Daily Devotion for April 25 - Luke 24:25 - 26

Verse
Luke 24:25-26 (ESV)
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

Meditation
In this moment, Jesus rebukes the disciples for their slowness to understand the necessity of His suffering. They had been hoping for a Messiah who would immediately deliver them from earthly oppression, yet the Scriptures foretold a different path. Jesus, in His grace, opens their eyes to the truth that the Christ had to suffer before entering into His glory. His death was not a defeat but a necessary part of God’s plan for salvation. We, too, may struggle with the idea that suffering can be part of God's plan for us. Yet, in the cross of Christ, we find our hope, for through His suffering, He has won our victory. It is through the suffering of Christ that we enter into the joy of His resurrection and glory.

Old Testament
Isaiah 53:3 (ESV)
“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Collect
O Lord Jesus Christ, You who suffered and died to bring us to glory, open our hearts to understand the necessity of Your sacrifice. Help us to see in Your suffering the fulfillment of God’s plan for our salvation, that we may rejoice in the glory to come. Through You who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Hymn Verse
Jesus lives! The vict'ry's won!
Death no longer can appall me;
Jesus lives! Death's reign is done!
From the grave Christ will recall me.
Brighter scenes will then commence;
This shall be my confidence.
— Jesus Lives! The Vict'ry's Won – LSB 490:1