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Simply Jesus - Why did the Messiah have to die?
Simply Jesus - Why did the Messiah have to die?
by SPCK - N T Wright
Why did the Messiah have to die? Layer upon layer it comes, dense and rich within the texts, echo upon echo, allusion and resonance tumbling over one another, so that for those with ears to hear it becomes unmissable, a crescendo of questions to which in the end there can be only…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus and Barabbas Before Pilate
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus and Barabbas Before Pilate
by
Jesus and Barabbas Before Pilate Matthew 27.11-26 One of the most dramatic scenes in Charles Dickens’ novels comes at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. Set in the French Revolution, the novel’s central figure is one Sydney Carton, a man who has done nothing very good with his life…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Wise and Wicked Girls
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Wise and Wicked Girls
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Wise and Wicked Girls Matthew 25.1-13 The guests had all arrived and were seated. The organ was playing. The bridegroom and the best man had been there half an hour in advance. The photographers were waiting. The flowers had all been beautifully arranged. The choir had practi…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Paying Taxes to Caesar
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Paying Taxes to Caesar
by SPCK - N T Wright
Paying Taxes to Caesar Matthew 22.15-22 It was election time. The politicians were out campaigning. The journalists were everywhere, interviewing people, taking photographs, setting up debates. Radio and television seemed full of it all. But this time round everyone seemed jumpy.…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Luke 16.19-31 We have all seen him. He lies on a pile of newspapers outside a shop doorway, covered with a rough blanket. Perhaps he has a dog with him for safety. People walk past him, or even step over him. He occasionally rattles a few c…
Luke for Everyone - The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector
Luke for Everyone - The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Persistent Widow and the Tax-Collector Luke 18.1-14 Come with me into a court of law, where a civil case is being tried. I haven’t often been in a court, but we see them on the television and in the newspapers, and from time to time legal cases are widely reported and make hi…
Luke for Everyone - Ten Lepers Healed
Luke for Everyone - Ten Lepers Healed
by SPCK - N T Wright
Ten Lepers Healed Luke 17.11-19 What would make you shout for joy at the top of your voice? What would make you fall on the ground – yes, flat on your face! – in front of someone? Two explorers were lost in the South American jungle not long ago. For nine months they wandered abo…
Luke for Everyone - Forgiveness, Faith and Obedience
Luke for Everyone - Forgiveness, Faith and Obedience
by SPCK - N T Wright
Forgiveness, Faith and Obedience Luke 17.1-10 There is a famous story about a man who wrote a book with the title, Humility and How I Achieved It. The title is almost as self-contradictory as, in Jesus’ world, the phrase ‘the good Samaritan’ would have been. One of the paradoxes …
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Sends Out the Seventy
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Sends Out the Seventy
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy Luke 10.1-16 I had lunch with a friend who told me how, earlier in the year, his teenage son had been taken seriously ill. For weeks he had been going to doctors and specialists, all of whom had been puzzled by his symptoms. Finally he went to a senior…
Luke for Everyone - Prologue
Luke for Everyone - Prologue
by SPCK - N T Wright
Prologue Luke 1.1-4 ‘SPACE ALIENS TOOK MY BABY’, screams the headline. Or perhaps ‘GRANDMOTHER SWIMS ATLANTIC’. And what do people say? ‘It must be true; it was in the newspapers.’ ‘I saw it on television.’ ‘The person who told me was told by someone who was there at the time.’ W…
2 Corinthians - Grace, Love and Fellowship
2 Corinthians - Grace, Love and Fellowship
by SPCK - N T Wright
Grace, Love and Fellowship 2 CORINTHIANS 13.11-13 The final sentence of 2 Corinthians is one of the most famous lines anywhere in Paul – so famous, in fact, that many people who hear it, or say it regularly, don’t even realize it is by Paul, and wouldn’t be able to find it if the…
Hebrews for Everyone - Looking to Jesus
Hebrews for Everyone - Looking to Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Looking to Jesus Hebrews 12.1-3 I went to a school that prided itself on its outdoor pursuits. Set high in the Yorkshire Dales in north-west England, it celebrated its location in several ways, the annual climax being a ten-mile cross-country race over steep, difficult ground. Of…
Luke for Everyone - On The Road to Emmaus
Luke for Everyone - On The Road to Emmaus
by SPCK - N T Wright
On The Road to Emmaus Luke 24.13-27 If the story of the prodigal son has a claim to be the finest story Jesus ever told, the tale of the two on the road to Emmaus must have an equal claim to be the finest scene Luke ever sketched. It’s a shame to break it in half, as we’ve done (…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Fig Tree
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Fig Tree
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Fig Tree Luke 13.1-9 If the New Testament had never been written, we would still know that Pontius Pilate was an unpleasant and unpopular Governor of Judaea. The Jewish historian Josephus lists several things he did which upset and irritated the local Jewish po…
The Pastoral Letters - Waiting For The Crown
The Pastoral Letters - Waiting For The Crown
by SPCK - N T Wright
Waiting for the Crown 2Timothy 4.6-8 REWARD: £100,000. The sign stared at me across the road. There was a photograph underneath, and I crossed the street out of curiosity to have a look. It was, of course, a murder suspect. The police were fairly sure they knew who had committed …
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - When the Law Arrived: Sinai Looks Back to the Fall
Paul for Everyone Romans part 1 - When the Law Arrived: Sinai Looks Back to the Fall
by SPCK - N T Wright
When the Law Arrived: Sinai Looks Back to the Fall ROMANS 7.7-12 The house was quiet when the workmen arrived, and when someone came to the door they assumed it was the owner himself. They had come to install a new alarm system on the doors and windows. The owner had been anxious…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Wise and Wicked Slaves
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Wise and Wicked Slaves
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Wise and Wicked Slaves Matthew 24.45-51 The managing director was returning from a meeting out of town, when he saw a familiar but unexpected sight. There, turning out of a street ahead of him, was one of his own company’s vans. What was it doing here? The company didn’t do b…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - Jesus Rides Into Jerusalem