Thursday after the Tenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 25, 2022 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 23:34-39 (NKJV)
23:34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Devotion
Sometimes the ways of unrepentant sinners are clear and obvious. If they try to harm or kill those who teach righteousness, that is obvious. But there are others who break the Fifth Commandment, as well as other Commandments, in more subtle ways, and they are just as troubled as those who are openly wicked. Sinners might not seek to murder one who offends their self-security, but they often hate the messengers in a way that ignores Christ’s sermon in Matthew 5:21-22. 1 John 3:15 also states it clearly: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
In either case, our Lord is not just brow-beating these sinners. He rebukes them so they might be saved from murdering themselves with eternal death! If they resist the Word and Spirit of God that brings repentance and faith, and they persist in their self-willed animosity toward righteousness, they are in serious peril of losing all chances for repentance and forgiveness.
Christ calls us to faithful thoughts, words, and deeds because all sin is dangerous. And it is far too easy to despise correction and ignore our own stumbling. Our Lord desires to have all repent and be saved, but some will resist until it is too late. Thanks be to God that He mercifully sends His Word and Spirit. May He continue to work through us all so that sinners may be saved in Him!
Prayer: O God, Who declarest Thine Almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of Thy grace, that we, running the way of Thy commandments, may obtain Thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of Thy heavenly treasure; 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.
