Daily reflections

At the end of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he moderates the fierceness of his tone towards them with expressions of loving care. He prays that they will be 'perfect' (verse 9) and blesses them (verse 13). He has been...

The healing of the man at the pool of Bethzatha, or Bethesda, makes a very rich story. The pool is known as a place of miracles – it was believed that an angel disturbed the waters from time to time, and that the first person...

Jesus' miracles impress the people. But when he starts to talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood – veiled references to his sacrificial death, and to the sacrificial meal worshippers shared – he loses them...

At this point in John's Gospel, Jesus is facing a lot of opposition from 'the Jews', as some translations say – it was really the Jewish leaders, who were threatened and worried by his revolutionary message, and modern translations...

This story of Jesus and the woman taken in the act of adultery has many layers to it, and it raises as many questions as it gives answers. It is not in the very earliest manuscripts of John's Gospel, and some translations...

John Newton's great hymn Amazing Grace quotes from the story of the healing of the man born blind: 'I once was lost, but now am found/ Was blind, but now I see.' He uses it as a picture of grace.

The image of the shepherd was a very potent one in Jewish life. Israel's greatest king, David, was a shepherd. In Psalm 23, God himself is described as the shepherd of his people. In this chapter, though, Jesus may be reflecting...

This is an extraordinarily moving story, because it shows so clearly the reality of grief. A loved brother has died, and his sisters are prostrated with sadness – and they're confused and resentful, because they believe...

Mary's action in anointing Jesus would have been very shocking given the customs and outlook of the time. It still shocks us today; it's an uncomfortably intimate picture of devotion. It's also a very beautiful image, in which...