Thursday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 1, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. John 5:39-47 (NKJV)
5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
41 “I do not receive honor from men. 42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. 44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Devotion
Our Lord here has a strong and solemn warning for those who would read Scripture and not see Him in it. In our reading, the Jews were seeking to kill Him because He had healed a man on the Sabbath; something their tradition said He should not have done. They overlooked the fact that Jesus had done a miracle, which was ordinarily performed by an angel of God stirring the water at the pool of Bethesda. The fact that He could do this with no angel and no water should have given them pause and made them consider that He was more than a mere man.
The great tragedy here is that those who accused Him claimed to do so using Moses’ Law. This meant they thought they understood that Law better than its Author. And yet, the Old Testament Law pointed to Christ, as one of His chief purposes in taking on our flesh was to fulfill that Law on our behalf. Another was to explain what it meant. Rather than be taught by the very Son of God, they sought to kill him.
But our God is merciful and gracious. He does not desire the death of any sinner, but loves us all and desires our salvation. May God the Holy Spirit kindle faith in us to learn, understand, and trust in Him for our salvation, and not to harden our hearts against His kindness and mercy.
Collect: Let Thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of Thy humble servants; and, that they may obtain their petitions, make them to ask such things as shall please Thee; 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.
