October 2009 – Page 4 – 300 words a day

the kingdom of heaven is a party, part 3

Thank you for your patience. I am walking us through this story in Matthew 22 very slowly. In fact, we are taking a week. Why? Because it is a story that can easily be misunderstood. I mean, you read this, “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their […]

by Jon Swanson

the kingdom of heaven is a party, part 2

Yesterday, we read that Jesus started telling a story about a wedding party for a king’s son. The party was ready and the king sent out servants to tell people that it was time to start. It was the phone call that says, “we are ready to start.” The invitees refused to come. So the […]

by Jon Swanson

the kingdom of heaven is a party, part 1

I need to be accurate and say, while I believe that to be true, that’s not exactly what Jesus says in Matthew 22. He says that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who planned a wedding reception for his son. Right from the start, Jesus connects with his audience. For the people who […]

by Jon Swanson

Looking back – October 5-9

A challenging passage At the time, the disciples weren’t concerned about why Jesus was killing a tree; they were stunned that he could make a tree die. Though we are familiar with Roundup, we would be stunned, too. In response, Jesus invites the disciples to believe that their words, with God’s affirmation, do things. Sometimes […]

by Jon Swanson

I know he wrote it but still

We’ve been walking through Matthew 21 for the past week or so. I mentioned once that Jesus was quoting from the Bible as it was then even as he was living what would become the next part of the Bible. (Said less confusingly, he was quoting what we know as the Old Testament while he […]