Wednesday after Laetare Sunday
Posted on April 2, 2025 by under
Scripture: St. John 6:41-51 (NKJV)
6:41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Devotion
Verses 41-43 reflect Jesus’ proclamation of “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” People do not come to Christ on their own initiative; the Father draws them through the Word and the Holy Spirit. That drawing by Word and Spirit is made tougher by the corrupted world, the devil, and fallen human flesh (especially in the case of those who have known Jesus His entire earthly, incarnate life). They struggle to comprehend Jesus beyond His self-imposed humility as a man, and their limited, sin-fallen temporal experience and senses. Sadly, they do not perceive the spiritual and prophetic realities He clearly embodies and presents, thus failing to know Him as the Messiah, their Lord and Redeemer.
Only those who learn from God through divine revelation come to salvation, and all who faithfully learn from Him are saved. In this text Jesus is calling all to believe what He declares about Himself for their eternal salvation, for none come to the Father except they come through the Son. Jesus calls all to believe that He comes from the Father, and He promises to carry all who believe in Him as their Messiah to the Father in His eternal kingdom.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; 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.
