Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Thursday after Cantate

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. John 9:1-13 (NKJV)

9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam ” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?” 9 Some said, “This is he. ”

Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.”

13 They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees.

Devotion

How often the clear words of God and the obvious works of His hand are rejected by those who refuse to hear and see, though they have ears and eyes. How often our fallen preconceived notions cause us to misinterpret the things of this life, as well as the things of God. The disciples see the crushing judgment of the Law falling upon man, but Jesus sees the abundant grace of God overflowing upon man.

Without grace and faith in Jesus Christ it is impossible to see or hear the wonderful works of God rightly, as is demonstrated in our text by those who know the man born blind who now sees. They cannot bring themselves to believe that it is the same person. Christians today confess the reality of Christ’s ministry in their lives through word and deed, to which the unbelieving world says, “Where is He?” Through faith we rejoice in the miraculous Means of Grace, to which the unbeliever says, “Where is the miracle?” But the Lord continues to pour out His grace and call sinners to repent and believe, and mercifully enables them to do so by His Word and Spirit!

We pray: Almighty God, all that we possess is from Your loving hand. Give us grace that we may always see this, and thus live our lives ruled by Your mercy; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy 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.

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