Christian Art | King James Audio Bible KJV | Christ’s Hymn Of Joy | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
Luke 10: 21-24 | Advent Tuesday Week 1 | King James Audio Bible KJV
21 ¶ In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
23 ¶ And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Jesus, as he journeys to Jerusalem, has dispatched seventy disciples to go on ahead to preach and heal. The seventy have returned with wonderful news, that Christ’s name is power over demons, and, we sense, that the Gospel is preached and received; the harvest is truly plentiful.
This is, then, a great evangelizing moment, even as people are still confused, many preferring to focus on the miracles only rather than on the life everlasting which is to be in heaven, and even while there is disbelief. Still, there is so much belief swelling in the land, so prompting Christ’s hymn of joy.
Jesus rejoices that, while the so-called wise and educated have failed to see the truth of his teaching, such that salvation remains hidden from them, the truth has been revealed to babes – The humble people understand and accept the word of God in ways the wise scholars cannot. We are reminded that we are to become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18: 3) This does not imply a regression to weakness, softness, and infantilism; rather a relinquishing of pride, conceit, worldly knowledge and standing, and claims to spiritual self-sufficiency. It is the recognition that we absolutely need God’s grace.
Jesus now announces himself as the Son of God, in such close relationship with the Father, consubstantial with the Father, and able also to reveal God the Father to us. Jesus rejoices in the custodial role that the Father has given him. This is the fulfilment of history the prophets longed for.
‘He who enriches others becomes poor. He took to himself the poverty of my flesh so that I might obtain the riches of his godhead. He who is full empties himself. He emptied himself of his godhead for a brief time so that I might share in his fullness… It was necessary that holiness be conferred on man through the humanity of God took to himself. In this way, conquering the tyrant by force, he freed us and led us back to himself through his Son, the mediator. The Son brought this about to the honour of the Father to whom, in all things, he is seen to defer.’ St Gregory Nazianzen
King James Audio Bible | Endnotes
Luke 10:21-24, often referred to as the ‘Hymn of Joy’, is a powerful passage that highlights the importance of joy and gratitude in our lives as followers of Christ. Pope Francis and Pope Benedict XVI have both spoken about the significance of this passage and its impact on our spiritual journeys.
Pope Francis has emphasized the idea that true joy comes from within, and is not dependent on external circumstances. He states, ‘Joy is a gift from God, and it is the fruit of our relationship with Him. When we are connected to Jesus, we are filled with a deep sense of peace and contentment, even in the midst of trials and difficulties.’
Pope Benedict XVI also reflects on the importance of joy in our lives as Christians, saying, ‘Joy is not just an emotion or a feeling, but it is a state of being that is rooted in our relationship with God. It is a sign of our connection to the divine, and it is a powerful witness to the world.’
Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit and gives thanks to God for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to the lowly, rather than the wise and powerful. This passage teaches us that true joy is found in humility and in recognizing the blessings that God has given us.
Pope Francis emphasizes this message, stating: ‘Joy is not something that we can manufacture or attain on our own. It is a gift from God, and it is only by embracing His love and surrendering ourselves to Him that we can experience true joy.’
Pope Benedict XVI similarly notes: ‘The Hymn of Joy in Luke 10:21-24 reminds us that our joy is rooted in our relationship with God and our recognition of His love for us. When we are focused on God, we are able to find joy in all circumstances, and we are able to share that joy with others.’
The disciples who encountered Jesus on their way to Emmaus have returned in haste to tell the disciples in Jerusalem what they have heard and seen. Jerusalem has long been a city special to God. It is the Holy City. The Church of Christ is described, in the New Testament, as the Jerusalem above, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the new Jerusalem [ … ]
The Jewish authorities have begun to take note of Jesus. While Jesus has attracted the people, now ‘the Jews’, a term which in John’s Gospel is often used to refer to the Jewish authorities, are beginning to murmur against him. Jesus’ relationship with the Jews is to become increasingly tense [ … ]
On Tuesday, His Grace turns to the theme of Jesus’ hidden years. His Grace asks the students to consider questions concerning what really happened: ‘Who, for instance, was Joseph? Was he indeed a carpenter, or has Joseph’s true role in the society in which he lived been misconstrued and forgotten to us? Though it be a beautiful, simplifying image to grasp, which offers to us much that is of value in Catholic faith… ‘A wise elder, which carpenter could mean, or a great engineer, an architekton, which in the Greek does not mean carpenter. But carpenter in the Hebrew could mean a wise man…’ His Grace turns the pages of his Bible back and forth, as if to itemize the paucity of information. Then he says: ‘What I think I can say to you with confidence is that it is of profound significance that we simply don’t know what Jesus was doing for most of his earthly life. There are some very different possibilities. One idea cherished by the Church is that Jesus worked with his father Joseph as a carpenter. Another possibility is that Jesus lived and prayed and studied closely with John the Baptist. They were cousins, and very close, almost the same, in age. Luke’s Gospel tells us clearly that Jesus and John knew each other from within the womb before they were born. So there may have been something quite important happening there. You see, we don’t know – it is an impossible mystery to us – just how much Jesus had to learn. This is because, if Jesus knew everything, humanly speaking, even as a tiny baby, then how can we say he is fully human? We simply can’t probe too far into this mystery, but we can draw extraordinary truth and healing from this thought, which becomes of immense relevance in our own lives. Jesus came to know and to understand himself not merely as a son of God, but as God the Son, and so as self-identical with his Father. It is not an adoptive relationship. Jesus is God. Now so much is hidden here. But this is a great gift. If you think about it, how do we come to know that we are loved by God, that we have our relationship with God? What are we born with in here’ – his chest – ‘and what do we have to learn? This is to say, what is gifted to us by other Christians at our baptism? ‘Jesus must have studied, and experienced profound revelation about who and what he truly was, and, so it seems to be, these studies cannot have been confined to the Semitic world. But this is the important point: there is a hiddenness about all of this. No matter which schools and which sects our Lord might have encountered all these years, this to us is as a desert space. What this means is that we can enter into the hidden life of Jesus, and there we can discover our own being with God, our own sonship. Our own particular being loved by God can come to us, if we can enter within this great unknown – into this desert space, where we are loved by Jesus. I firmly believe that there may be a great Lenten mystery in this period of our Lord’s life.’ A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 1 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 2 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 3 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 4 | King James Audio Bible | KJV A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 5 A Bishop’s Lenten Homily | Holy Week | Extracted From The Gospel According To Tomàs | Faith And Hope And Love And Sexuality | Part 6
