Matthew – 300 words a day

more urgent

(I wrote this a decade ago. I think it is still of value for reflection.) I heard this today: “Forming people in Christ as a slow work, so it can’t be hurried; it is an urgent work, so it can’t be delayed.” Eugene Peterson said it. He’s the pastor and teacher who “wrote” The Message. […]

by Jon Swanson

Advent 23: Hungry and rich

Levi had a pretty good job, at least financially. He collected taxes. When you have the Roman army backing you up, you can make a comfortable living collecting taxes. You don’t have many friends, other than tax collectors and other people who have money but are socially unacceptable. But there is, I’m guessing, a sense […]

by Jon Swanson

follow me.

Matthew could have made it complicated. Matthew could have made it clear. Matthew is telling the story of his own decision to follow Jesus. He could have provided lots of background about what his life had been like, what his business practices were. He could have provided us with pictures of his heart, his soul, […]

by Jon Swanson

Descriptive

[Matthew 3:4-5] We want to know what to do. Some of us, anyway, when we become part of a group or we have a new identity or we are starting fresh, we want to know what to do. We want to know what the rules are, what it takes to fit in, to measure up. […]

by Jon Swanson

Do something.

(Matthew 3: 1-4) The first word that John (the baptizer) says, as recorded by Matthew anyway, is ‘repent.’ I’m guessing that it wasn’t the first word he ever spoke, mind you. John was fully human. He would have done and said everything that a child says and does. But John grew up knowing that he […]