Commemoration of the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Tone 4; The Holy Prophet Hosea (8th c. BC); the Venerable-Martyr Andrew of Crete (767)
Hebrews 13:7-16; John 17:1-13
Read John 17:1-13
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
For I gave them the words You gave me and they accepted them. (John 17:8)
The words that Jesus spoke on earth and that are recorded in the Gospels are words that Jesus heard His Father saying to Him. One could say that Jesus’ words are quotations from the Father. It places the obedience of Jesus at a whole new level. In another place, Jesus said that He only says what the Father tells Him to say.
Sometimes Jesus says words about Himself which are true but that sound like self-aggrandizement, for example when Jesus says: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” But if we remember that Jesus would only say the words that his Father would give Him to say, then these words would be words that the Father wishes the world to hear about His Son. So Jesus obeys His Father in everything.
We must imitate Jesus and listen to the words the Father gave Jesus (by reading the Gospels) but also the words that the Father gives us today.