile world, where the faithful Church is all one in Christ (Acts 15:6–29, Ephesians 2:11–18, Galatians 3:26–29, Romans 11:16–24). We express our unity with Christ’s Church in other lands by remembering our partners in Columbia, Peru, and the Philippines in prayer and offerings this and every Ember Week.
Prayer: O God, Who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people by sending to them the light of Thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Ember Wednesday in Pentecost
O Lord, may the Comforter, who proceedeth from Thee, enlighten our minds, we beseech Thee, and guide us into all truth, even as Thy Son hath promised, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
