N T Wright
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fifth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Passiontide begins) Isaiah 43.16–21 Philippians 3.4b–14 John 12.1–8 Two stark characterizations from John: the full-blown devotion of Mary and the brooding cynicism of Judas. (On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I think this may perhaps be the same story …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Lent Joshua 5.9–12 2 Corinthians 5.16–end Luke 15.1–3, 11b–end At Gilgal the Israelites, like the prodigal, exchanged the food of the wilderness for the food of home. In a dense little scene, explicable only in its wider context, the covenant signs come rushi…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday in Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday in Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Lent Isaiah 55.1–9 1 Corinthians 10.1–13 Luke 13.1–9 Just in case anyone thought the Old Testament was all gloomy and the New cheerful, here are two passages of dire warning from the New Testament preceded by a warm, redeeming invitation from the Old. Underlyi…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Lent Genesis 15.1–12, 17–18 Philippians 3.17—4.1 Luke 13.31–end The question raised by Philippians 3.17 is: how on earth can the Philippian church, Gentile Christians mostly, ‘join in imitating’ Paul? The chapter so far describes how Paul came to regard his o…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Lent Deuteronomy 26.1–11 Romans 10.8b–13 Luke 4.1–13 These readings are not about ‘temptation’ so much as about true worship. Jesus recognized his temptations as distractions from worshipping and trusting the one true God. To see temptation in terms of rules w…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Sunday Next Before Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sunday Next Before Lent Exodus 34.29–end 2 Corinthians 3.12—4.2 Luke 9.28–43 The intriguing thing about Moses coming down the mountain with his face shining was that he didn’t know. He had simply been talking with God; it was only when Aaron and the others met him that he rea…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday before Lent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday before Lent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday Before Lent Genesis 2.4b–9, 15–25 Revelation 4 Luke 8.22–25 The goodness and the terror of the created world dominate these readings. From the garden in Genesis to the throne-room in Revelation, all that is done reflects God’s loving creativity, and his sharing …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 3 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 3 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 3 Genesis 45.3–11, 15 1 Corinthians 15.35–38, 42–50 Luke 6.27–38 The resurrection is central to Christianity, not just as a dogma but as a driving principle. Unfortunately, Paul’s writing in this, the earliest discussion of it, is dense and difficult, and some of the regul…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 2 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 2 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 2 Jeremiah 17.5–10 1 Corinthians 15.12–20 Luke 6.17–26 Blessings and woes: the upside-down world of the gospel, addressing, as Jeremiah had done, the heart’s self-deceptions, and allowing YHWH to test the mind and search the heart. The woes read like a list of contemporary…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - Proper 1 Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 1 Isaiah 6.1–13 1 Corinthians 15.1–11 Luke 5.1–11 ‘The holy seed is its stump.’ Isaiah’s vision in the Temple leaves him with a dreadful commission, to inform God’s people of inevitable exile. The nation will be like a tree felled and burnt. But when the worst has occurred…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Epiphany Ezekiel 43.27—44.4 1 Corinthians 13.1–13 Luke 2.22–40 Ezekiel had seen the glory of the Lord abandoning Jerusalem and the Temple to their fate (chs 10—11). Fittingly, it is he who describes, in the strange visions of chapters 43—44, the return of tha…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Third Sunday of Epiphany Nehemiah 8.1–3, 5–6, 8–10 1 Corinthians 12.12–31a Luke 4.14–21 Read the text, and give the sense. Both matter. The first is given, there on the page. The second is risky, a matter of prayer and the Spirit, a deep breath and taking the plunge. History …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 62.1–5 1 Corinthians 12.1–11 John 2.1–11 Nuptial imagery rings through the Bible like a peal of wedding bells. The first two chapters of Genesis reach their climax in the creation of man and woman in God’s image; the last two chapters of Rev…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Epiphany Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Epiphany Isaiah 43.1–7 Acts 8.14–17 Luke 3.15–17, 21–22 We now have the middle of Luke 3 for the second time in four weeks, and verses 19–20 are still missing. This mightn’t matter so much if they didn’t relate as closely as they do to the underlying themes of…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Second Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Second Sunday of Christmas Jeremiah 31.7–14 Ephesians 1.3–14 John 1.1–18 Take a deep breath, and try reading Ephesians 1.3–14 all in one go. It is, after all, a single sentence in the Greek, a Christian version of the Jewish-style prayer, ‘Blessed be the God who . . .’. Only …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The First Sunday of Christmas Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Sunday of Christmas 1 Samuel 2.18–20, 26 Colossians 3.12–17 Luke 2.41–52 The boyhood stories of Jesus and Samuel jar slightly with one another. Samuel’s mother deliberately takes him to the Temple in order to leave him there; Jesus’ parents intend to take him home, but …
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Fourth Sunday of Advent Micah 5.2–5a Hebrews 10.5–10 Luke 1.39–45 ‘He shall be the one of peace.’ We can feel the sigh of relief rising from prophet and hearers alike. To a world of uncertainty, fear, wars and rumours of wars, there comes the news of a king whose rule will es…
Twelve Months of Sunday year c - The Third Sunday of Advent Year C