Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Tuesday after Misericordias Domini

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
Leave a comment

Scripture: St. John 5:18-30 (NKJV)

5:18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Devotion

Honor and subjection seem worlds apart to us today. Yet, the rulers and bosses are to serve the good of those whom they oversee, even while subjects and employees are to work for the benefit of those who have been placed over them.

In the Scriptural pattern of marriage, it is the one who submits herself to her husband that is the honored one in the marriage, while the groom’s position of headship is to be used only to bring her to a most blessed state. He is to weigh her down with glory, to wash away every spot and blemish and wrinkle, so that she stands blameless and perfect in his sight. That is what Christ has done for us as His Bride, the Church—and He has done it not by the Law, but by the Gospel. He makes us clean through faith in His blood and righteousness, presenting us to Himself as glorious based solely on His own merit. It is the freedom and joy this gives that causes our new man to “live under Him in His kingdom and to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.”

Of course, our dear Lord Jesus Himself—true God, equal with the Father!—subjected Himself to the Father and would not do anything but the Father’s will. While His will and the Father’s were one, He still makes this distinction so that we may learn how an equal can be subject and how that role He took to save us does not diminish the need to honor Him, but makes it even more apparent: if we do not honor Him and His work, we cannot claim to honor the Father, as what Jesus does—even healing on the Sabbath—is the Father’s will.

We pray: O Holy Spirit, cause us ever to honor the Father by honoring the Son through faith in Him and His work for us! Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Leave a Comment