The Monday after Judica (Passion) Sunday
Posted on April 7, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. John 13:31-35 (NKJV)
13:31 So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Devotion
Jesus is glorified in the departure of Judas to betray Him! All He has said and done is coming to the completion that glorifies His Father, even above His obedience to the Commandments. He will make that active obedience to the will of God applicable to all of us by paying our debt with His suffering and death—His passive obedience to God’s will.
As Jesus says, “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do’” (Luke 17:10). His active obedience couldn’t stand in place of our disobedient lives to save us, but must be accompanied by this additional work: passively suffering all we deserved for our sin. Rather than seeking to balance our disobedience with His obedience, He suffers and dies so that His obedience doesn’t merely make things level out, but is a mountain of righteousness that can be credited to each of us through faith.
We are to pray the Third Petition of the ‘Our Father’ with a Christlike mind. That is, we pray not simply that we may do God’s will, but that the will of His enemies—including our own flesh!—may be thwarted and that He would “enable us to bear with patience and to overcome all that must be endured, so that our miserable flesh may not through weakness or sloth yield or turn back” (Large Catechism; Henkel translation).
Collect: We beseech Thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon Thy people, that by Thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; 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 Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
