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Recently I taught a series on the Gospel of John in a church, as I often do. Having finished reading about Nicodemus, the named Jewish male who came to Jesus by night, we turned to (...)

The story of Nicodemus forms part of the “Cana to Cana” cycle of John’s Gospel which encompasses a wide geographical sweep from Galilee to Jerusalem and back again (2:1-4:54). It represents one in a number (...)

Most of us are familiar with the story of the Cleansing of the Temple, when Jesus in righteous, prophetic anger cleanses the temple court of all the abuses going on within it, particularly the trade (...)

The Holy Spirit is a major actor in Luke’s Gospel and in its sequel, the Acts of the Apostles. From the very beginning of the narrative, the Holy Spirit fills and speaks through the story’s (...)

If we pull together various baptism passages from the New Testament, a picture starts to emerge. Jesus’ baptism and the baptism of Jesus’ followers bear a striking resemblance. Baptism by water is assumed or supposed (...)

The first disciples have been gathered in the previous narrative and Jesus has announced that they will see “heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (1:51). With (...)

Psalm 147 is classified as a Community Hymn—a hymn of the people that celebrates God’s sovereign reign over the community of faith and over all creation.1 It is the second of the five psalms known (...)

John 1:1-18, also known as the prologue to John’s Gospel, is a richly layered text that introduces the major themes of the Gospel, offering countless homiletical possibilities. Where, then, to focus for the second Sunday (...)

For, if it is true that the child was born of the virgin and is mine, then I have no angry God and I must know and feel that there is nothing but laughter and (...)

In the previous week’s Gospel, we heard the story of how John the Baptist comes to recognise who Jesus is as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). Now (...)