This volume consists of a series of notes on the lectionary readings for Year A. It sets out to do two things: first, to offer some basic background information to help the preacher make better sense of the text, and to set the lections in context, where that is needed. The second aim is to explore possible meanings of the scripture. The author begins with the presupposition that there is no such thing as the definitive meaning, which is the same for all time and for all readers. What scripture means to us depends on who we are, where we are standing and on what we bring to the task of elucidation. The meaning of the text lies often not merely in the words in front of us, but on the links they make with other parts of scripture, with our own experience, and with the experience of other readers throughout the centuries. With this in mind, the author sees it as his job to offer not hard and fast answers, but prompts towards possible lines of enquiry. None of this implies that we can make the text mean what we choose. Scripture is sovereign, and it is our task to read it and listen to what it says, not to what we would like it to say. It is the balance between the freedom which God gives us to interpret, and the discipline we need in order not to read our own desires into it, which the true preacher of the gospel must seek.