Wednesday after the Eighth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 2, 2023 by under
Scripture: St. John 5:30-38 (NKJV)
5:30 “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.
31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
36 “But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
37 “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.”
Devotion
Jesus understood His role and His work as God Incarnate. He came into the world to be the perfect Man of God. He humbled Himself to be subservient to the Father as a true and living man. “I can of Myself do nothing.” He lived in this world being fully cognizant of His dependence on His Father. Anything less—that is, if Jesus were to turn stones into bread in order to fill His stomach—He would have abrogated His duty to His Father.
The Trinity Season focuses on the work of Christ in and through His Church. It is important for us as Christians to be fully cognizant of our dependence on Christ! “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus can “do nothing” without the Father, and we can do nothing without Him.
We also know full well that, as Christians living in a sinful world, we can and do grow tired as we face the onslaught of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. But Jesus gives us the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost beckons us with the Words of Jesus, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Prayer: Grant to us, Lord, we beseech Thee, the Spirit to think and do always such things as are right; that we, who cannot do anything that is good without Thee, may by Thee be enabled to live according to Thy will; 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.
