Relatives of Jesus, with Jesus’ mother Mary, have come to speak with him, but Jesus does not wish to meet with them. Jesus had problems with his family. We may consider some of the ways in which our own families support us, and at other times may hinder us from doing what is right. Jesus’ refusal to meet with his family is clearly expressed in all three of the Synoptic Gospels [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Parable Of The Sower | The Meaning Of Parables | King James Audio Bible KJV
In teaching his parables, Jesus draws on a range of lived experience which would be familiar to his listeners. Often the parables describe work situations, reminding us that we are to root our Christian faith in a life that is useful to others, and that the whole texture of our lives should reflect our love of Jesus [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Holy Women In The Gospels | King James Audio Bible | Jesus And Family
Yesterday, we heard in the Gospel of Jesus’ most merciful response to the woman who came to him begging forgiveness for her sins. Today we learn more about Jesus’ relationships with women. Given the understandings of the time, this Gospel account of the women in Jesus’ life is surprising and also inspiring. Luke’s Gospel has been considered the Gospel of women. In these Bible verses, we find the women who followed Jesus, as disciples, to be accounted as equivalent to the men [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Penitent Woman At Simon The Pharisee’s Feast | Blessings Of Jesus | Forgiveness Of Sin
Jesus has been invited to dinner by Simon the Pharisee, which occasion in itself reminds us of the inclusivity of Jesus’ mission. There it would be customary for the men to recline on low divans, leaning on their left arm with their legs tucked under them, away from the table. It would also be customary for the host to honour his guests with a kiss of greeting, with water for their feet, and with perfumes [ … ]
Parable Of The Wicked Tenants | Parables Of Jesus | Parables Of The Kingdom | Daily Verses Lent | KJV Audio
Jesus offers the parable of the wicked tenants as part of a larger discourse in which he responds, in the Temple, to the challenge of the scribes and the elders of the people concerning his authority. The parable leads the entrenched Jewish authorities to see the truth for themselves and yet still to reject the truth about themselves. Though their lives could have been enlightened by the parable, they refuse conversion and rather seek to arrest Jesus. They have the option to choose good; they choose evil [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Children Sitting In The Marketplace | Wisdom Is Justified Of Her Children | King James Audio Bible KJV
There is such over-flowing of goodness and joy in our response to Jesus. Faced with such overwhelming power of truth, it is paradoxically to be expected that people will object. We may all have felt a certain closing off at times, a rejection of what might be best in favour of what we know and are accustomed to. Too many of the people of Jesus’ time look set to reject him, just because of who he is and what he represents – i.e. the truth and the new and better way – rather than because of all that he says and does. These people seek evil where there is only good [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Son Of The Widow Of Nain Restored To Life | Jesus’ Love | King James Audio Bible | KJV
When he saw the young man who had died, and his mother, Jesus had compassion. Compassion means literally to suffer with. This is what Jesus experienced as he entered Nain: Jesus suffered with the young man who had died and with his mother. Then Jesus touched the bier and he restored the young man to life. Jesus said to the man who was dead: Arise [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Centurion’s Faith | Lord, I Am Not Worthy That You Should Enter Under My Roof | God Is Love | Revealed By Jesus Christ
‘Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea.’ ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.’ With these words, so many of us will seek to rid ourselves of bad thoughts before receiving communion. We have recollected ourselves in silent time to examine our consciences, we have confessed, we have listened to readings from Scripture – and even in that short time following there has been time to sin anew, as also there is heightened awareness of our sins, and too of inherent sinfulness [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Chooses Twelve Apostles | Jesus Healing Many | God Is Love | King James Audio Bible KJV | Gospels
Since beginning his ministry, Jesus has called his first disciples to follow him. Now it is time to choose, from his disciples, the twelve who are to be called Apostles, that is those who are to be most especially sent to preach, on mission, and to found and to lead the Church. There are key, notable stages as Jesus constitutes his Church – the Apostles will be fully confirmed in their mission on the day of Pentecost. This is one such important stage [ … ]
Meditations On The Love Of Jesus Christ | Ministry Of Jesus | Prayer To The Sacred Heart Of Jesus | Faith And Peace Of God
O most loving Sacred Heart of Jesus, as I meditate on your love revealed at the Last Supper, I am humbled by your act of service in washing the feet of your disciples. Help me to have a servant’s heart and to always be ready to serve others. May your words of comfort and assurance be with me always, especially in times of trial. Help me to remember your ultimate sacrifice on the Cross and to love others as you have loved me. Amen [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Heals A Man With A Withered Hand On The Sabbath | Pharisees In Jewish Life And Culture | King James Audio Bible KJV
Today’s Gospel reading continues to centre upon the debates about the Sabbath, in which Jesus and the Pharisees are involved. While the Pharisees watch Jesus, to see how he might violate the Law, Jesus does not shy away from the healing and redemptive opportunity. Indeed, to challenge the Pharisees in this way is in itself a restorative, a salvific, act. Jesus asks us to consider God’s commandments in the knowledge that God is love. Here is an inmost truth of our relationship with God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Son Of Man Is Lord Of The Sabbath | King James Audio Bible KJV | Pray The Gospels
The Sabbath day, Saturday, was established by God in order to allow the Jewish people a special time to worship, and so therefore to fulfil their purpose and the highest good on Earth, which is to worship God. The Law was established through Moses following upon the release from Egypt, during which time of punishment the people had been prevented from worshipping God. Clearly, God wants us to have time to worship. It is sin when people prevent other people from having such time. This is central to our belief as Christians. The Lord’s Day, Sunday, is sacrosanct. It is our best opportunity in a busy and difficult world to give time to God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | A Discussion On Fasting | New Wine In Old Bottles | King James Audio Bible KJV | Pray The Gospels
Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days toward the start of his ministry. This was a time of preparation, while Jesus was tempted by Satan. Matthew’s Gospel account most fully expresses the time of fasting as one in which Jesus declares his assumed humanity to be in accord with his Father’s will, oriented toward God’s saving purpose. Fasting is an aspect of many historical religions. We are asked to fast at particular times, and as we do, in our physical hunger, we may discover a closer relationship with God, even when our fasting can be mentally challenging [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Curing Of Simon Peter’s Mother-in-law | Jesus Casts Out Demons | King James Audio Bible | KJV
When Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, the effect is instant. Not only does the fever leave her immediately, she is able immediately to get up out of bed and to serve Jesus and the other people present. This tells us something of the nature of our own healing, our freeing from sin, by Jesus. We are called and we are enabled to serve. This is our active participation in Christian community. We may recall that the sick were excluded from participation in religious services in Jewish society. Jesus calls the sick home, to be with God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Jesus Preaching In Nazareth | No Prophet Is Accepted In His Own Country | Miracles Of Jesus
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 [ … ]
Parables Of Jesus | Parable Of The Talents | King James Audio Bible KJV | Daily Bible Verses
We are taught to use the great gifts God has given us, not to bury our abilities, to take risks, not to be afraid of your Master, to work the gifts we have received to bear fruit for God and the Kingdom, to open ourselves fully to God in the spirit of the New Law, then the Kingdom will grow and welcome all of us.
In the Parable of the Talents, the gifts each servant receives are not identical [ … ]
Parable Of The Ten Virgins | Wise And Foolish Virgins | Parables Of Jesus | King James Audio Bible KJV | True Faith
It may seem strange to the modern Christian that Christ should have so earnestly told his disciples to remain on high alert for his coming. Jesus does not speak of a repeat Nativity, of his coming once again being in the form of a vulnerable infant, humbled by the obscurity of the place of his birth. Nor does it seem that those of the elect who live to witness his coming might be easily deceived by the false claims of others to be the Messiah. Rather Jesus’ return is to be unmistakeable. He will come in ‘clouds of glory’. This will be an apocalypse. No one knows when this will be, but we feel it is imminent [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Woe Unto You, Scribes And Pharisees, Hypocrites | Ye Are The Children Of Them Which Killed The Prophets | Jesus Christ | Jewish Temple Authorities | King James Audio Bible KJV
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. In their souls, the scribes and the Pharisees are unclean. Ironically, they are in themselves a violation of the laws of purity. In their hearts, the scribes and the Pharisees carry spiritual death [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Woe Unto You, Scribes, Pharisees, Hypocrites | True Cleanliness Of Soul And Ritual Cleanliness | Jesus And The Temple | Jewish Authorities | King James Audio Bible KJV
Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes and the Pharisees continues in today’s Gospel verses. Woe unto you – hypocrites. Jesus’ hard condemnation of the scribes and the Pharisees centres upon hypocrisy as upon clerical abuse. These two evils erode life together within the practice of the scribes and the Pharisees [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Woe Unto You! | Hypocrisy Of The Pharisees | Jesus And Jewish Temple Authorities | Radical Christianity | True Faith | Audio KJV
Today’s Gospel verses continue Jesus’ stinging critique of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Jesus condemns the Pharisees’ conduct, threatening them with punishment – ‘Woe unto you!’ – if they do not repent and mend their ways. Having over the centuries acquired a degree of power in Jerusalem, the Pharisees now abuse that power. Greedy for honour and recognition as they are, their show of great virtue is merely that, a show, while in essence they live in gross discordance with the truth of God [ … ]
Jesus Is Eternal Life | Jesus And The Father | The Disciples’ Reaction | My Words Are Spirit And Life
Jesus does not change his message in order to please people, even when that message proves unpalatable. He has not come to be all things to all men, but instead to tell us the truth. It is up to us, through faith, to hear and to understand and to accept Jesus’ teachings, and to know that our salvation is through him [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses For Lent | Scribes And Pharisees | Hypocrites | Jesus And Temple Judaism | True Faith | Audio KJV
Through the Sermon in the Temple, Jesus’ attack on the Pharisees and the scribes who side with them is clear, hard and definitive. Their way of life is corrupt and vicious. They are blind guides and hypocrites. They will be condemned – ‘Woe to you’ – because they kill the true message of God through their failure of love, mercy, justice, faith. They are serpents who drag the people they preach to down with them [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | The Greatest Commandment | Love Of Jesus Christ Revealed | Audio 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. Jesus’ response to the tests flows from two sources especially: from Jesus’ perfect knowledge of Scripture, and from Jesus’ true identity as God the Son incarnate. Ultimately, Jesus’ knowledge of Scripture, and freedom perfectly to interpret Scripture, flows from his true identity as God the Son [ … ]
Parables Of Jesus | Parable Of The Marriage Feast | King James Audio Bible | KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
In the parable of the marriage feast, Jesus continues to attack the scribes and the Pharisees, the Jewish authorities, who have found themselves threatened by Jesus and who reject him. It is a bold and dangerous message to those who have established power in the Jewish community. Jesus could hardly be telling them more clearly that they have got it wrong, that they were called, by God, long, long ago, and yet they have rejected God’s invitation, that, for all their trappings of piety, they are not with God; they have rejected Him [ … ]
Parables Of Jesus | Parable Of The Workers In The Vineyard | King James Audio Bible | Gospel Faith | KJV
The parable of the workers in the vineyard is addressed especially to the Jewish people, who were called long ago by God to be his people. Now, through the course of the day, new labourers are hired to go into the vineyard. These are the Gentiles, non-Jewish people, who are called now to become part of the new people of God [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | A Camel Through The Eye Of A Needle | With God All Things Are Possible | Jesus And The Rich Young Man | Christian Faith | Salvation | Audio KJV
Peter says to Jesus, in effect: ‘Look, we have left everything, and we’ve followed you. So what do we get in return? Where is the return on our risk, on our investment?’ [ … ]
King James Audio Bible | KJV | A Way Of Poverty? | Jesus And The Rich Young Man | King James Version | Gospels | Psalms
The passage, Matthew 19:16-22, recounts the encounter between Jesus and a wealthy young man who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. In response, Jesus told him to keep the commandments, to which the young man replied that he had done so since his youth. Jesus then told him to sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow him. The young man went away sorrowful because he had great possessions, which he finds himself unable to relinquish [ … ]
Love Revealed By Jesus Christ | Reflections On The Love Revealed Of Jesus | God Is Love | Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
Love is the most fundamental and universal human experience. God is love. God created us through Love. Yet love can be elusive and mysterious. It is a word that encompasses a wide range of meanings, from romantic passion to familial affection, from altruistic service to spiritual devotion. In its essence, love is an expression of our deepest longings for connection, belonging, and fulfilment [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses Easter Season To Pentecost | Friday Week 3 | Jesus Is The Bread Of Heaven | You In Me And I In You, Lord
Jesus once more contrasts the gift of his own body with the manna given to the Israelites to eat during the Exodus, which bread of heaven they ate and yet they still went on to die. Christ is the living bread. He is the bread that has come from heaven. Christ’s origin in heaven is, as John tells us, what sets him apart and enables our redemption. Jesus explains: just as he lives because of the Father, so we live through Christ. We are called to share in his supper and so to have life eternal [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Holy Christian Marriage | What God Hath Joined, Let Not Man Put Asunder | Jesus With Moses | Christian Faith | King James Audio Bible
Jesus tells us that, from the beginning, a man and a woman joined in marriage would become one flesh. There is this complementarity of man and woman in sexual union. Divorce marks a falling away from God’s intentions for men and women in marriage. It is an aberration, a failure of docility before God. Jesus tells us that Moses’ command (see Deuteronomy 24:1) was because of the hardness of people’s hearts in rejecting God’s initial ordering of male and female sexual relations. Indeed, it can be seen as a liberal command, protective of women, in that it required the husband to write out a certificate of divorce, freeing the woman rather than merely excluding and rejecting her. There is no real trap here for Jesus, as the Pharisees tempt him; God’s creation of man and woman to become one flesh in marriage remains truth [ … ]
Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant | Parables Of Jesus | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ | King James Audio Bible
There are people who say: I forgive, but I do not forget. Why? we may ask. Of what use is this? It is as if we were to attach a condition to our forgiveness, saying, in effect, that we forgive up to a point, but that our forgiveness is not total. Our forgiveness comes with a threat: Your crime is noted. We are really saying: we don’t forgive you all [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Fraternal Correction | Your Brother’s Trespass | Church And Christian Community | Heavenly God | Audio KJV | Jesus | Prayer, Trespass, Forgiveness, Judgement
Within the Discourse on the Church, the Discourse of the Community, Jesus speaks of the ways in which we may recall our brothers and sisters to the truth path when perhaps there has been a straying. This is to say, Jesus speaks of fraternal correction, of how Christian communities should work to sanctify others, in such a way that those who have sinned may be most readily and with dignity recalled [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Little Ones And The Kingdom Of Heaven | Lost Sheep Of Israel | Jesus And Children | True Faith And Christian Salvation | Be As A Child | King James Audio KJV
Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel records Jesus’ Discourse on the Church, or Discourse of the Community. This is Jesus’ teachings regarding how his Church is to be administered, how Christian communities are to conduct themselves. Jesus emphasises the humility that is necessary for Christian life, this in response to his disciples’ imperfect attitude, as they seek to know from Jesus who will be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. This attitude, of pride and egotism, is completely contrary to life in Jesus. We are not called to try to be more important than other people, but to give ourselves in a spirit of poverty to a life of service [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Temple Tax | Jesus’ Second Announcement Of His Passion | The Coin In The Fish’s Mouth | A Teaching Miracle | Christian Freedom, Jewish Law | King James Audio Bible KJV
In Matthew’s Gospel, this is Jesus’ second announcement of his Passion. This time, the reaction of the disciples has mellowed. It is less extreme, while they remain very sorry. The disciples begin to recognize the cross as a necessary step on Jesus’ journey. We may think of our own tears mingled with joy as we contemplate Christ’s sacrifice, for example as we give ourselves in prayer, in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We may also note that the sorrow of the disciples follows upon Jesus’ saying that he will be raised again. Our sorrow as we contemplate Jesus’ death includes the resurrection. We may weep for the necessity and the absolute love and self-giving of Jesus’ sacrifice [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Faith To Move Mountains | Jesus Heals The Epileptic Boy | Faith Healing | Exorcising Devils | King James Audio Bible KJV | Belief In God | Pray With Jesus
Jesus’ disciples travel a long journey as they develop and grow in faith in Jesus. Their progress is halting rather than steady. The disciples make mistakes. It will not be until the events following Jesus’ death and resurrection that the disciples will gifted, especially with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, in order to found the Church. We may find we identify with the disciples as we think of any challenges we face in our own faith [ … ]
Daily Bible Verses | Christian Renunciation | Take Up Your Cross, Follow Jesus | Faith’s Reward In Heaven | Christian Love | King James Audio KJV | Love Revealed By Jesus
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 [ … ]
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 [ … ]