Thursday after the Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 21, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 9:51-56 (NKJV)
9:51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.
Devotion
“The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” Satanic influence and man’s corruption lead us into temptation and destruction. The people failed to receive Jesus, so He went to another place. They still had time to repent and believe, and Christ graciously did not call down fire and death on them. James and John wanted to bring destruction to the village, but the Lord rebuked those two disciples instead.
Our Lord Jesus desires that people repent and be saved, but He also shows that judgment, rebuke, and condemnation will happen at their appropriate times. Sinful man does not understand all the appropriate times and contexts, but God teaches the right understanding in His Church. The Church proclaims Law and Gospel, as He has taught us. Discipline and correction are not to be despised, but applied according to the vocations that He has established, as God’s Word teaches in many places. Grace and forgiveness are likewise to be proclaimed, according to His commands, in the right time and application.
Even though Peter, James, and John were sinful men, the Lord taught and corrected them, and still He gave them the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, to also correct and absolve (John 20:22-23). In their rashness, James and John were speaking according to a different spirit, but in the right time our merciful Lord sends them according to His Spirit so they may apply Law and Gospel in the right way.
Prayer: O God, Who has prepared for them that love Thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward Thee, that we, loving Thee above all things, may obtain Thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; 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.
