Tom Wright
John for Everyone Part 1 - Adultery and Hypocrisy
John for Everyone Part 1 - Adultery and Hypocrisy
by SPCK - N T Wright
Adultery and Hypocrisy John 7.53-8.11 Two women were brought before the young king. They were prostitutes, and shared a house. Both had given birth, but the son of one of them had died. Now both were claiming the living son as their own. How could anyone tell (in the days before …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Where Does the Messiah Come From
John for Everyone Part 1 - Where Does the Messiah Come From
by SPCK - N T Wright
Where Does the Messiah Come From? John 7.40-52 I watched in admiration as the chess game reached its closing stages. Somehow the television commentator managed to explain what the two master players were doing in such a way that even a complete beginner like myself could understa…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Rivers of Living Water
John for Everyone Part 1 - Rivers of Living Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Rivers of Living Water John 7.31-39 ‘A pint of water every hour, and don’t forget!’ I was setting off into the desert, and my host was understandably anxious. Coming as I did from a cool and damp climate, I might easily forget how important it was to keep drinking plenty of water…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Moses and the Messiah
John for Everyone Part 1 - Moses and the Messiah
by SPCK - N T Wright
Moses and the Messiah John 7.19-30 My friend was walking with his son through a park in a Canadian city. It was a lovely summer day. The son had recently taken up golf, and was itching to practise some shots with a club he’d brought with him. ‘You can’t do that,’ said my friend. …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Disputes about Jesus
John for Everyone Part 1 - Disputes about Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Disputes about Jesus John 7.10-18 ‘You’ll find out how when you really want to.’ Jeff ’s mother was trying, not for the first time, to teach him how to cook. He just couldn’t get the hang of it. He would see what she was doing and copy her, but when he tried later to do it himsel…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and His Brothers
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and His Brothers
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and His Brothers John 7.1-9 Many Jewish communities around the world keep the festival of Tabernacles, or ‘Booths’, to this day. The ‘tabernacles’ in question are usually makeshift shelters, made out of whatever comes to hand, set up in the open air in a back yard or porch.…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Division among Jesus' Followers
John for Everyone Part 1 - Division among Jesus' Followers
by SPCK - N T Wright
Division among Jesus’ Followers John 6.60-71 I once went to a lecture that was supposed to be an introduction to philosophy. It quickly appeared that the great philosopher wasn’t interested in introducing the subject, but in talking about it at a high level to the small group of …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Eating and Drinking the Son of Man
John for Everyone Part 1 - Eating and Drinking the Son of Man
by SPCK - N T Wright
Eating and Drinking the Son of Man John 6.47-59 One of the most moving, and often forgotten, stories about King David concerns the time when he was fighting the Philistines, who had occupied his native town of Bethlehem. Among David’s fiercely loyal fighting men he had three in p…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Father's Will
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Father's Will
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Father’s Will John 6.36-46 C. S. Lewis was once interviewed by an American Christian journalist who was writing about well-known characters who had converted to Christianity during adult life. The theme was ‘decision’. He wanted to get Lewis to say how he had ‘made his decisi…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Bread from Heaven
John for Everyone Part 1 - Bread from Heaven
by SPCK - N T Wright
Bread From Heaven John 6.26-35 The historian was in a hurry to finish his Ph.D. There was one chapter to go, which concerned the painting that had been so important during his period, and the influence the artists had had on the wider thought and culture of the time. He went hast…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Walking on the Water
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus Walking on the Water
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Walking on the Water John 6.16-25 Some animals are naturally afraid of water. Cats will not normally go for a swim in a river; nor will hedgehogs. Most monkeys and apes, despite sharing some other characteristics of humans, do not care for water. This fact is exploited at a…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Feeding the Five Thousand
John for Everyone Part 1 - Feeding the Five Thousand
by SPCK - N T Wright
Feeding the Five Thousand John 6.1-15 When you read detective stories, you quickly learn that what may look like an irrelevant little detail may actually be the clue to discovering who the murderer really is. A good writer will put in all kinds of detail, designed to lead the eye…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and Moses
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and Moses
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and Moses John 5.39-47 You can see it in a class at school. You can see it in a sports team. You can see it in an army barracks. You can see it, in fact, almost anywhere where a peer group builds up and gathers momentum despite the best efforts of those in charge. The boys …
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Evidence in Support of Jesus
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Evidence in Support of Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Evidence in Support of Jesus John 5.30-38 ‘He would say that, wouldn’t he?’ The prosecution lawyer had just informed the defendant that a notable person, who had been implicated in the shady goings-on, had made a statement to the police denying all the allegations the defenda…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Coming Judgment
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Coming Judgment
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Coming Judgment John 5.19-29 I spent two hours this morning reading part of my oldest son’s doctoral dissertation. It isn’t on a subject I know anything about, but I was checking to see if I could catch any last minute typographical mistakes, and to get the feel of how the se…
John for Everyone Part 1 - God's Son Breaks the Sabbath
John for Everyone Part 1 - God's Son Breaks the Sabbath
by SPCK - N T Wright
God’s Son Breaks the Sabbath John 5.9b-18 I woke up to hear a voice speaking a language I didn’t understand. Where was I? What was going on? A dim light from the other side of the room reminded me. I was at the conference. I was sharing a room with a colleague from the university…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Healing of the Cripple
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Healing of the Cripple
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Healing of the Cripple John 5.1-9a There were two small boys playing in the overgrown garden. The old man who lived in the big house had been ill for many weeks, and though nurses and doctors came and went to the house nobody seemed to bother about what happened in the garden…
John for Everyone Part 1 - The Official's Son