Search Results
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar Luke 18.31-43 Sometimes when you listen to a fine piece of music you discover that the composer is leading you into greater and greater tension, until something inside you is longing for it to be resolved into a final great chord or tune. One strand of …
Luke for Everyone - Peter's Declaration of Jesus' Messiahship
Luke for Everyone - Peter's Declaration of Jesus' Messiahship
by SPCK - N T Wright
Peter’s Declaration of Jesus’ Messiahship Luke 9.18-27 ‘When did you first know’, I asked my friend, ‘that you wanted to be a philosopher?’ (He was at this time already a senior professor of philosophy.) ‘Oh, that’s easy,’ he replied. ‘I knew when I was sitting in my first lectur…
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…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Coming of the Son of Man
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Coming of the Son of Man
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Coming of the Son of Man Matthew 24.29-35 A friend of mine is a composer. (It’s something I would like to have been myself, had things worked out differently, so I take a particular interest in what he does.) I watched one day as he worked on a particular piece he was writing…
Luke for Everyone - The Coming of The Kingdom
Luke for Everyone - The Coming of The Kingdom
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Coming of the Kingdom Luke 17.20-37 What does the word ‘apocalypse’ conjure up to you? Hollywood fantasies? Stars falling from the sky, volcanoes and earthquakes? People in terror, panicking and rushing this way and that? The Bible has plenty of apocalypses, and sometimes the…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Death of God's Son
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Death of God's Son
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Death of God’s Son Matthew 27.45-56 In many Christian bookshops around the world today you can buy posters to hang on the wall which remind you of some aspect of the Christian faith and life. Often they have biblical texts, set against a background of glorious scenery. Someti…
Mark for Everyone - The Death of Jesus
Mark for Everyone - The Death of Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 15.33–39 The Death of Jesus... ...There are times when I envy musical composers, and this is one of them. If I were capable of setting this brief but shocking story to music, I know how I would start. Darkness at noon: low chords on the heavy brass, a brood…
John for Everyone part 2 - The Plan of Caiaphas
John for Everyone part 2 - The Plan of Caiaphas
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Plan of Caiaphas John 11.47-57 We hadn’t been in the country very long when we noticed that our host was driving in a strange fashion. At first, being sleepy from the journey, we thought we were just imagining it; but then it became quite unmistakable. He would drive along an…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Parable of the Talents
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Parable of the Talents
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Talents Matthew 25.14-30 As I write this, all over this country there are students – including one of my own children – who are taking examinations. In some cases these are not particularly serious. They will merely give the teachers and pupils a sense of how m…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Sign of Jonah
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Sign of Jonah
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sign of Jonah Matthew 12.33-42 We all like to play at being amateur detectives. Every year another crop of novels appears, and sometimes plays and movies as well, in which a wicked deed has been performed and nobody can figure out who did it. Some of the greatest names in fic…
Mark for Everyone - True Greatness
Mark for Everyone - True Greatness
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 9.30–37 True Greatness... ...I don’t know whether Mark wants us to feel sorry for the disciples at this point, but quite frankly I do. Earlier in the gospel Jesus said things to them in code, and they didn’t get it. The parables were secret, hidden messages…
Revelation for Everyone - Worthy is the Lamb!
Revelation for Everyone - Worthy is the Lamb!
by SPCK - N T Wright
Worthy is the Lamb! Revelation 5.8-14 Think of it as another visit to the theatre. You are sitting in the dark when the drum begins. A slow, steady rhythm. It’s telling you something. It’s going somewhere. It builds up, louder and louder. Then the voices join in. Wild, excited si…
John for Everyone part 2 - Glorify the Son
John for Everyone part 2 - Glorify the Son
by SPCK - N T Wright
Glorify the Son John 17.1-8 Shakespeare’s play Hamlet is full of action. Ghosts, murders, love scenes, plots, accidental killings, betrayals, recriminations and more plots. The play highlights the indecision of the hero when faced with huge problems, and this results in pauses he…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 24 Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - Proper 24 Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 24 Genesis 32.22–31 2 Timothy 3.14—4.5 Luke 18.1–8 This odd little parable in Luke gives us the key to all of today’s readings: they are about faithful endurance. The story of the judge and the woman is vivid and full of little ironies. The contrast is set up between the j…
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year C
Lectionary Reflection Year C - The Second Sunday Before Advent Year C
by SPCK - Jane Williams
The Second Sunday Before Advent Malachi 4.1–2a 2 Thessalonians 3.6–13 Luke 21.5–19 The material in today’s reading from Luke can be found in a very similar form in Mark 13 and Matthew 24, and all are agreed that the temple is the trigger for these terrible sayings. Jesus seems to…
John for Everyone Part 1 - From Below of from Above
John for Everyone Part 1 - From Below of from Above
by SPCK - N T Wright
From Below or from Above John 8.21-29 ‘The house is on fire! Get up at once!’ She burst into the dormitory where several of the other girls were sleeping. She dashed to the nearest bed and shook the sleeper violently. ‘Come on! There’s no time! You’ll be burnt alive!’ ‘Go back to…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - On Following Jesus
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - On Following Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
On Following Jesus Matthew 8.14-22 What do you always do first thing in the morning? For some, it will be shaving. For others, it will be making a cup of tea. For some, it will be vigorous exercise. For others, it will be reading the newspaper. Put it the other way: if someone fo…
John for Everyone Part 1 - Philip and Nathanael