Category: Bible Reading & Meditation

“By this ‘will,’ we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” –Hebrews 10:10 Mass Readings: January 24 First: Hebrews 10:1-10; Resp: Psalm 40:2,4,7-8,10-11; Gospel: Mark 3:31-35 God has graciously revealed Himself to us through creation, history (especially the Exodus), the Jewish people, the Law, the prophets, Wisdom literature, the covenants, the priesthood, the Davidic dynasty, etc. Nevertheless, “in times past, God spoke in fragmentary and varied ways” (Heb 1:1). “In this, the final age, He has spoken to us through His Son” (Heb 1:2). Jesus is the eternal, incarnate, and final Word....

“Now He has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sins once for all by His sacrifice.” –Hebrews 9:26 Jesus’ “death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions” (Heb 9:15). “Christ was offered up once to take away the sins of many” (Heb 9:28). “You can depend on this as worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tm 1:15). The essence of Jesus’ mission is to save sinners. Today, it has become unfashionable to talk about sin. We, who call ourselves believers, don’t want to put people on a...

“They immediately abandoned their nets and became His followers.” –Matthew 4:20 Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him and become fishers of men (Mt 4:19). We too are repeatedly appealing for workers for the harvest (see Mt 9:38). Some very busy people answer our appeals and thus become even busier, taking on more work and responsibilities. The sacrificial love of these very busy people is beautiful. Although Jesus does assign more work to the few existing workers (see Lk 12:48; Lk 19:17ff), He is constantly calling more and more people to become workers. Jesus plans to give...