Tom Wright

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Luke for Everyone - Pilate Pressured by the Crowd

by SPCK - N T Wright

Pilate Pressured by the Crowds Luke 23.13-26 Shakespeare peopled his plays, as Charles Dickens did his novels, with fascinating minor characters. Each has his or her own tale to tell; none is a mere cardboard figure. Even the bear in A Winter’s Tale is important. Among the Evange…

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Luke for Everyone - Jesus Before Pilate and Herod

by SPCK - N T Wright

Peter Denies Jesus Luke 23.1-12 Many plays, many novels, and many real-life episodes reach a climax when two people, long separated, come together at last, for good or ill. ‘We meet at last, Mr Bond!’ declares the villain with an ugly smile, believing he finally has the secret ag…

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Luke for Everyone - Peter Denies Jesus

by SPCK - N T Wright

Peter Denies Jesus Luke 22.54-71 I was fortunate enough to be involved in a service commemorating the life and witness of Wang Zhiming. He was a Chinese pastor who, after maintaining a clear Christian witness in the days of Mao’s cultural revolution, was executed in front of a la…

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Luke for Everyone - Jesus is Arrested

by SPCK - N T Wright

Jesus is Arrested Luke 22.39-53 One of the most noticeable changes in my life in the last 30 years – apart from increasing baldness – has been my changing attitude to one of the sports that I loved as a young man. I learned to rock-climb when I was at school, and for ten or more …

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Luke for Everyone - Prediction of Peter's Betrayal

by SPCK - N T Wright

Prediction of Peter’s Denial Luke 22.24-38 Imagine a football manager trying to prepare his squad for the match of their lives. They are facing their greatest opponents, with a major trophy at stake. He needs them to be totally focused on the task in hand. He has just outlined to…

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Luke for Everyone - The Last Supper

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Last Supper Luke 22.1-23 When Jesus wanted to give his followers – then and now – a way of understanding what was about to happen to him, he didn’t teach them a theory. Theories about how Jesus’ death dealt with our sins have come and gone throughout church history. Many of t…

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Luke for Everyone - Watching for the Son of Man

by SPCK - N T Wright

Watching for the Son of Man Luke 21.34-38 Travel with me, back in time, to Jerusalem. The year is AD 58, nearly thirty years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Many people in the holy city came to believe in Jesus in the heady days nearly a generation ago, and many of the…

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Luke for Everyone - The Distress of Jerusalem Predicted

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Distress of Jerusalem Predicted Luke 21.20-33 At school we were sometimes made to write stories which included several very different characters and objects. ‘Write a story,’ the teacher might say, ‘including a rabbit, a telescope, a cathedral and a man with a wooden leg.’ Of…

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Luke for Everyone - Signs of the End

by SPCK - N T Wright

Signs of the End Luke 21.5-19 A news reader announces that an asteroid passed close to the earth. When they say ‘close’, they mean about half a million miles; but in terms of the solar system, that’s quite near at hand. It shows, as one commentator said, that the planet Earth is …

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Luke for Everyone - David's Son and the Widow's Mite

by SPCK - N T Wright

David’s Son and the Widow’s Mite Luke 20.41-21.4 ‘Can you get this balloon into that box?’ I asked the little children at the party. The balloon was big, and the box was small. They tried squeezing it in but it wouldn’t fit. It kept oozing out through their fingers. One little bo…

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Luke for Everyone - Marriage and the Resurrection

by SPCK - N T Wright

Marriage and the Resurrection Luke 20.27-40 Many churches possess a sequence of pictures that, together, tell a complete story. Sometimes these are in the windows, in stained glass. Sometimes they are painted on the walls or the ceiling. Sometimes they form a frieze, a decorated …

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Luke for Everyone - On Paying Taxes to Caesar

by SPCK - N T Wright

On Paying Taxes to Caesar Luke 20.20-26 We went a few weeks ago to see the longest-running stage play in history. Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap has now been performed continuously for almost my entire lifetime. At the time of writing it has had over 20,000 performances. An…

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Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Tenants

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Parable of the Tenants Luke 20.9-19 One of the most dramatic scenes ever to take place in the British House of Commons occurred in January 1642. King Charles I went in person to the House to try to arrest five Members of Parliament who had opposed him. The Speaker of the Hous…

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Luke for Everyone - The Question About Jesus' Authority

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Question about Jesus’ Authority Luke 20.1-8 There is a debate today in Britain about how loud soldiers should shout while on parade. The army is anxious, it seems, that sooner or later a soldier will suffer damaged hearing because a sergeant-major has bellowed an order at hig…

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Luke for Everyone - Jesus Cleanses the Temple

by SPCK - N T Wright

Jesus Cleanses the Temple At last it is Jesus’ turn to cry. Earlier in the gospel we find other people in tears: the widow at Nain, Jairus’s family, and others in distress coming to him for healing and new life. The women of Jerusalem will shortly be weeping for Jesus himself (23…

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Luke for Everyone - The Triumphal Entry

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Triumphal Entry Luke 19.28-40 Mile after uphill mile, it seems a long way even today in a car. You wind up through the sandy hills from Jericho, the lowest point on the face of the earth, through the Judaean desert, climbing all the way. Halfway up, you reach sea level; you’v…

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Luke for Everyone - the King, the Servants and the Money

by SPCK - N T Wright

The King, the Servants and the Money Luke 19.11-27 King Richard I reigned over England from 1189 to 1199. For most of the first half of his reign he was abroad, fighting in the Crusades; then, as he made his way home, he was captured and imprisoned. During his absence, his brothe…

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Luke for Everyone - The Calling of Zacchaeus

by SPCK - N T Wright

The Calling of Zacchaeus Luke 19.1-10 Sunday schools love Zacchaeus. At least, they love to act out his story and sing about him. The little man who climbs up a tree to see Jesus provides one of the most vivid short stories in the whole Bible. Children can identify with Zacchaeus…

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