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Matthew 17: 10-13 | King James Audio Bible KJV | Daily Bible Verses Advent, Saturday Week 2
10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
The disciples Peter, James and John have just witnessed the Transfiguration on the mountain. They have seen the glorified Christ, and now they are puzzled, because they have been taught that Elijah would come before the Messiah. These are the verses from the prophet Malachi, which are the last words of the Old Testament:
5 ¶ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
The scribes have taught, and the disciples have understood, that the text has referred only to the coming of the Messiah. Now they understand that Elijah has come again as John the Baptist, who has himself prepared the way for Jesus.
John the Baptist, like Jesus, came to reconstruct society, to bring people back to a true relationship with each other and with God. This was a reflection on the Roman occupation, whereby the occupying power corrupted natural community and family relations. John has been punished, and put to death, for his teachings. Jesus will suffer the same fate.
For many, the Christian mission remains to fulfil Christ’s purpose in reconstructing society. In doing so, they may find themselves ranged against the ‘occupying power’ of modern social and economic ideologies. We may think of contemporary beliefs and practices which fracture families and so which lead to neglect, poverty, violence, addiction, loneliness, despair, loss of faith… As Christians, we are called to try to do what we can, while to overhaul the system entirely might seem near-impossible. Still with faith we stand witness to Christ’s core teachings. We pray that the world may follow.
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
19 Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. (Psalm 80/79)
Saint Luke states that Jesus was born in Nazareth and that his parents had to travel to Bethlehem for a census, which was conducted when Quirinius was Governor of Syria. The reference to Quirinius as Governor of Syria is significant because historical records indicate that he held this position twice, first from AD 6-9 and again from AD 11-12 This means that Jesus’ birth would fall around these dates, and at least a decade after the date suggested by Matthew. [ … ]
Saint John Chrysostom was born into a wealthy family in Antioch, which was then one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in the Roman Empire. He received an excellent education in rhetoric and philosophy, which prepared him for a career in law or public speaking. However, he was drawn to Christianity and eventually decided to become a monk [ … ]
In the Old Testament, the chosen people of Israel have been compared to a vine. We may think, for example, of Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard (Isaiah 5:1-7 – Audio Bible Verses Spoken Word), in which God complains that, despite the care he has lavished upon it, his vineyard has only produced wild grapes [ … ]
