King James Audio Bible | KJV | The King James Version

The crowds gather to see and to hear Jesus. Among them, as Matthew relates in his Gospel (Matthew 12: 38-42), are the scribes and Pharisees, who ask for a sign from Jesus to prove his divinity. Jesus refuses to confirm his preaching with dramatic signs. It is his teaching Jesus wishes the people to hear. Through seeking to taunt Jesus, and through their unbelief, the scribes and the Pharisees express the hardness of their hearts. Christ is present to them and they refuse to see. Christ is speaking to them and they refuse to hear. Through the Gospel, we have witnessed Christ’s miracles. And we are called to hear his word. ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.’ [ … ]

The parables which comprise the eschatological discourse – following the Sermon in the Temple and, on the Mount of Olives, to Christ’s disciples privately – are completed with Christ’s announcement of a rigorous last judgement. The structure of time will be complete. Those who have been true to Christ and his teaching will be admitted to glory. Those who have failed, who have remained in sin, will be forever excluded. There will be justice. Just as we will have implicitly judged ourselves, so Christ will judge [ … ]

This is the Passion and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. For us all, this is a tremendously saddening and painful part of our Easter journey, as, in a sense, we die again with Jesus to be reborn on Easter Sunday. The church is dark. There is an emptiness to the building as Jesus rests. Through this time, we acknowledge our need for Jesus and pray that he may come again to be with us [ … ]

John speaks of the Last Supper in a different way from the Synoptic Gospels. He omits, for example, the institution of the Eucharist, because the other Gospels and Paul have already spoken of this in their accounts of the Last Supper. Through chapters thirteen to seventeen, John gives an extensive account of Jesus’ teaching at the Last Supper, in which Jesus builds on his teachings so far and leads his disciples to a greater understanding of the love that they must share and of the way ahead [ … ]

The Archangel Gabriel is prominently featured in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Gabriel’s first appearance is in the Gospel of Luke, where he appears to Zechariah to announce the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Zechariah questions the angel, and Gabriel responds with the famous words, ‘And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.’ (Luke 1:19) [ … ]

Today’s Gospel verses provide great insight into the political constitution of Jesus’ homeland during the lifetime of Jesus. Herod the tetrarch, Herod Antipas, is in charge, a client of the Roman Empire and son of Herod the Great. He governed Galilee and Perea. He was married, according to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, to a daughter of an Arabian king, but lived in concubinage with Herodias, his brother’s wife [ … ]