Sermons based on readings from the Gospel of John
John 11:45-53 [The Gospel reading set for the the Fifth Sunday in Lent is John 11:1-44. You can find a sermon base on that reading here. John’s Gospel the event that precipitates the plot that leads to Jesus’ death is the raising of Lazarus. So the verses which follow that story serve as a prelude …
A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent (26/03/23): The Plot to Kill Jesus Read More »
John 3:1-17 “We know” says Nicodemus. What does Nicodemus know? He knows a world in which things work in certain ways. We would perhaps call them the laws of nature. We would say that there are the boundaries of the possible. For example; children are born, they grow up, and there is no reversing that …
A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent (05/03/23): We Know and What We Know We Say Read More »
John 1:29-42 How is Jesus recognised as the one sent by God? How do you know? How do we establish that it is indeed Jesus, who is the one who comes to establish God’s kingdom? The one who calls together a people in his name, who reconciles that people and through them the whole of …
John 10:22-30 In the Temple, the Jews (as John calls them) come up to Jesus, as they do from time to time, with a question, more of a request really, they say:“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”There is group of people, a category, maybe, of …
A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (08/05/22): Faith and the “Might-Believe” Read More »
John 20:19-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God.How does someone come to faith? How does anyone become a Christian? That would seem to …
A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter (24/04/22): Not just seeing that is believing. Read More »
John 12:1-8 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.This is a familiar scene. Time and again Jesus is the honoured guest at …
John 2:1-12 Jesus did this, the first of his signs in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.One of the characteristics of John’s telling of Jesus’ story are the “signs.” At key moments in his ministry Jesus does something, a miracle, a sign, which reveals, in action, some aspect …
A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Epiphany (16/01/22): His First Sign Read More »
John 18:33-37 Pilate asks Jesus two questions:Are you the king of the Jews?And then when he is not satisfied with Jesus’ first answer he asks him:What have you done? When Pilate asks, “Are you the king of the Jews?” it means something different for him than it does for the chief priests who put that …
John 51-58 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. Cannibalism is a universal human taboo. Eating human flesh offends and horrifies everyone. It is the domain of the deranged killer. The Hannibal Lectors of fiction and their very rare real …
John 6:24-35 Overnight there has been something of a game of cat and mouse. Jesus had slipped away from the crowd , who earlier in the day he had fed miraculously from five barley loaves and and two fish. The crowd had been so impressed with what they had seen Jesus do that they were …
A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (01/08/21): I am the bread of life Read More »