When we are offended or injured, Jesus teaches us not to demand pay-back, an eye for our eye, a tooth for our tooth, but rather to forgive, and where there was hatred, to bring instead to the situation the opposite of hatred, which is love [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Gospel Of Saint Matthew
Daily Bible Verses | Jewish Law | Sermon On The Mount | Jesus Was Jewish | Transformation | Christian Faith And Prayer | Swear Not At All
In Jesus’ time, the swearing of oaths was common, and the casuistry surrounding such oaths was intricate. There were what we would now term loopholes – ‘perfectly’ legal ways of doing wrong. The letter of the Law, rather than the spirit, had proliferated – the whole of the Sermon on the Mount concerns this subject – and thereby our knowledge of the will of God had been deliberately obscured [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Sermon On The Mount | Adultery, Fornication And Divorce | Sin | Miracle Healing | Inward Purity | Purity Of Thought
Through these verses of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus directs us to consider and take to heart not the outward show of the Law, the behaviour which other people can see, but rather the inward spirit – our thoughts, our mind, the invisible part of ourselves, which is visible to ourselves and to God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Jesus’ Teaching | The Fullness Of The Law | Peace And Love In Christian Community | Audio KJV
As we progress through Lent, we listen to Christ’s teaching of the limitations of the Old Law and the complete fulfilment, transcendence and renewal of the Law which Christ, through his life, death and resurrection, gave to us. As St Paul will teach: through the Law, there can be no salvation; salvation is for us through Christ alone [ … ]
Ash Wednesday | Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Giving, Prayer And Penance | Christian Faith | King James Audio Bible | KJV
In these Bible verses, from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives to his people instruction regarding the three traditional works of mercy of the Jews, namely almsgiving, prayer and fasting. A key message is that, when we pray, when we fast and when we give charity, this is not supposed to be because we wish to be seen as pious by other people. Jesus satirizes those hypocrites who wish to be glorified by other people for their fasting, their giving of alms and their prayers. They sound a trumpet in the streets and strike extravagant attitudes in the synagogues. They visibly mortify their bodies and pull dismal expressions. Jesus portrays such hypocrites as ridiculous. Their piety is not to do with their love of God; it is to do with their wish to be seen as ‘pious’ by their fellow man. And such will be their reward [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Fullness Of The Law | Jesus And The Ten Commandments | Jewish Scripture | Audio KJV
It is the Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord has presented the crowd with the Beatitudes. We have been taught to know the gateway to heaven. These are the great Christian truths to which we aspire [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Sermon On The Mount | Salt Of The Earth, Light Of The World | Christian Prayer | Faith | Neighbours In Christ
This is an extraordinary scene. Many, many people are gathered with Jesus to hear his teaching, which is the Sermon on the Mount. The people will not all be friends; there will be different, sectarian groups, and rivalries between them. Some of those gathered to listen to Jesus will be suspicious of others. Nor can the people yet understand what is happening here, just who and what Jesus is. The people have flocked to – see someone, hear someone, someone new and extraordinary, someone perhaps who can answer their needs. Their coming to Jesus is an expression of hope and longing. Who knows what thoughts there must have been as people looked around to see all those others gathered. This is a vast company of strangers [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Sermon On The Mount | Beatitudes | King James Audio Bible | KJV
The Beatitudes form our gateway to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the great five discourses which are recounted in Matthew’s Gospel, and a beautiful invitation to be with Jesus, a programme by which we may live a Christian life. Moses ascended a mountain to be with God and to bring the Law back to the people. Now Jesus ascends this mountain and draws the people with him, both his disciples and the multitude, and here he reforms and brings new life to the Law, teaching with authority as only he can [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses Easter/Pentecost | Monday Week 1 | Jesus Meets Mary and Mary | Chief Priests Bribe The Soldiers To Lie
In Matthew’s Gospel, the truth of Christ’s victory over death is told in an apocalyptic language, laden with symbolic meaning. There is a great earthquake, the angel descends from heaven to roll back the stone of Christ’s tomb, his appearance like lightning, his clothing white as snow. The guards are terrified, becoming like dead men, and the angel announces to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, mother of James, that Christ is risen, that they must go and share the good news with Jesus’ disciples [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses Advent & Christmas | Epiphany Of The Lord | 3 Kings | Three Wise Men | King James Audio Bible KJV
The Epiphany is an extraordinary event in the Bible, whereby we hear of the gift and revelation of Christ to all mankind. The three wise men have long studied the heavens; they have been looking for signs, for truths to guide them. They are of the east, of the orient, not of the Jewish people. They have seen the new star that is there to signify Christ and have come on pilgrimage to seek, to find and to worship Jesus [ … ]
Parable Of The Two Sons | Parables Of Jesus | King James Audio Bible KJV | Daily Verses | Advent
The parable of the two sons is clearly, and explicitly, an attack by Jesus upon the chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people. In the parable, Jesus places before the Jewish authorities an astonishingly blunt analogy of their rejection of God the Father and of Jesus. There is no room for quibbling or intellectual sophistry here: one son does what his father wants; the other says he will and then doesn’t [ … ]
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 [ … ]
Parables Of The Hidden Treasure, The Pearl, And The Net | King James Audio Bible | KJV | Love Revealed
The three parables follow one upon another, and they are addressed in Matthew’s Gospel to the disciples, rather than to the crowds. The parables of the hidden treasure and of the pearl clearly develop upon the same theme, and then the parable of the net follows and expands upon their meaning, magnifying it, while also relating to the disciples’ apostolic mission. We are taught through each parable of the supreme value of the gift of grace and of the Kingdom, and also of judgement, the rightful valuing of our gifts such that we live in accordance with God’s will [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Faith And Trust In God | Jesus Calming Of The Storm | Scriptures
The miracle of the calming of the storm made a powerful impression on Jesus’ disciples. It is recounted by all three synoptic Gospels. In each Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples of the troubles to come. Jesus tells his disciples that to be Christians is going to be difficult, hard work, at times fatal [ … ]
Preparations For The Last Supper | Judas’ Treachery Announced
In these Bible verses, Matthew recounts the betrayal by Judas in a slightly different way from yesterday’s reading from the Gospel of John. Firstly, we see Judas go to the chief priests to see what they will give him to betray his Lord. This is calculating treachery, the love of money putting such evil into Judas’ heart as will outweigh all love and all obligation. Through Judas, we see the absolute evil to which greed and the love of money can drive a person [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | The Mother Of The Sons Of Zebedee | You Will Drink My Cup | Jesus Journeys To Jerusalem
As the disciples accompany Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, so we are asked to unite ourselves to Jesus in his passion and death, so that we may share in his resurrection and accompany Jesus in his glory as Holy Week culminates in Easter [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Effectiveness Of Prayer | The Golden Rule | Christian Faith And Charity | Audio KJV | Love In Jesus
Our prayer must be true to God. It is natural to petition God for what we need. It would indeed be arrogant to ‘go it alone’ and not humbly to share with God our needs and to ask Him for help, as if He were not our Father and we His children and creation. We are called by Jesus to acknowledge that all we have, we have through God. And we are called to develop our conversation with God through a life of prayer [ … ]
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 Advent & Christmas | Virginal Conception Of Jesus | Emmanuel | God Is With Us
According to Jewish law, couples became engaged around one year prior to marriage, and this engagement was most solemn and binding – an act of divorce would be needed to break the relationship. It is during this period that Mary is found to be with child of the Holy Ghost. She has done nothing wrong, she is a virgin, Christ’s conception is miraculous, but on the surface of things this was a terrible state of affairs, for Mary and Joseph also [ … ]
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 | 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 […]