Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Instructions on Holy Living
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Instructions on Holy Living
by SPCK - N T Wright
Instructions on Holy Living Thessalonians 4.1-8 St Francis, famously, referred to his own body as ‘brother donkey’. It was a beloved part of himself, and yet it often seemed to have a mind of its own. It needed taming, bringing into obedience, as one would teach a large and heads…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Is Jesus from God?
John for Everyone Part 1 - Is Jesus from God?
by SPCK - N T Wright
Is Jesus from God? John 9.24-34 One of the most depressing things about war is the way in which both sides routinely invoke God on their side. People now joke about the First World War, in which British army chaplains were praying to God for victory while a few hundred yards away…
Luke for Everyone - Jairus's Daughter and the Woman with Chronic Bleeding
Luke for Everyone - Jairus's Daughter and the Woman with Chronic Bleeding
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jairus’s Daughter and the Woman with Chronic Bleeding Luke 8.40-56 We don’t know for sure that Luke was a doctor, though there are several things in his work that make it likely, as well as Paul’s mention of him as ‘Luke, the beloved doctor’ (Colossians 4.14). But if he was, ther…
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Introduction
Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians - Introduction
by SPCK - N T Wright
INTRODUCTION On the very first occasion when someone stood up in public to tell people about Jesus, he made it very clear: this message is for everyone. It was a great day – sometimes called the birthday of the church. The great wind of God’s spirit had swept through Jesus’ follo…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Before Caiaphas
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Before Caiaphas
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Before Caiaphas Matthew 26.57-68 Have you ever watched two people speaking to each other in different languages, neither understanding the other? Sometimes it’s funny, and effective. I remember watching with surprise and delight as my daughter, aged about five, played on ho…
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus and the Disciples
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus and the Disciples
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and the Disciples John 20.19-23 ‘I couldn’t possibly do that!’ He stood staring at the committee. They had just offered him, not the job he had applied for, but the one above it. The senior position in the whole division. He would be running an entire department. A huge bud…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Arrested
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Arrested
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus is Arrested Matthew 26.47-56 A radio station telephoned me, and before I knew what was happening I found myself talking, live, to a large and invisible audience. A leading Muslim writer in Britain had been urging the Government to tighten up the blasphemy laws – the laws th…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and the Woman
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus and the Woman
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and the Woman John 4.16-26 A friend of mine described the reaction when he went home, as a young teenager, and announced to his mother that he’d become a Christian. Alarmed, she thought he’d joined some kind of cult. ‘They’ve brainwashed you!’ she said. He was ready with th…
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus and Thomas
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus and Thomas
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and Thomas John 20.24-31 Out of my window I can see a clock. A large and famous clock, on a great public building. It’s lit up at night, and you can see it from many parts of the city. As I write this, it has just struck the hour. Consider the journey that the clock makes f…
Hebrews for Everyone - Jesus as the Truly Human Being
Hebrews for Everyone - Jesus as the Truly Human Being
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus as the Truly Human Being HEBREWS 2.5-9 One of the most dramatic stories in the Old Testament concerns the royal succession. King David was very old, and everybody knew he couldn’t last much longer. He had a great many sons and daughters. One of his sons, Adonijah, got toget…
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus and Peter
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus and Peter
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus and Peter John 21.15-19 He had offered to help clear up after the dinner party. Indeed, he was eager to do so. We gave him a towel and he worked away with us, wiping pans and jugs. But he was still excited after the events of the day, and his mind wasn’t really on the job. …
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman Luke 7.36-50 When you look at a painting, what do you look for first? Some people stand well back and let the full sweep of it wash over them: the glorious colours, the contrasts, the light and shade. Some people focus at once on the characters, t…
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus Goes to the Tomb
John for Everyone part 2 - Jesus Goes to the Tomb
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Goes to the Tomb John 11.28-37 John for Everyone Part 2 28With these words, Martha went back and called her sister Mary. ‘The teacher has come,’ she said to her privately, ‘and he’s asking for you.’ 29When she heard that, she got up quickly and went to him. 30Jesus hadn’t y…
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Is Arrested
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Is Arrested
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 14.26–52 Jesus Is Arrested... ...What do you do when the strong person in your life suddenly becomes weak? Children face this when the parent on whom they have relied for everything is suddenly struck down with illness or grief. Colleagues working on a proj…
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 14.1–11... ...If the storm clouds are gathering over Jerusalem in chapter 13, in chapter 14 they are coming together over the head of Jesus himself. The parallel between the two is important: the fate Jesus has predicted for the Temple (destruction at the h…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Grieves Over Jerusalem
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Grieves Over Jerusalem
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Grieves Over Jerusalem Luke 13.31-35 The house I live in was built after the Second World War. It replaced the much older one that stood here before, which was burnt to ashes one night in 1941, after a fire-bomb, dropped by an enemy aircraft, landed right on it. The people …
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus in the Temple
John for Everyone Part 1 - Jesus in the Temple
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus in the Temple John 2.13-25 Imagine the scene in a school. The pupils are all taking their end-of-year exams. The teachers are preparing for a big Open Day when parents and friends will come to visit. Everyone is excited. It’s the biggest moment in the school year. Suddenly …
Mark for Everyone - Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar