Search Results
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Puffed Up or Powerful
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - Puffed Up or Powerful
by SPCK - N T Wright
Puffed Up or Powerful 1 Corinthians 4.14-21 We all know the difference between talk and power. Imagine you are driving along a road, without worrying too much about how fast you’re going. All of a sudden a large car with flashing lights overtakes you and motions you to pull over.…
Luke for Everyone - The Beatitudes
Luke for Everyone - The Beatitudes
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Beatitudes Luke 6.12-26 Let us imagine that you are a schoolteacher. One day, you go out into the school playground, where there are dozens of children kicking footballs around. You go over to where they are, and call for them to gather round. Then you begin, slowly but surel…
Luke for Everyone - The Celebration of Jesus
Luke for Everyone - The Celebration of Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Celebration of Jesus Luke 10.17-24 What was it like being Jesus? That’s one of the hardest questions for anyone reading the gospels, but this passage gives us some clues. It’s all too easy for Christians to make the mistake of thinking that he just sailed through life with ea…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Calming of the Storm
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Calming of the Storm
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Calming of the Storm Matthew 8.23-27 The sea has always been a symbol of wild, untamable power. You only have to stand beside the ocean, even on a calm day, to sense something of it. There is so much of it, for a start; when the tide comes in, up a beach, imagine how many gal…
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
Revelation for Everyone - The First Four Plagues
by SPCK - N T Wright
The First Four Plagues Revelation 16.1-9 I was cycling down the road one day when I came up beside my former tutor. I had studied the New Testament with him some years before, and was now engaged on some early work towards my doctorate. ‘How are you getting on?’ he asked. ‘How’s …
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Leaven of the Pharisees
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Leaven of the Pharisees
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Leaven of the Pharisees Matthew 16.1-12 Our generation is bombarded with signs. Drive along a city street, especially at night, and your eyes will be dazzled with signs of all sorts. Some of them are necessary to tell you where to go and where not to go: if you ignore red and…
Luke for Everyone - The Miraculous Catch of Fish
Luke for Everyone - The Miraculous Catch of Fish
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Miraculous Catch of Fish Luke 5.1-11 ‘When Christ calls a person,’ declared Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘he tells them to come and die.’ Bonhoeffer, of course, did exactly that, hanged by the Nazis for resistance to Hitler. But when Simon Peter first met Jesus, he didn’t realize thi…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Fool
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Rich Fool
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Rich Fool Luke 12.13-34 The modern Western world is built on anxiety. You see it on the faces of people hurrying to work. You see it even more as they travel home, tired but without having solved life’s problems. The faces are weary, puzzled, living with the un…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Parable of the Sower
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - The Parable of the Sower
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Sower Matthew 13.1-9 We stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee on a spring morning. The bus was up by the road, and we had walked down, several dozen of us, to where the lake was glistening in the sunshine. It was peaceful and still. The ground slopes up stee…
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Great Banquet
Luke for Everyone - The Parable of the Great Banquet
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Parable of the Great Banquet Luke 14.12-24 Once, many years ago, I preached a sermon on this passage. I emphasized the extraordinary way in which Jesus tells his hearers to do something that must have been as puzzling then as it is now. Don’t invite friends, relatives and nei…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question of the Resurrection
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Question of the Resurrection
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Question of the Resurrection Matthew 22.23-33 I once sat on a college committee where two older members had a regular tactic for stopping any change that might have been proposed. When one of the younger members (myself, for instance) proposed doing something that would reall…
Luke for Everyone - The Rich Young Ruler
Luke for Everyone - The Rich Young Ruler
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Rich Young Ruler Luke 18.15-30 Luke, ever the artist, is building up his great picture with colour after colour, layer after layer of paint, until he draws the eye towards the great scene he has in mind when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem. He has given us Jesus’ lessons on humili…
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Transfiguration
Matthew for Everyone Part 2 - The Transfiguration
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Transfiguration Matthew 17.1-8 Mount Tabor is a large, round hill in central Galilee. When you go there today with a party of pilgrims, you have to get out of your bus and take a taxi to the top. They say that God is especially pleased with the Mount Tabor taxi-drivers, becau…
Luke for Everyone - The Triumphal Entry
Luke for Everyone - The Triumphal Entry
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Triumphal Entry Luke 19.28-40 Mile after uphill mile, it seems a long way even today in a car. You wind up through the sandy hills from Jericho, the lowest point on the face of the earth, through the Judaean desert, climbing all the way. Halfway up, you reach sea level; you’v…
LWPT Meditations - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
LWPT Meditations - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
by Susan Thorne
Meditation – 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr C 2nd Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20 Galatians 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62 It is not often that we consider the “hard sayings” of Christ, but in our gospel reading we come face to face with some of the harshest words that Jesus spok…
2 Corinthians - Don't Be Mis-Matched
2 Corinthians - Don't Be Mis-Matched
by SPCK - N T Wright
Don’t Be Mis-Matched 2 CORINTHIANS 6.14-7.1 Every time a new Bible translation comes out, it seems, one of the questions people ask about it is whether the language is ‘inclusive’. When it mentions men, does it mention women as well? Does it imply that all Christians are basicall…
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Do Not Worry
Matthew for Everyone Part 1 - Do Not Worry
by SPCK - N T Wright
Do Not Worry Matthew 6.25-34 Has it ever struck you what a basically happy person Jesus was? Oh yes, we know that, according to the prophecies, he was ‘a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief ’. We know that the darkness and sadness of all the world descended on him as he went…
Paul for Everyone 1 Corinthians - God's Folly