Christian Art | Daily Bible Verses For Advent | King James Audio Bible KJV
Matthew 11: 28-30 | Daily Bible Verses For Advent | Week 2, Wednesday | King James Audio Bible KJV
28 ¶ Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
We face difficulties in our lives. The crowds who listen to Jesus must have felt cruelly burdened, labouring and seeming to find no true reward. They must have sensed injustice and longed for their Messiah to set them free.
In a spiritual sense, they must have felt weighed down also with the many regulations prescribed by the Pharisees, while all the many religious observances seemed to bring no true spiritual reward, no peace to their souls, no oneness with the will of God.
Christ is come to bring rest to the people, to grant them peace. It is in the Gospels that we find peace, justice, truth – Christ as our comforter, our friend, our spiritual food. If we come to Christ, we find our burdens lightened.
‘Any other burden oppresses and crushes you, but Christ’s actually takes weight off you. Any other burden weighs down, but Christ’s gives you wings. If you take a bird’s wings away, you might seem to be taking weight off it, but the more weight you take off, the more you tie it to the earth. There it is on the ground, and you wanted to relieve it of a weight; give it back the weight of its wings and you will see how it flies.’ St Augustine
Concluding Prayer | Love Revealed By Jesus Christ
At your bidding, Lord,
we are preparing the way for Christ, your Son.
May we not grow faint on our journey
as we wait for his healing presence.
We make our prayer through our Lord.
King James Audio Bible | Endnotes
Jesus of Nazareth lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father. Philippians 2:5-8: ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.’
Nazareth was a small Jewish village in the region of Galilee during the time of Jesus. It was located on the trade route between Egypt and Syria, which brought a mix of cultures and beliefs to the area. However, Nazareth was not an important city – it was hardly a town and was often looked down upon by the residents of Jerusalem and other larger cities.
At the time of Jesus, the population of Nazareth was likely less than 500 people, mostly poor and working class. Many residents were likely involved in agriculture, fishing, or artisanal trades such as blacksmithing and pottery. The synagogue in Nazareth was likely a small building where the local community gathered for worship and religious instruction.
Jesus grew up in a place of utter obscurity. They did not use Roman coinage in Nazareth. They were not on the map. That was where it was chosen that God should be born – almost nowhere.
A Significance Of Jesus Of Nazareth
The place was so obscure that people have argued that Jesus Of Nazareth must be a corruption of Jesus a Nazarene. But that’s the point. If you had to choose a place for God the Son to be incarnate. This is nowhere. Therefore it is perfect – it can be everywhere. Jesus reveals himself in the regions of Galilee. The Gospels vary as to Jesus’ visit/s to Jerusalem. It is an extraordinary journey in the Gospels between the regions of Galilee and Jerusalem.
This poem meditates on the nature and purpose of a ‘verse’, emphasizing simplicity and spiritual focus. Herbert frames the verse not as grand poetry or artistic achievement but as a humble, personal offering to God. By reflecting on what a verse is not, Herbert situates the act of writing in a starkly different realm from that of worldly pursuits or markers of success. Humility embedded in the term ‘verse’, which can mean a single line or small unit of expression, underscores the poet’s theological concerns: how the simplest acts, when directed toward God, can acquire immense spiritual value [ … ]
John the Baptist was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who is revered as a prophet in Christianity and Islam. He was a contemporary of Jesus and is mentioned in the New Testament as having been a forerunner of Jesus, preparing the way for his ministry. According to the New Testament, John the Baptist was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, both of whom were descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses. He was known for his ascetic lifestyle, his practice of baptizing people as a sign of repentance, and his proclamation that Jesus was the Messiah. John the Baptist was eventually arrested and imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, and was later beheaded at the request of Herod’s daughter, Salome [ … ]
The poem reflects on the numerous protective measures placed around individuals to guide them toward moral and spiritual growth, only to suggest that a single powerful sin can undo all these efforts. The poem opens by marvelling at the care with which human life is surrounded by formative influences, beginning with parents who ‘season’ or shape their children. This is followed by teachers, who hand them over to the ‘laws’ and ‘rules of reason’. These influences represent a rational, structured upbringing designed to lead a person towards a virtuous and ordered life [ … ]
