The Sadducees had only interacted with Jesus once before, when, characteristically, they had asked of him ‘a sign from heaven.’

It was then the evening of a long weary day of teaching.

From the bitter malice of his enemies and the predicted judgment upon them, we turn to the silent worship of she who gave her all.

They next attempted the much more dangerous device of bringing him into collision with the civil authorities.

This third day is so crowded, the actors introduced on the scene are so many

We know how often his nights had been spent in lonely prayer and surely that would have been the case with the first night in Passion week.

The time of the end had come.

But it was not as they had imagined.

Passover approached and so did his arrival in Jerusalem.

It was in the morning when he healed the blind man by the wayside

Finally, Jesus arrives in Judea.

And now it has fallen on the two chosen disciples, James and John, ‘the sons of thunder,’ to make a request,

They were off now to Jerusalem, but we see Jesus apart and alone

Peter seems to remind the Lord that they had forsaken all to follow him.

As we near the goal, the wondrous story seems to grow in tenderness and pathos

The next incident came straight afterwards.

The teachings concerning the coming of the Kingdom came immediately afterwards.

Jesus prepared for his last journey to Jerusalem.

The raising of Lazarus marks the highest point in the ministry of our Lord;

From the parables, we now turn to some more interactions which Jesus had at this point of his ministry.