Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
The lectionary reading for Easter 6 in Year B is the second half of what appears to be a single section of Jesus’ teaching, in his ‘Farewell Discourse’, John 15.9–17. On the one hand, it seems strange to have divided this teaching into its two halves. On the other, whilst there is a continuing overarching …
The Sunday lectionary reading for Easter 5 in Year B is Jesus’ teaching that he is the true vine in John 15.1–8. It is a striking and memorable image that has three different elements of context to consider, and it reiterates themes from earlier in the Farewell Discourse as well as picking up ideas that …
The gospel lectionary reading for Year B is the second part of John 10 (John 10.11-18) on the theme of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, following on from the first part explored in Year A. This passage needs to be read carefully in the context of this section of the gospel—but also in its first …
The reading for Easter 3 in Year B is Luke 24.36b-48 and it looks like the poor relation of last year’s reading, the story of the encounter of the two disciples with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. But it is in fact a fascinating gathering of Jesus’ teaching and action, packed into a short …
The Sunday gospel lectionary reading for the Second Sunday in Easter is John 20.19–31, which includes Jesus’ encounter with so-called ‘doubting Thomas’. It is the set reading for this week in all three years of the lectionary, so we know it well—and need to reflect on it if we are going to preach effectively on …
The gospel lectionary reading for Easter Sunday in Year B is the short ending of Mark 16. Despite being a short reading, it raises a lot of questions to explore. (If you have chosen to read or speak on the reading from John 20, then the commentary on that passage is here, and the video …
The lectionary gospel reading for Palm Sunday in Year B is Mark 11.1–11. (There is an alternative reading from John 12.) It is a fascinating passage, since, rather than focus on Jesus’ actual entry to Jerusalem (which is described quite briefly) it focuses more on the preparation, especially the ‘untying’ of the colt that Jesus …
The lectionary gospel reading for the fifth Sunday in Lent in Year B is John 12.20–33, which follows the passage we read next week! It is in three parts: the approach of the Greek who ‘want to see Jesus’; three sayings of Jesus, two of which are also found in the Synoptics; and the voice …
The gospel lectionary reading for Lent 4 in Year B is John 3.14–22, the monologue ending of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, which includes perhaps the best-known verse in the New Testament at John 3.16. It is intimidating to talk about such a well-known passage—can we say anything new?—but also to deal with such a large …
The gospel lectionary reading for Lent 3 in Year B is John 2.13–22, the Fourth Gospel’s account of Jesus ‘cleansing’ the temple and driving out the traders and money-changers. After quite a bit of immersion in passages from Mark’s gospel, it is an interesting contrast to be back in John. The contrast with the Synoptics …
The gospel lectionary reading for Lent 2 in Year B is Mark 8.31-38, Jesus’ call on all those who would follow him to ‘take up their cross’ and walk the path that he did. This includes one of the first verses I learnt by heart as a new Christian (Mark 8.34), but it is also …
