Christian Art | Jesus Preaches Hope And Faith – Peace | Daily Bible Verses For Advent | King James Audio Bible KJV
Matthew 11: 28-30 | Daily Bible Verses For Advent | Week 2, Wednesday | Also Thursday, Week 15, Ordinary Time | 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.
The opening passages of John’s Gospel affirm key, central truths concerning the nature of Christ. He is the Word, the perfect, ideal and original Word giving meaning and life to all utterance. We sense here the influence of classical Hellenic philosophy on the developing understanding of Christ through the first century. And, from the very first verses of his Gospel, John affirms the divinity of Christ. Christ is with God, the Father, and he is God. God the Father and God the Son are distinct and too of one being; they are consubstantial [ … ]
Christian Art | Our Lord Jesus On The Cross | God The Father | God The Son Office Of Readings | Advent December 23rd | A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed ‘The hidden sacrament is revealed.’ In this reading, Saint Hippolytus writes against the Noetic heresy, which denied the real distinction between the Father and the Son by treating them as the same person acting under different names. The purpose of Saint Hippolytus is to defend the Church’s confession of one God who is not solitary, but who exists with his Word and Spirit. Hippolytus begins by setting a principle: knowledge of God comes from the Holy Scriptures, not from speculation or private reasoning. Faith is not shaped by human preference but by what God has chosen to reveal. The Father determines how He is believed, the Son how He is glorified, and the Spirit how He is received. This establishes Scripture as the rule of faith and guards against theological invention. Hippolytus then affirms that God existed alone before creation, with nothing co-eternal alongside Him. At the same time, God was not without reason, wisdom, or power. Hippolytus insists that plurality within God does not compromise divine unity. God contains within himself Word, wisdom, and counsel. Creation begins when God wills and manifests His Word. The Word is not created from nothing but proceeds from God and acts as the agent of creation. The Word is first invisible to the created world, though known to God. When God chooses, He makes the Word visible, described as ‘Light of Light’. This language safeguards both distinction and unity: the Word comes from God and reveals God, without being separate from Him. The manifestation of the Word is ordered towards salvation, so that the world may see and be saved. Hippolytus identifies this Word clearly with the Son of God. Through him all things were made, and he alone comes forth from the Father. The Law and the prophets belong to the same saving plan. God speaks through them by the Holy Spirit, so that they proclaim not their own ideas but the Father’s will. Revelation is therefore coherent: creation, prophecy, and incarnation belong to one divine purpose. Hippolytus appeals to the Gospel of John to show continuity between prophecy and fulfilment. The Word spoken of by the prophets is the Word made flesh. Though the world was made through him, it failed to recognise him. This failure does not negate God’s plan but reveals the depth of the mystery now disclosed. A Reading From The Treatise Of Saint Hippolytus Against The Heresy Of Noetus | The Hidden Sacrament Is Revealed There is, brethren, one God, the knowledge of whom we gain from the Holy Scriptures and from no other source. Whatever things the Holy Scriptures declare, at these let us look; and whatever they teach, let us learn it; and as the Father wills our belief to be, let us believe; and as he wills the Son to be glorified, let us glorify him; and as he wills the Holy Spirit to be bestowed, let us receive him. Not according to our own will, nor according to our own mind, nor yet storming by force the things which are given by God, but even as he has chosen to teach them by the Holy Scriptures, so let us discern them. God, subsisting alone, and having nothing coeval with himself, chose to create the world. And conceiving the world in mind, and willing and uttering the Word, he made it; and at once it appeared, formed it in the way he desired. For us it is sufficient simply to know that nothing was coeval with God. Outside him there was nothing; but he, while existing alone, yet existed in plurality. For he did not lack reason, or wisdom, or power, or counsel. All things were in him, and he was the All. At a time and in a manner chosen by him he made his Word manifest, and through his Word he made all things. He bears this Word in himself, as yet invisible to the created world. He makes him visible, uttering the voice first, and begetting him as Light of Light. He presents him to the world as its Lord; and whereas the Word was visible formerly to God alone, and invisible to the world which is made, God makes the Word visible in order that the world might see him and be able to be saved. This is the mind which came forth into the world and was manifested as the Son of God. All things came into being through him, and he alone comes from the Father. He gave us the Law and the prophets; and in giving them, he made them speak by the Holy Ghost, in order that, receiving the inspiration of the Father’s power, they might declare the Father’s counsel and will. Thus, then, was the Word made manifest, even as the blessed John says. For he sums up the things that were said by the prophets, and shows that this is the Word, by whom all things were made. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made. And later, The world was made by him, and the world did not know him; he came to his own, and his own did not receive him. Christian Prayer With Jesus Lord God,You are one, and from You come the Word and the Spirit.You have chosen to make Yourself known, not by human effort,but by what You have revealed in the scriptures. You spoke Your Word, and all things were made.You made that Word visible, so that the world might see and be saved.Grant that we may receive what You give,believe what You teach,and worship You as You have shown Yourself to be. Keep us […]
Psalm 47 is a joyful song of praise and celebration. The psalm exalts sovereignty of God as supreme King over all the earth and calls on all people to join in the triumphant chorus of worship. This psalm encapsulates themes of reverence, the universal rule of God, and the exuberant expression of devotion to the Divine [ … ]
