The power of group faith, Explaining the death of a believer, Jesus healing on the Sabbath

In this episode of Ask N.T. Wright Anything, Tom Wright and Mike Bird tackle three deeply pastoral and theologically rich listener questions:

1. The Power of Group Faith - What does it mean that Jesus “saw their faith” when friends brought a paralysed man to Him (Matthew 9 / Mark 2)? Tom unpacks how corporate faith creates a context of trust in which God works, and why Western individualism often makes us ask the wrong questions about “whose” faith counts.
2. How to Talk About Death to Children - How should we speak about the death of a believer - especially to kids - without just saying “Grandma’s in heaven now”? Drawing on God’s Homecoming, Tom explains the biblical hope of being “with Christ” now and awaiting the resurrection in God’s new creation, and explores how this changes our language of comfort and grief.
3. Why Does John Emphasise Healings on the Sabbath? - Elaine from Oregon notices that John’s Gospel repeatedly highlights healings done on the Sabbath. Tom shows how John presents Jesus as the fulfilment of both temple and Sabbath, bringing God’s new age - His future world of justice, peace, and restoration - crashing into the present.

Along the way, Tom explains why he’s cautious about the word miracle, how biblical eschatology and pastoral care belong together, and what it means to say that Jesus is the Sabbath and temple in person.