Pears may not be at all mysterious to you, but they have been for me. One worth solving. The first sweet, juicy bite of a pear brings true joy to one’s tongue. The texture of a ripe pear, not crunchy like a honey crisp apple, with more body than a plum, quickly dissolves in your…
Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward, Chuza, participated in a three-day drama that changed the world. On the Friday of Passover, she, along with other women, witnessed Jesus’s Crucifixion and death, even though the eleven disciples were nowhere to be found. With that group of women witnesses, Joanna followed his body from the cross to his…
Early Christian missionaries Junia and her partner Andronicus traveled, like Paul, starting congregations and witnessing to Christ. According to Paul, they also served time in prison with him, likely because of their missionary work. We are not sure how literally to interpret Paul’s comment that they are his kin in one translation or his relatives…
I live in northern California. Way northern California, as in 280 miles north of San Francisco. The climate here is moderate, the most moderate in the continental United States. For gardeners that means an astonishing variety of plants grow here, making gardening marvelously satisfying. Summer has arrived and the garden is bursting with produce. This…
In only 24 words, we learn that Lydia was from the city of Thyatira (an ancient Greek city in Asia Minor), believed in God, and dealt in purple cloth. From other sources, we know that Thyatira was home to a significant Christian church as well as known for its dyeing facilities, which would relate to Lydia’s…
Unfamiliar to many of us, but famous in early Christianity, Thecla survived her mother’s betrayal, her betrothed’s treachery and the government’s condemnation. Her crime? She rejected marriage in favor of following Jesus. A Christian ascetic, one who submits to intense self-discipline and abstains from pleasure, Thecla was a role model for women. In all likelihood,…
Tentmaker, missionary, preacher, and host to congregations in her home, Priscilla’s missionary work stretched from Rome to Ephesus, perhaps to Syria. Paul said she “saved his neck,” was a coworker, and labeled her synergos, that is, a fellow leader, placing her the same category as Titus, Timothy, Mark and Luke. (Rom 16:3-4a) Priscilla (also known as…
A Samaritan woman went to Jacob’s well to draw water. Nothing special about getting water at a well, except it changed her life and the lives of others. At the well, a man told her to give him a drink. She pointed out that he was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan. This ethnic…
In one of the more dramatic scenes of the Passion, Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate, who is about to determine Jesus’ fate. Pilate has a tradition of releasing one prisoner at Passover. He offers to release Jesus, but the gathered crowd wants to release Barabbas, a notorious prisoner. While Pilate considers his options, he receives…
The Bible is sprinkled with fascinating, sometimes courageous, occasionally dynamic women and you may have never heard of them. Through my new blog series, I will cover a multitude of these women, and their stories, to better familiarize you with the often forgotten ladies of the bible. Meet Anna, an old widow who lived in the…