Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

Jesus “watched two brothers, Simon now known as Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. He said to them, ‘Come after Me and I will make you fishers of men.’ ” —Matthew 4:18-19 In the Greek Church, St. Andrew is revered as the “Protoclete,” that is, the “first called” (see Jn 1:40). Andrew should also be revered as the “first who called,” for, after being called by Jesus, “the first thing he did was seek out his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah!’ ” (Jn 1:41) We need to...

“The king…refused to eat.” —Daniel 6:19 On this Thanksgiving Day in the USA, a day of great feasting, the Church reads to us about not eating. King Darius couldn’t eat out of concern for the doomed Daniel (Dn 6:19). The hungry lions couldn’t eat, since God was protecting Daniel (Dn 6:23). This physical inability to eat has its counterpart in the spiritual life. Spiritually anorexic people won’t eat the spiritual food they need. They have so stuffed themselves with the things of the world (Phil 3:19) that they fail to realize that their souls are starving to death for lack...

“King Belshazzar gave a great banquet.” —Daniel 5:1 King Belshazzar gave a last supper for his friends (Dn 5:1). This banquet featured revelry, blasphemy, idolatry (Dn 5:4), insolence, pride (Dn 5:20), terror (Dn 5:9), betrayal (Dn 5:30), and finally, the death of the host (Dn 5:30). King Jesus also gave a Last Supper for His friends (Lk 22:8ff). Like Belshazzar’s banquet, this last supper also featured betrayal (Lk 22:21) and the death of the Host (Mt 26:31ff). However, Jesus’ Last Supper featured selfless love (Lk 22:15), humble service (Jn 13:4ff), the Bread of Life, a new covenant in Jesus’ blood...

“This was the dream; the interpretation we shall also give in the king’s presence.” —Daniel 2:36 King Nebuchadnezzar had a nightmare. He had to find out what it meant. He thought the wise men of his kingdom might be able to interpret the nightmare, but he questioned their credibility. So, instead of telling them the nightmare to be interpreted, he demanded that they additionally read his mind and disclose his dream. He even ordered that the wise men be put to death when they couldn’t tell him his dream. Then Daniel was brought in. Daniel would either discover the nightmare...