Stress Test Devotional April 28
April 28, 2024
LUKE 12:49-50 CONTINUED
“I have come to bring fire on the earth and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed.”
Yesterday’s interpretation makes sense of the very personal insight given into the mind of Christ in these verses. Notice the combination of impatience and distress. He is impatient to undergo the coming trials which are hard to contemplate and anticipate; it is a burden looming. But he is also distressed because his coming death results from Israel’s fateful choice—rejecting a Messiah of peace and choosing the way of rebellion and nationalism that would bring Roman reprisals and much suffering.
PRAYER
Gracious Lord, what a burden you carried—knowing the cross was coming. How wonderful that despite that burden you paid attention to each individual that you met, with their personal needs and questions. You continued to shepherd your flock of disciples, to lead them and cultivate their development. You managed to live fully in the present, though the future loomed. Thank you. Amen.
