Devotion for Wednesday of Holy Week
What a great mystery that God sent for this world of sinners His only-begotten Son to suffer, die and rise that all who believe might have true life now and forever! Carl
HOLY WEEK
WEDNESDAY
LESSON: PSALM 19.7-14
They understood none of these things; this saying was hid from them, and they did not grasp what was said. Luke 18.34
[Luther:] What Jesus said to the disciples had no meaning for them at this time. “This saying was hid from them.” This amounts to saying, “Reason, flesh and blood cannot understand or grasp that Scripture should declare how the Son of Man must be crucified”. Still less can it understand that such is His will, and that He does this gladly.
Reason does not believe that this is necessary for us, it wants to take care of itself before God with works. God must reveal this in our hearts by His Spirit, after proclaiming it outwardly into our ears by His Word.
Even those to whom the Spirit reveals it inwardly find it hard to believe this and have to struggle with this.
So great and wonderful a thing it is that the Son of man is crucified willingly and gladly to fulfil the Scriptures, that is, for our good. It is a mystery and remains a mystery. SL.XI.527,4
Prayer: O Lord, we are always in need of the enlightenment of your Holy Spirit through your Word. We thank you that through the Spirit we can understand the treasures of your Word and make them our own. Amen.
[From page 157 of Luther for the Busy Man, translated by Dr. P.D. Paul, Lutheran Publishing House, Adelaide, South Australia, 1974.]
