grace – 300 words a day

especially not after them

Is it better to say “no” and then do what you are asked or is it better to say “yes” and then not get around to it? That’s the heart of a “two brothers” story that Jesus tells. Their dad asks them to work in the vineyard. One argues, one agrees. One goes, one doesn’t. […]

by Jon Swanson

What Jesus said about divorce, part two

It is sin. You were waiting for that, weren’t you? You were wondering where I was going to go, how I was going to spin what Jesus says. You read my post yesterday about Jesus and divorce. You were wondering how you were going to classify me, whether I was going to measure up or […]

by Jon Swanson

unexpected grace

I understand why we have the pictures we do of God. Angry, authoritarian, destructive. There are stories of people dying throughout the Bible that seem to point us that way. While I could debate those right now, I’d like to offer a couple of other stories to think about. Moses is the leader of the […]

by Jon Swanson

friend of Judas

We know little about Simon the Zealot. I mean, we can read about the Zealots as a political movement in first century CE Israel. We can read about their desire to throw Rome out, to take Israel back. But we know little about him other than that he is listed with the twelve disciples every […]