Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Thursday within the Octave of the Feast of the Holy Trinity

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. John 15:18-26 (NKJV)
 
15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
 
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
 
Devotion
 
Jesus Christ fulfills the message given to Isaiah in yesterday’s reading. Our Lord spoke to the Jews and their leaders, and they hated Him. He did the divine works of His Father, and they rejected Him. They have no excuse because the Word of God Almighty came to them and they continued to be blind, deaf, dull, and self-willed. They hated Jesus without cause, simply because He exposed the vanity of their corrupt ways.
 
However, Jesus does not want these people to die in their sins, just as the Lord did not want the people of Isaiah’s time to remain in their unrighteous resistance. God is gracious, and the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are all focused on bringing people to righteousness! He did not want the hearers of Isaiah to stay unfaithful, but He also did not want them to think that they would be healed by their own powers. Only He can purge unclean hearts and lips. Likewise, Jesus did not want the Jews and their leaders to remain in their hatred toward the Father, but He also did not want them to think their own illusions of glory and good works make them righteous with God. It is only the free gift of His Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father and the Son to testify that we are only righteous and forgiven on account of Jesus Christ crucified!
 
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, who hast given unto us, Thy servants, grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity, we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst keep us steadfast in this faith and evermore defend us from all adversities. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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