12th. April. 2022. Daily Devotion.
Father in heaven, as your people prepare once more to follow the events of Good Friday and Easter, may we be led by your Spirit to deeper insights into your love and saving grace; that we may love you more and serve you better,
for the sake of him who died for us and rose again, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
24 Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24
The grain of wheat of which Jesus speaks today is not just picture language for his own self-sacrifice. We are that grain of wheat as well. The lesson is an urgent one. If we keep ‘ourselves to ourselves’, as the saying goes, we will not be honouring the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, rather we will be saying that it was of no consequence at all.
Human beings, and that includes each of us, have a sense of self-preservation that seems to instinctively kick against Jesus’ teaching of love and service. We build walls that cut us off from our neighbours, and sometimes our families and ‘friends’. Those walls are described as ‘privacy’, ‘dignity’, ‘self-respect’ and a whole host of other negative attributes. Jesus does not call us to live behind higher and higher, stronger and stronger walls. Jesus calls us to step out into the open and take his love and light into the world. The crowds in first century Jerusalem hailed Jesus as the Messiah on Palm Sunday, but in less than a week, in no time at all, they were baying for the same man’s blood. They rejected the notion of allowing the self to die for the good of all.
So, where will we be on Friday? Will we be setting self aside in order that we might share the love of Christ, or will we be demanding his crucifixion? Corby Glen Virtual Church.
True and humble king, hailed by the crowd as Messiah: grant us the faith to know you and love you, that we may be found beside you on the way of the cross, which is the path of glory. Amen.
Intercession
Let us pray that Christ shall be glorified in the Church and in the world.
Grant to your Church the zeal to bring all people to Christ and to make known his saving sacrifice of himself. Give her power to drive out evil and to find her life in his death and resurrection.
Bless all who work to spread the gospel and offer their lives in its service. Guide the seekers after truth, and lead into the right way those who care only for the pleasures of this world and the satisfaction of their own lives.
Make us willing servants of the faith, helping those around us to find their way and be renewed in the power of Christ. By the power of the Cross may all divisions in our community be resolved, and all hurts healed.
Have mercy on all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit. May they hear the divine voice of power and comfort, be relieved from their affliction, and find new life after loss.
We remember those who have died to this world. May they grow into the life of heaven where joy is endless and what has been offered on earth comes to perfect fruition. We pray in the name of Christ, lifted on the Cross for our salvation. Amen.