Tagged: Bible Study

“Come to Me.” —Matthew 11:28 When Jesus came to us, we usually made His life burdensome. He carried the burden of our sins (Mt 8:17), and He carried the cross to pay for our sins (Jn 19:17; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 598). When Jesus came to us, we usually did not refresh Him. He was rejected (Jn 1:11), ridiculed (Mt 27:42), spurned (Jn 18:40), disbelieved (Mt 17:17), avoided (Is 53:3), mocked (Mk 15:19-20), and crucified (Jn 19:18). How wonderful that Jesus does not deal with us according to our sins and requite us according to our crimes! (Ps 103:10)...

“A voice says, ‘Cry out!’ I answer, ‘What shall I cry out?’ ” —Isaiah 40:6 When we think of Christmas preparations, we think of trees, cards, presents, cookies, and candles. However, the Bible speaks of a different kind of preparation. To prepare the way of the Lord, we must turn a desert wasteland into “a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). This means bulldozers, earthmovers, dynamite, a fleet of dump trucks, and the Army Corps of Engineers. It would take all that to lay low mountains and hills and use them as fill dirt for valleys (Is 40:4). It’s a...

“…a herald’s voice in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.’ ” —Matthew 3:3 The purpose of Advent is to prepare the way of the Lord, Who is coming to us in a new personal way this Christmas season. But there are different kinds and degrees of preparation. The Church teaches with John the Baptist that our preparation for Christ’s coming this Christmas needs to be very extensive. We even need a baptism of repentance, that is, to be immersed in repentance (see Mt 3:11). Our preparation for Christ this Christmas is comparable to a...

“The reign of God is at hand.” —Matthew 10:7 When the Messiah, the Christ, comes: “No more will you weep” (Is 30:19). Our prayers will be answered quickly (Is 30:19). The Lord will meet our needs (Is 30:20). The Lord, our Teacher, will give us practical direction for our lives (Is 30:20-21). We will prosper (see Is 30:23ff). We will live in a supernatural light (Is 30:26). The Lord will bind up our wounds and heal us (Is 30:26). Partly because these messianic promises do not seem fulfilled, conservative Jews believe that the Messiah, the Christ, has not yet come...

“As Jesus moved on from there, two blind men came after Him crying out, ‘Son of David, have pity on us!’ ” —Matthew 9:27 What if you went blind right now? How would Christmas be? The Church speaks to us today about blindness. It implies we have been spiritually blinded by sin. If not healed, our blindness will ruin Christmas since we cannot see Christ, the meaning of Christmas. The Lord promises through the prophet Isaiah: “Out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see” (Is 29:18). Jesus stretches forth His hand to touch our eyes, so...