This long chapter contains most of the lead-up to Jesus' crucifixion, ending just before he is taken before Pilate. It has his betrayal by Judas, the institution of the Lord's Supper, and his arrest. Things are rushing towards their conclus...

Pilate asks Jesus whether he is the 'king of the Jews' (verse 2). Jesus gives a very interesting answer: 'So you say.' In Greek it is literally, 'You say.' Apart from that, he doesn't answer his accusers (verse 9) a...

This is a chapter all about lost things. We see references to a sheep, a coin and a son who asks for his inheritance in advance and squanders it. If we focus on the lost sheep, we find a story that has been labelled by William Barclay as ‘the gospe...

In this passage Jesus enters a village and has an encounter with ten people with leprosy who are crying out for mercy and healing. He tells them to go to the priests and ‘show themselves’. One of the roles of the priest was to declare whether som...

The children come to Jesus, brought by their parents. I can imagine the excitement and anticipation – what will he do, how will he impact my child, what will he say? I'm sure there were many tired parents holding out for a blessing, restless c...

We find ourselves in a very wealthy and important town, Jericho. It had a great palm forest and world-famous balsam groves. Its gardens of roses were known far and wide. All this combined to make Jericho one of the greatest taxation centres in Palest...

I don’t know if you have ever been on the end of a con-artist or trickster. In this text we find Jesus on the end of an underhanded attempt to get him into trouble with the authorities. The Pharisees are on the attack. Under whose authority did Jes...

I think we see two things in this small piece of Scripture. First, the spirit in which something is given is of tremendous importance to Jesus. A gift given begrudgingly, or for the sake of self-importance, loses so much of its value. Second, there i...

In Luke's story of the Resurrection, it is women who are first at the tomb. They are the ones who will minister to Jesus' body, as they think; a traditional role. It's hard to imagine their feelings as they approached their task: they ...

John's Gospel is different from the others. His tone and language are different; there are longer stretches of teaching, and fewer but longer stories, some of them different from the other Gospels. It begins with a unique sermon-poem. Where Matt...

After 2,000 years in which the Church has become a settled part of society, one of the risks we face is that Jesus becomes rather domesticated. He was not really like that, though. Here we read about him chasing out merchants, money-lenders and assor...

John 3.16 is famous: 'God loved the world so much that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.' But perhaps that word 'believe' isn't as straightforward as the word '...

Jesus' healing miracles were normally performed face to face. This one is like the healing of the centurion's servant in Matthew 8 and Luke 7; it's from a distance. He is in Cana; the son of a government official is dying in Capernaum....

Zechariah is a book of visions, like parts of Daniel and Ezekiel and the whole of Revelation. Like them, it's not always easy to follow. But there are clues to help us, and God still speaks through the prophet's words.

There are three characters in this chapter: Joshua, Satan and the angel of the Lord. The angel is God's spokesman, who speaks with his voice. Joshua is the High Priest (Ezra 3.2), who with Zerubbabel, whom we will meet in the next chapter, is le...

The prophet's visions continue. There is an elaborate lampstand which symbolises the wisdom and power of God, and either side of it are two olive trees, an emblem of fruitfulness. These stand for Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel, who are wo...

There are two visions in chapter 5: the flying scroll and the woman in a basket. Both relate to the purging of wickedness from the land. The huge scroll flies like a bat or a bird of prey. Remorselessly, it seeks out the thieves and liars who dishono...

These are the last of Zechariah's visions. He sees chariots representing the four winds, pulled by different coloured horses. Chariots in the ancient world were the epitome of military power – fast, mobile and capable of delivering crushing bl...

After Zechariah's strange visions, we turn to a powerful and thought-provoking sermon. During the 70 years of exile, the people of Bethel have religiously fasted in commemoration of the Temple's destruction. Should they carry on, they ask, ...

This chapter is a lovely picture of blessing. The deserted city will be repopulated. Verse 4 speaks of old men sitting in the city squares, and children playing. This is more significant than we might think: these old men have someone to care for the...