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Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Third Sunday Before Advent Year C
Gazing on the Gospels Year C - The Third Sunday Before Advent Year C
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Third Sunday before Advent Luke 20: 27-38 Gaze on Jesus – he must be tired by now, for he’s been teaching in the Temple for hours, and time and again he’s been questioned and even tricked. First the Pharisees challenged him over his authority, and he countered with the chilli…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 29 The Sources
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 29 The Sources
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Sources The sources which are particularly relevant for our purposes are those which reflect the situation in Palestine before the two great rebellions of ad 66–70 and 132–5, and particularly before the first of these…
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 34 The Agenda and Influence of the Pharisees
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF GOD - 34 The Agenda and Influence of the Pharisees
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Agenda and Influence of the Pharisees cntd It is beyond a doubt that for quite some time before 63 bc there existed a pressure-group, known at least by its enemies as ‘Pharisees’. This group, not necessarily numerous, seems to have arisen around or after the time of the Macca…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Great Commission
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Great Commission
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Great Commission Matthew 28.16-20 You sometimes wonder, when listening to some of the great classical composers, whether they really know how to bring a piece to an end. One of the most notorious is Beethoven. There are times when, at the end of a symphony, you think you’re j…
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Resurrection Plus the name of Jesus equals trouble
Acts for Everyone part 1 - Resurrection Plus the name of Jesus equals trouble
by SPCK - N T Wright
Resurrection Plus the Name of Jesus Equals Trouble Acts 4.1-12 I cherish the remark attributed to a bishop who complained that he didn’t seem to be having the same impact as the first apostles. ‘Everywhere St Paul went,’ he said, ‘there was a riot. Everywhere I go they serve tea.…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 4 Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - Proper 4 Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
Proper 4 Mark 2:23- 3:6 Gaze on a wheat field, glowing under the sun, ready for harvest. The stalks are bowing down almost in prayer, ready for reaping. The field is so full and sturdy and dense that all the footpaths that run across it are hidden. So Jesus walks straight through…
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 22 Year B
Twelve Months of Sundays Year B - Proper 22 Year B
by SPCK - N T Wright
Proper 22 Job 1.1; 2.1-10 Hebrews 1.1-4; 2.5-12 Mark 10.2-16 Angels are one thing; angels as God’s heavenly council, discussing policy, are another; ‘the Accuser’ (the word ‘Satan’ is a title before it is a proper name) as himself an angel, a celestial Director of Public Prosecut…
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus and the Traditional Community
THE WOMEN'S BIBLE COMMENTARY - Jesus and the Traditional Community
by SPCK - Newsom, Ringe and Lapsley
Jesus and the Traditional Community (Mark 2: 1- 3:6) Four of the five stories that follow begin, as stories before them did, as stories of healings (paralytic; man with a withered hand), or calling disciples (Levi the toll collector), or events that occur on the Sabbath (plucking…
Mark for Everyone - The Rich Young Ruler
Mark for Everyone - The Rich Young Ruler
by SPCK - N T Wright
Mark For Everyone MARK 10.17–31 The Rich Young Ruler... ...When I was a boy, grown-ups used to divide their history into two periods: Before the War, and After the War (or Since the War). The Second World War had torn a hole in their world. Everything was different now: a differe…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 23 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 23 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Twelve Months of Sundays – Year A Ordinary Time Proper 23 Exodus 32.1–14 Philippians 4.1–9 Matthew 22.1–14 The party was ready, the guests were on the way, but somehow they got distracted. Today’s gospel fits Exodus 32 like a glove, forming a combined warning. Readers of Exodus p…
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 4 Year B
Lectionary Reflections - Year B - Proper 4 Year B
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Proper 4 Deuteronomy 5: 12-15 2 Corinthians 4: 5-12 Mark 2: 23- 3:6 Today’s passages send out an alarmingly confusing set of messages. On the one hand, Deuteronomy tells us how vital it is to keep the Sabbath, while Jesus seems to suggest that we can sit a bit more lightly to tha…
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year B
Gazing on the Gospels Year B - The Fourth Sunday before Advent Year B
by SPCK - Judith Dimond
The Fourth Sunday before Advent Mark 12: 28-34 Gaze on Jesus still in the Temple after hours of debate. Imagine him standing in the outer Temple courts where the doves are fluttering and goats bleating and penned ready for sacrifice. Five hundred years old, the Temple is the gold…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 24 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 24 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 24 Isaiah 45.1–7 1 Thessalonians 1.1–10 Matthew 22.15–22 The question as weapon is one of the oldest techniques in controversy. You will hear it used to perfection most mornings on the radio. The art is to find the question to …
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 15 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 15 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 15 Isaiah 56.1, 6–8 Romans 11.1–2a, 29–32 Matthew 15.10–28 This strange story of the Canaanite woman clearly scratches an itch for Matthew’s readers. If you put this version and Mark’s version side by side (Mark 7.24–30), you w…
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 14 Year A
Lectionary Reflections Year A - Proper 14 Year A
by SPCK - Jane Williams
Lectionary reflections - Year A Ordinary Time Proper 14 1 Kings 19.9–18 Romans 10.5–15 Matthew 14.22–33 There is something about us that is deeply resistant to the grace of God. It’s not that we don’t believe in him, or wish to follow him, or that we consciously reject him, but w…
Acts for Everyone Part 2 - Glossary