Lent Reading Plan: The Gospels in 40 Days

Best for: Lent 2027 (Ash Wednesday 10 February to Holy Saturday 27 March), or any forty days with the four Gospels.

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John read through in forty days, in canonical order. About two chapters a day, so each Gospel's story and emphasis stays in view from the first chapter to the empty tomb.

1. ✓

   Day 1

   Matthew 1-3

   Matthew 1Matthew 2Matthew 3

   Matthew begins with a genealogy from Abraham through David to Joseph, then Joseph's dreams, the magi, and the flight to Egypt. Notice how often Matthew pauses to say that something fulfilled what a prophet had spoken.

2. ✓

   Day 2

   Matthew 4-6

   Matthew 4Matthew 5Matthew 6

   After his baptism Jesus is tested in the wilderness and calls four fishermen. The Sermon on the Mount opens with the Beatitudes and turns to anger, oaths, enemies, quiet giving, and the prayer he teaches.

3. ✓

   Day 3

   Matthew 7-9

   Matthew 7Matthew 8Matthew 9

   The sermon closes with a narrow gate and a house built on rock. A string of healings follows, and Jesus eats with tax collectors, which troubles the Pharisees more than any of the miracles do.

4. ✓

   Day 4

   Matthew 10-12

   Matthew 10Matthew 11Matthew 12

   Jesus sends the twelve out with plain instructions and warnings of opposition. John asks from prison whether Jesus is the one, and Sabbath disputes lead the Pharisees to start plotting against him.

5. ✓

   Day 5

   Matthew 13-14

   Matthew 13Matthew 14

   Jesus teaches the crowds in parables from a boat: the sower, the weeds, the mustard seed, the pearl. Then his hometown takes offense, Herod has John beheaded, and five thousand are fed.

6. ✓

   Day 6

   Matthew 15-16

   Matthew 15Matthew 16

   An argument over handwashing gives way to a Canaanite woman whose persistence Jesus praises. After four thousand are fed, Peter names Jesus the Messiah, and Jesus begins to speak openly of his death.

7. ✓

   Day 7

   Matthew 17-18

   Matthew 17Matthew 18

   Peter, James and John see Jesus transfigured on a mountain, and below a boy is healed. Jesus sets a child among the disciples, then tells of a forgiven servant who refuses to forgive a small debt.

8. ✓

   Day 8

   Matthew 19-20

   Matthew 19Matthew 20

   Questions on divorce, a rich young man who leaves sad, and vineyard workers all paid the same wage. Notice that right after the third prediction of his death, the mother of James and John asks for the best seats for her sons.

9. ✓

   Day 9

   Matthew 21-22

   Matthew 21Matthew 22

   Jesus rides into Jerusalem, clears the temple, and is questioned about his authority. He answers with parables of two sons, tenants and a wedding feast, then turns aside traps on taxes and the resurrection.

10. ✓

    Day 10

    Matthew 23-24

    Matthew 23Matthew 24

    Jesus speaks a series of woes against the scribes and Pharisees and grieves over Jerusalem. On the Mount of Olives he speaks of the temple's fall and his coming, and tells the disciples to keep watch.

11. ✓

    Day 11

    Matthew 25-26

    Matthew 25Matthew 26

    Three parables on readiness end with the sheep and goats, where neither group knew whom they had served. Then the anointing at Bethany, the Last Supper, Gethsemane, the arrest, and Peter's denials.

12. ✓

    Day 12

    Matthew 27-28

    Matthew 27Matthew 28

    Jesus is handed to Pilate, mocked, and crucified, and the temple curtain is torn. The women find the tomb empty, and on a mountain in Galilee the risen Jesus sends the eleven to make disciples of all nations.

13. ✓

    Day 13

    Mark 1-3

    Mark 1Mark 2Mark 3

    Mark moves fast, with no birth story: John, the baptism, the testing, and a busy Sabbath in Capernaum. Notice how quickly opposition gathers, so that by chapter 3 some are already plotting against Jesus.

14. ✓

    Day 14

    Mark 4-6

    Mark 4Mark 5Mark 6

    Parables of seeds, a storm stilled, a man freed from a legion of spirits, and a dying girl raised while a woman is healed on the way. Nazareth doubts him, and John the Baptist is killed.

15. ✓

    Day 15

    Mark 7-8

    Mark 7Mark 8

    Jesus challenges traditions about defilement and heals a Gentile woman's daughter and a deaf man. Notice the blind man at Bethsaida who sees in two stages, just before Peter only partly understands who Jesus is.

16. ✓

    Day 16

    Mark 9-10

    Mark 9Mark 10

    After the transfiguration the disciples cannot heal a boy, and they argue about who is greatest. Jesus welcomes children, a rich man walks away, and blind Bartimaeus asks for sight and follows on the road.

17. ✓

    Day 17

    Mark 11-12

    Mark 11Mark 12

    Jesus enters Jerusalem, and Mark sets the cursing of a fig tree around the clearing of the temple so each scene interprets the other. Challenges follow on authority, taxes and resurrection, and a widow gives two small coins.

18. ✓

    Day 18

    Mark 13-14

    Mark 13Mark 14

    Jesus warns of the temple's destruction and tells the disciples to stay alert. A woman anoints him at Bethany, he shares the Passover, prays in Gethsemane, and a young man runs away as he is arrested.

19. ✓

    Day 19

    Mark 15-16

    Mark 15Mark 16

    Pilate hands Jesus over, and at the cross a Roman centurion names him the Son of God. The women find the tomb empty and flee in fear; the earliest manuscripts of Mark end at 16:8.

20. ✓

    Day 20

    Luke 1-3

    Luke 1Luke 2Luke 3

    Luke writes an orderly account for Theophilus, setting the births of John and Jesus side by side. Notice the songs of Mary and Zechariah, the shepherds, the boy Jesus in the temple, and a genealogy reaching back to Adam.

21. ✓

    Day 21

    Luke 4-6

    Luke 4Luke 5Luke 6

    Jesus reads from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue and is nearly thrown from a cliff. He heals, calls Peter after a large catch of fish, chooses the twelve, and teaches the Sermon on the Plain.

22. ✓

    Day 22

    Luke 7-8

    Luke 7Luke 8

    A centurion's faith, a widow's son raised at Nain, and a woman forgiven at a Pharisee's table. Luke names the women who supported Jesus from their own means, then tells of the sower and a storm on the lake.

23. ✓

    Day 23

    Luke 9-10

    Luke 9Luke 10

    The twelve are sent out, five thousand are fed, and Jesus is transfigured. At 9:51 he resolutely sets out for Jerusalem, and on the way come the seventy-two, the good Samaritan, and Martha and Mary.

24. ✓

    Day 24

    Luke 11-12

    Luke 11Luke 12

    Jesus teaches his disciples to pray and tells of a friend knocking at midnight. Notice the rich fool who builds bigger barns, set beside the call not to worry about food and clothing.

25. ✓

    Day 25

    Luke 13-14

    Luke 13Luke 14

    Jesus heals a bent woman on the Sabbath and laments over Jerusalem. At a Pharisee's dinner he talks about places at the table and a great banquet whose invited guests make excuses.

26. ✓

    Day 26

    Luke 15-16

    Luke 15Luke 16

    Three stories of lost things found: a sheep, a coin, and a younger son. Notice the older brother left standing outside, then the shrewd manager and the rich man who never saw Lazarus at his gate.

27. ✓

    Day 27

    Luke 17-18

    Luke 17Luke 18

    Ten lepers are healed and only a Samaritan returns to give thanks. Jesus tells of a persistent widow and of a Pharisee and a tax collector praying in the temple, and a rich ruler goes away sad.

28. ✓

    Day 28

    Luke 19-20

    Luke 19Luke 20

    Zacchaeus climbs a tree to see Jesus and gives away half his goods. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as he enters it, clears the temple, and answers questions about authority, taxes and the resurrection.

29. ✓

    Day 29

    Luke 21-22

    Luke 21Luke 22

    Jesus notices a poor widow's gift and speaks of the temple's coming fall. At the Last Supper the disciples argue about greatness, and on the Mount of Olives he prays before his arrest and Peter's denial.

30. ✓

    Day 30

    Luke 23-24

    Luke 23Luke 24

    Pilate and Herod both find no case against Jesus, and a criminal on a cross asks to be remembered. On Easter evening two disciples walk to Emmaus with a stranger they recognize only as he breaks bread.

31. ✓

    Day 31

    John 1-3

    John 1John 2John 3

    John opens with the Word who was with God from the beginning. Notice the first signs at a wedding in Cana, the temple cleared early in John's account, and Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night.

32. ✓

    Day 32

    John 4-5

    John 4John 5

    Jesus talks with a Samaritan woman at a well, and many in her town come to believe. He heals an official's son and a man by the pool of Bethesda, and the Sabbath healing provokes a long dispute.

33. ✓

    Day 33

    John 6-7

    John 6John 7

    After feeding five thousand, Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life, and many disciples leave. At the Festival of Booths the crowds are divided over whether he is the Messiah.

34. ✓

    Day 34

    John 8-9

    John 8John 9

    The story of the woman caught in adultery, at 7:53 to 8:11, is absent from the earliest manuscripts. Jesus calls himself the light of the world, then heals a man born blind who is questioned and expelled.

35. ✓

    Day 35

    John 10-11

    John 10John 11

    Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd who knows his sheep. At Bethany he weeps with Mary and Martha and raises Lazarus, and that sign leads the council to plan his death.

36. ✓

    Day 36

    John 12-13

    John 12John 13

    Mary anoints Jesus with costly perfume, and the crowds greet him in Jerusalem. Notice that at the final meal John records no bread and cup but Jesus washing his disciples' feet.

37. ✓

    Day 37

    John 14-15

    John 14John 15

    Jesus tells troubled disciples that he is the way to the Father and promises the Spirit as an advocate. Then the image of the vine and branches, and a command to love one another as he has loved them.

38. ✓

    Day 38

    John 16-17

    John 16John 17

    Jesus prepares the disciples for his going away and says their grief will turn to joy. Chapter 17 is a long prayer, for himself, for the disciples, and for those who will believe through them.

39. ✓

    Day 39

    John 18-19

    John 18John 19

    Jesus is arrested in a garden and questioned by Annas and Pilate, who asks what truth is. Notice how John shows Jesus in control throughout, carrying his own cross and handing over his spirit.

40. ✓

    Day 40

    John 20-21

    John 20John 21

    Mary Magdalene meets the risen Jesus in the garden, and Thomas moves from doubt to confession. By the lake Jesus cooks breakfast and asks Peter three times whether he loves him.