SPCK
Luke for Everyone - Glossary
Luke for Everyone - Glossary
by SPCK - N T Wright
GLOSSARY Luke for Everyone accuser, see the satan age to come, see present age apostle, disciple, the Twelve ‘Apostle’ means ‘one who is sent’. It could be used of an ambassador or official delegate. In the New Testament it is sometimes used specifically of Jesus’ inner circle of…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus' Promise and Ascension
Luke for Everyone - Jesus' Promise and Ascension
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus’ Promise and Ascension Luke 24.36-53 Luke’s closing scene, for all its joy and excitement, brings into focus for us the real problem of what happened at Easter. What sort of a body did Jesus have? How could it at the same time be solid and real, with flesh and bones, able t…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Revealed at Emmaus
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Revealed at Emmaus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus Revealed at Emmaus Luke 24.28-35 Think of the first meal in the Bible. The moment is heavy with significance. ‘The woman took some of the fruit, and ate it; she gave it to her husband, and he ate it; then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked…
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 Resurrection
Luke for Everyone - The Resurrection
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Resurrection Luke 24.1-12 Many years ago, a colleague of mine in Oxford wrote a series of articles in a university magazine, discussing various changes that were being proposed to the way the university and the colleges were run. He warned of what would happen if certain thin…
Luke for Everyone - The Death and Burial of Jesus
Luke for Everyone - The Death and Burial of Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Death and Burial of Jesus Luke 23.44-56 It really happened. It wasn’t a mistake. We didn’t get it wrong. It’s true. You can rely on it. This is the main emphasis of Luke’s account of Jesus’ death and burial. He began his book by telling ‘Theophilus’ that he could rely on thes…
Luke for Everyone - The Crucifixion
Luke for Everyone - The Crucifixion
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Crucifixion Luke 23.27-43 My first day at the lumber camp was probably the hardest. I was issued with thick leather gloves, and sent off to the first shed, where the planks arrived after the huge trees had been sliced up. The boards came out sideways on a huge conveyor belt, …
Luke for Everyone - Pilate Pressured by the Crowd
Luke for Everyone - Pilate Pressured by the Crowd
by SPCK - N T Wright
Pilate Pressured by the Crowds Luke 23.13-26 Shakespeare peopled his plays, as Charles Dickens did his novels, with fascinating minor characters. Each has his or her own tale to tell; none is a mere cardboard figure. Even the bear in A Winter’s Tale is important. Among the Evange…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Before Pilate and Herod
Luke for Everyone - Jesus Before Pilate and Herod
by SPCK - N T Wright
Peter Denies Jesus Luke 23.1-12 Many plays, many novels, and many real-life episodes reach a climax when two people, long separated, come together at last, for good or ill. ‘We meet at last, Mr Bond!’ declares the villain with an ugly smile, believing he finally has the secret ag…
Luke for Everyone - Peter Denies Jesus
Luke for Everyone - Peter Denies Jesus
by SPCK - N T Wright
Peter Denies Jesus Luke 22.54-71 I was fortunate enough to be involved in a service commemorating the life and witness of Wang Zhiming. He was a Chinese pastor who, after maintaining a clear Christian witness in the days of Mao’s cultural revolution, was executed in front of a la…
Luke for Everyone - Jesus is Arrested
Luke for Everyone - Jesus is Arrested
by SPCK - N T Wright
Jesus is Arrested Luke 22.39-53 One of the most noticeable changes in my life in the last 30 years – apart from increasing baldness – has been my changing attitude to one of the sports that I loved as a young man. I learned to rock-climb when I was at school, and for ten or more …
Luke for Everyone - Prediction of Peter's Betrayal
Luke for Everyone - Prediction of Peter's Betrayal
by SPCK - N T Wright
Prediction of Peter’s Denial Luke 22.24-38 Imagine a football manager trying to prepare his squad for the match of their lives. They are facing their greatest opponents, with a major trophy at stake. He needs them to be totally focused on the task in hand. He has just outlined to…
Luke for Everyone - The Last Supper
Luke for Everyone - The Last Supper
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Last Supper Luke 22.1-23 When Jesus wanted to give his followers – then and now – a way of understanding what was about to happen to him, he didn’t teach them a theory. Theories about how Jesus’ death dealt with our sins have come and gone throughout church history. Many of t…
Luke for Everyone - Watching for the Son of Man
Luke for Everyone - Watching for the Son of Man
by SPCK - N T Wright
Watching for the Son of Man Luke 21.34-38 Travel with me, back in time, to Jerusalem. The year is AD 58, nearly thirty years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Many people in the holy city came to believe in Jesus in the heady days nearly a generation ago, and many of the…
Luke for Everyone - The Distress of Jerusalem Predicted
Luke for Everyone - The Distress of Jerusalem Predicted
by SPCK - N T Wright
The Distress of Jerusalem Predicted Luke 21.20-33 At school we were sometimes made to write stories which included several very different characters and objects. ‘Write a story,’ the teacher might say, ‘including a rabbit, a telescope, a cathedral and a man with a wooden leg.’ Of…
Luke for Everyone - Signs of the End
Luke for Everyone - Signs of the End
by SPCK - N T Wright
Signs of the End Luke 21.5-19 A news reader announces that an asteroid passed close to the earth. When they say ‘close’, they mean about half a million miles; but in terms of the solar system, that’s quite near at hand. It shows, as one commentator said, that the planet Earth is …
Luke for Everyone - David's Son and the Widow's Mite
Luke for Everyone - David's Son and the Widow's Mite
by SPCK - N T Wright
David’s Son and the Widow’s Mite Luke 20.41-21.4 ‘Can you get this balloon into that box?’ I asked the little children at the party. The balloon was big, and the box was small. They tried squeezing it in but it wouldn’t fit. It kept oozing out through their fingers. One little bo…
Luke for Everyone - Marriage and the Resurrection