Jesus invites us to a life of giving. Jesus declares for the Christian an end to egotism, that hoarding of self as of property which can so restrict our lives, distancing us from God and from our fellow human beings, ultimately from perfect happiness. Our happiness is to be found in the service of God, which is also the service of others. As we give our lives away in this sense, as we deny ourselves, so we grow in community as a Christian people [ … ]
Through The Year | The Gospels | Bible Verse Of The Day
Daily Bible Verses | Peter’s Profession Of Faith | Jesus Founds The Church Upon The Rock – Petra | Get Thee Behind Me, Satan | Audio KJV | Keys Of The Kingdom Of Heaven | Christian Faith In God
You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church. This is taken to be the expression by Jesus of Peter’s primacy among the Apostles. Jesus tells Peter that he is to hold the keys of heaven, and so the gift and the power to grant admittance to heaven. Peter is to be the foundation of Christ’s Church [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Canaanite Woman Begs Jesus To Heal Her Daughter | Jesus As Exorcist | Faith Healing With Jesus | Miracles In Christ | King James Audio Bible KJV | Christian Love
Jesus has withdrawn from Galilee, and from the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, to Tyre and Sidon, Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, in what is now Lebanon, there to escape persecution from Herod and the Jewish authorities, and to concentrate on training his apostles [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Walks On Water To His Disciples | Signs And Miracles Of Jesus | Meaning Of The Gospels | The Church | Saint Peter’s Doubt And Faith | King James Audio Bible KJV
Jesus has fed the multitude, the multiplication of loaves and fish prefiguring the Eucharist, through which all share, in community, the body and blood of Christ, becoming one. Now Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him, to cross the Sea of Galilee to the pagan regions on the other side, where the evangelizing mission will continue. There is symbolism here, as the early Christians are called upon by Matthew’s Gospel to make transition from the old observances to the new Law of Jesus’ love. Jesus meanwhile takes time alone to pray [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus’ First Miracle Of The Loaves And Fish | Audio Verses | Christian Faith | Community | Faith And Trust In Jesus | God The Son | King James Audio Bible KJV
The people have gathered to be with Jesus, following Jesus on foot, out of the cities, to be near Jesus and to be healed, in a desert place. It may seem strange to us that the disciples wanted to send the people away! The disciples’ thought is that the people must go and buy themselves food to eat. Jesus knows differently. Jesus tells the disciples themselves to give the people the food they need to eat [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Martyrdom Of John The Baptist | Witness Jesus | Christian Faith | Herod’s Lust And Evil | Herodias | Christian Saints | King James Audio Bible
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 [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | A Prophet In His Own Country | Jesus In Nazareth | Teaching In The Synagogue | Jesus’ Family | Joseph The Carpenter | Christian Communities | King James Audio Bible KJV
When Jesus returns to Nazareth, to his own country, he attends synagogue on the Saturday and teaches there, not as a leader of the synagogue but as a participant in the faith community. Nonetheless, Jesus’ teaching is different from other people’s. Jesus, we have been told, teaches with authority, and not as the scribes (Matthew 7: 29). Jesus does not merely interpret Scripture, according to scholarly tradition; rather, Jesus reworks Scripture, providing for the people a new Torah, which centres upon himself and which we may understand as Jesus himself. In this way, Jesus’ authority matches and exceeds that of Moses. Jesus is a new Moses, and then infinitely more [ … ]
Parables Of Jesus | Parables Of The Hidden Treasure, The Pearl, And The Net | The Kingdom Of Heaven | Saved By Christian Faith
In the parables of the hidden treasure and of the pearl, the man searching the field and the merchant both find a precious treasure which is so far beyond all that they currently possess, such that they sell all they have in order to acquire their jewel [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Explains The Parable Of The Weeds | Meaning Of Parables | God And Satan | King James Audio Bible KJV
Jesus presents to his listeners an ideal of Christian purity, upon which we must act. There is a judgement, and there the sowings of the evil one will be burnt. It is that within us which is with God, with Jesus, which will shine for all eternity [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Christian Faith | Parables Of The Grain Of Mustard Seed And The Leaven | Thy Kingdom Come | King James Audio Bible KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus
Just as Jesus teaches in these parables of that which is small becoming great, through the process of being hidden, in the earth or in the as yet unleavened dough, so Jesus teaches us, as the Gospel Evangelist teaches us, that the parables themselves reveal that which has been hidden, drawing the listener from a particular instance, readily recognizable from everyday life, to an understanding of matters of deep spiritual and cosmic significance [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | A Prophet Is Not Without Honour, But In His Own Country | Jesus Of Nazareth | Jesus’ Family
It is all too common in our time to see a beautiful gift or initiative rejected by those who are set against anything new and good. Imagine a child standing up in the midst of a small community filled with hatred, whatever form that hatred might take, and that child saying that there is an alternative to hatred, called love. That child could possibly be killed for so doing [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Demoniacs In The Country Of The Gergesenes | Jesus’ Power Over Satan | Miracle Prayer Healing
Jesus has crossed the Sea of Galilee, entering into Gentile territory. The King James Version speaks of the country of the Gergesenes, however ‘Gaderenes’ or ‘Gerasenes’ are more usually spoken of in other ancient sources. The two main towns in the area were Gerasa and Gadara. The events reported in these Gospel verses could have happened close to both of the towns [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Law Of The Sabbath | Christian Faith | Truth | Jesus Heals The Withered Hand | Miracle Healing
In these Bible verses, Jesus teaches that the Pharisees have got it all wrong in relation to the Sabbath. While God gave the Sabbath to man as an opportunity to rest and to devote himself to divine worship, the Pharisees have choked the meaning of the Sabbath in a mass of legalese, turning it from being a time of joy into a time of anxiety and empty observance [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Jews Question Jesus’ Authority | Moses And The Law | True Faith | Jesus And John The Baptist
Just a few days earlier, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders have looked for a way to destroy Jesus, but they have not been able to do so because of the many people who have heard Jesus’ teaching and marvelled at it. Now they come to Jesus to try to trap him again [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus | Fear And Wonder | The Road To Jerusalem | Christian Faith And Prayer | The Passion
As Jesus walks ahead of his disciples on the road to Jerusalem, the people who follow Jesus are amazed and afraid. This is the response of the people, not merely to a great teacher or to a nice man, but to God among them. So often in the Bible, the response of a person to God or to one of God’s messengers, the angels, is just this: they are amazed and they are afraid. Mark’s Gospel is telling us here that, on his way to his Passion, his brutal death, Jesus is God become man [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus In The Synagogue In Capernaum | King James Audio Bible Bible
Capernaum was a small city on the crossroad of two important routes, one from Asia Minor, leading to Petra on the south of the Transjordan, the other from the region of the two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, descending toward Egypt. Jesus’ move to Capernaum helped his contact with the people, and so the spreading of the Good News [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Preaches In Nazareth | No Prophet In His Own Country | Faith Healing | Holy Spirit | King James Audio KJV
The three synoptic Gospels tell us of this episode of Jesus’ life, when he returned home to Nazareth and preached in the synagogue there. Luke’s Gospel gives us the text of Isaiah read by Jesus, in which Jesus’ announces his messianic mission – to bring the good news to the poor, to live and to identify with the poor, to heal us and set us at liberty from sin. As Jesus closes the book, he omits the following from Isaiah 61: 2: ‘…and the day of vengeance of our God.’ This is deliberate interruption. Jesus is not come to maintain old enmities. Jesus’ way is peace. It is the people of all the world who are to be blessed in Christ [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Greatest Commandment | Jesus And Pharisees | Jewish Law | Love God | Love Thy Neighbour | King James Audio Bible KJV
In Jerusalem, Jesus teaches in the Temple and is tested by the Sadducees and the Pharisees. These are tests concerning Scripture, concerning the Law, and concerning Jesus’ identity, i.e. concerning Jesus being God the Son [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Prayer | Jesus Was Jewish | The Barren Fig Tree | Faith | Jesus Cleanses The Temple
Mark’s account of the cleansing of the Temple is framed by the episode of Jesus’ encounter with the barren fig tree. In Matthew 21, the two are also proximate. The juxtaposition helps us more fully to understand both the cleansing of the Temple and the cursing of the fig tree [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Transfiguration Of Jesus | Son Of Man | Moses And Elijah | Law And Prophets | Elevated Faith
As they travel on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus throws his disciples into confusion by telling them about the suffering and death he must undergo. The disciples simply do not understand. For centuries, the Jews have awaited the coming of the Messiah, whom they envisaged as a glorious warrior king, not as one who would suffer and die the most ignominious of deaths, on a cross, of all things. A person condemned to die on a cross could not be the Messiah; rather, according to the Old Law, he had to be “cursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23). The disciples cannot see the divine plan for our salvation, while the command for all who would be saved to ‘take up his cross and follow me’ must have seemed both strange and terrifying. To reassure his disciples, Jesus allows them to witness his glorious body through the transfiguration [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus And The Rich Young Man | Give Away Everything You Own And Follow Me | Jewish Law | Eternal Life
The young man of today’s Gospel verses is very rich. He has followed the commandments, and yet he and Jesus both know that he is not yet perfect. In addition to what the young man already knows of the Ten Commandments, there is now the possibility of perfection, which is to follow Jesus, to release oneself from the bondsmanship of earthly possessions – to sell it all, give it all to the poor, and follow Jesus. It is a sad tale. The rich young man goes away unhappy. If this is the condition for finding perfection by following Jesus, he cannot do it [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Sadducees And The Resurrection Of The Dead | I Am The Way, The Truth And The Life | Jesus Faith And Gospel
The Sadducees deny the resurrection, because they are rich and so proclaim the false belief that the Messianic Kingdom has already arrived, their riches being their reward for living according to the Law. In order to challenge Jesus, they present him with a fictional case of a widow passed from brother to brother, according to the Levirate Law, hoping to make the resurrection look ridiculous [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Christian Faith | Render To Cæsar The Things That Are Cæsar’s And To God The Things That Are God’s | Prayer And Jesus | True Faith | Confession
In today’s Bible verses, the confrontation continues between Jesus and the Jewish authorities, who now send Pharisees and Herodians, themselves mutually hostile, to seek to provoke and condemn Jesus [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Dietary And Ritual Purity Laws | What Defiles A Man | Jesus And Jewish Law | Original Sin | Parables
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus continues to teach the people the true meaning of purity. In preceding verses, Jesus has told the scribes they are hypocrites, with a mistaken idea of what truly constitutes prayer, who lead people through their teachings to distorted and false understandings of how to love God and how to do well by other people within the community [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Pharisees | The Law Of The Sabbath | Jesus The New David | Lord Of The Sabbath | Gospel Faith
In today’s Gospel verses, Jesus teaches that the Pharisees have got it all wrong in relation to the Sabbath. While God gave the Sabbath to man as an opportunity to rest and to devote himself to divine worship, the Pharisees have choked the meaning of the Sabbath in a mass of legalese, turning it from being a time of joy into a time of anxiety and empty observance [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Behold The Lamb Of God | Come and See! | Disciples Witness Jesus | Christian Vocation
‘Behold the Lamb of God.’ Throughout the Bible, we are called to know and to develop our relationship with the Lamb. It is in Genesis the Lamb is first mentioned, provided by God as a sacrifice to take the place of Isaac. Through the history of Jewish ritual, a lamb is offered in sacrifice, for expiation, reparation, sanctification. The prophets speak of a meek, tame lamb, sheared without opening its mouth. In the Book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, the full meaning of the Lamb will be revealed, as the king, the Spouse, the lamp, the temple, the place of our eternal dwelling. The Lamb spans all history. And John the Baptist has already, in John’s Gospel, recognised and declared Christ as the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Christ The King | Parable Of The Wise And Foolish Virgins
Christ prepares to be crucified. This may seem very strange as we look forward to Advent, and these really are the events of Holy Week. And yet this declaration of Christ’s coming again can be seen as a wonderful culmination of the Church year. Christ’s promise of resurrection and eternal life marks the summit of Christian faith. The declaration of Christ the King, our knowledge Christ is King, is a wonderful thought to carry through the coming weeks of Advent as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Sign Of Jonah | Circumcision Of The Heart | The Evil Generation Seek A Sign
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.’ [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Ritual Cleansing | The Tradition of the Elders | What Defiles a Man
The purification rituals of the Jews were originally laid down, in Exodus, for the priests to perform before they offered sacrifices to God. These rules were then later extended to all Jews, to be performed before every meal. This was as there developed a greater and greater call for all Jews to be a priestly people, particularly in the light of national set-backs, which were ascribed to infidelities to God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Woe Unto You, Scribes And Pharisees, Hypocrites | Ye Are The Children Of Them Which Killed The Prophets
Jesus’ critique of the scribes and the Pharisees continues in today’s Gospel verses. The accusation is constant: they are hypocrites. The imagery in part remains constant: these hypocrites put on outward shows of purity, and yet their hearts are corrupt and their behaviour is corrupt. This imagery now develops. Woe unto you! For you are as painted tombs, all white and purportedly pure and true on the outside, while within the dead flesh rots […]