Devotion
A Declaration
Frances Taylor
Was Jesus confirming his divinity? Some will say yes and others, I don't know. What I know is that John was writing this long after Jesus death at a time when there were debates going on around this very question. Much of the debate centered on when Jesus became divine, or was he only divine and never really human. By that time, the majority of Christians accepted the doctrine of the Trinity and believed as the Prologue to John's Gospel states, that the Son of God – the Word – existed from all eternity and in the fullness of time, took on flesh through the Virgin Mary and became a man, the man Jesus. This statement of Jesus in this passage was not met well by the Jews as this was considered blasphemy. He was saying he was God and this was going against the commandments. For us, as Christians, the debate really doesn't raise the same questions. But how do we think of Jesus? Do we think that because Mary and Joseph must have told him of his origins, he understood what they meant? After all, Jesus had a human brain as we do. We are told by our baptism, that we are children of God, heirs with Christ of eternal life in heaven. Do we really understand what that means? Something to think about! We will never be able to understand the great mystery of the Trinity or the Incarnation, but we should try to understand how our baptism should make a difference in our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we will never truly understand the mystery of the Trinity. Send the Holy Spirit to us to help us understand what it means to be your child. Amen.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
