Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Thursday after the Sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Matthew 21:28-32 (NKJV)
 
21:28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”
 
They said to Him, “The first.”
 
Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.
 
Devotion
 
In 2 Samuel 12 the prophet Nathan told King David a story so that unknowingly David made a judgment against his own sinful actions. Here, Jesus tells a story about two sons in which the Jewish leaders unknowingly condemn their own lack of repentance and faith.
 
The Jewish leaders were right that the tax collectors and sinners needed repentance. Jesus acknowledges that the tax collectors and harlots had disobeyed the Law of God and sold out their Jewish birthright for covetous desires. However, when John the Baptist came preaching and calling sinners to repentance, those types of sinners repented and trusted in a baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But these Jewish leaders were wrong in that they claimed they needed no repentance. Jesus tells them that they had rejected John’s way of righteousness—which is through repentance and faith in the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
 
It is no great trick to be able to expose the faults and sin in our neighbor’s life, because no one is righteous; no, not one. However, we need grace to learn the way of righteousness for ourselves. We ask God to lead us to repentance for our own sin, and lead us to faith in our Savior.
 
Prayer: O God, who hast 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.

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