Carrying on the Work of Love and Justice
We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our supporters for your support of Renewed Heart Ministry’s work of love, justice, and compassion. At a time when ministries like ours are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, your support is so deeply appreciated, and we want to simply say thank you. Whether in our larger society or within our local faith communities, Renewed Heart Ministries remains committed to advocating for change, working towards a world that is inclusive, just, and safe for everyone, and being a source of love. From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, thank you for your generous support. We deeply appreciate you.
If you’d like to join them in supporting our work, please go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”
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Carrying on the Work of Love and Justice
Herb Montgomery | May 30, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this weekend is from Luke’s version of the ascension:
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (Luke 24:44-53)
Our reading this week is from Luke. It would be amiss to speak of the ascension in Luke without mentioning how the other gospels approach the end of Jesus’ story. Originally, Mark’s gospel had no ascension. It ends with the women at the tomb:
Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. (Mark 16:8)
In Matthew, the ascension takes place in Galilee not Jerusalem:
Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” (Matthew 28:7)
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” (Matthew 28:10)
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20)
The gospel of John includes multiple stories about Jesus appearing after the resurrection but has no ascension story.
Luke’s gospel does have an ascension. Unlike Matthew’s version, Luke’s ascension story doesn’t take place in Galilee, but in Jerusalem. All of the disciples then stay in Jerusalem, not Galilee, until Pentecost, when they receive the Holy Spirit. Matthew’s version of the Jesus story, remember, was written for the community of Jesus followers in the region of Galilee, so its ending there makes sense. Luke and Acts were instead written for the community of Jesus followers in Judea. That community was centered in Jerusalem and expanded out into more cosmopolitan regions of the Roman Empire. Its alternative ending makes sense, too, given the community it was written for. Both communities had a story that encouraged them to keep following Jesus in ways relevant to their location. For Luke’s readers, it was important to ground the Jesus story in the tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures.
If the key story details of Jesus’ suffering, resurrection, repentance, forgiveness in this week’s reading sound familiar, creedal even, it’s because this was one of the passages that influenced what ultimately became the Apostles’ creed. Today these words show us today what the goals of that first century Lukan Jesus community were. The phrase “repentance for the forgiveness of sins” begins in Luke with John the Baptist:
He [John] went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luke 3:3)
And it’s that message that Jesus and then the apostles under the gift of the Holy Spirit were to take to the ends of the world:
“You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
The Lukan Jesus community saw their community becoming more metropolitan, and they believed that their community should expand beyond their roots in Jewish culture and scripture to bring Jesus’ teachings to the entire world.
Again, the repentance for the forgiveness of sins that they taught had a quality that began with John the Baptist in Luke 3. John’s repentance was not for personal, private, individual sins. John called his listeners to a repentance for community sins, social and political choices, that were not only making the most marginalized vulnerable to harm, but also being the conduits of that harm as well. The elite, the powerful, propertied, and privileged, had become complicit with the Roman empire’s exploitation and extraction of the masses in Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. John then came, echoing the Hebrew prophets, calling for national repentance for national sins in the hopes that the people would experience national forgiveness. Remember, this forgiveness was to start in Jerusalem and go to the end of the world.
In the Hebrew scriptures, forgiveness did not mean being allowed to go to heaven when one dies. It meant liberation from oppression here on earth, violence being replaced with safety and peace, and injustice giving way to compassion and equity. It meant social healing, not private, personal, individual benefit that was separate from everyone else.
Consider how forgiveness is treated in the books of Chronicles:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways [repent], then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
That forgiveness isn’t connected to a post mortem destination later, but to healing of their land in this life, and it was not simply for Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, but also for the entire world.
A more vernacular way of describing the “healing of the land” today would be to speak of societal healing. This healing was to live on in the lives of the Jesus followers who would now carry on the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone. Three components of that work are worth singling out today.
The first is Jesus’ emphasis on community. In the Jewish language of the 1st Century, the gospels refer to community as “the kingdom.” While the label of “kingdom” is problematic for us today, for Jesus in the gospels, it meant a community where the reign of love and compassion dictated our societal decisions. It was a society where love and compassion governed the distribution of resources with the hope of being distributively just. (See the stories at the beginning of the book of Acts.)
The second is that the heart of this community was the value of those presently being socially marginalized and excluded. Liberation theologians refer to this as a “preferential option for the poor.” The ethic of prioritizing those being marginalized begins with the poor and today should also include those excluded because of race, gender, orientation, culture, education, and more. Any time someone is being marginalized, scapegoated, or pushed to the undersides and edges of our collective life together, Jesus’ teachings call us to prioritize that group to restore equity. In the gospels, Jesus’ God loves all people equally. That love should lead us to have a unique concern for the distinct needs of all who are marginalized.
And third, Jesus’ teachings were much more than a list of things to believe. Jesus taught his followers how to live. His teachings weren’t ways to gain the favor of a divine being or gain entrance into paradise. They were ways to live in response to the immense suffering of those around them. Consider these words from Jesus-following communities carrying on his teachings:
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17).
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?” (1 John 3:17)
Notice these actions were not centered around a debate of personal piety. They were in response the material needs of those around them.
This gives Jesus followers today much to ponder. Are we seeking to make our world a better place for all or are the lives of those who are different from us less safe and just because of our actions? If we don’t start here, anything more is pointless.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. What does repentance for societal sins and forgiveness for societal sins look like to you this week? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.
My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.
As always, you can find Renewed Heart Ministries each week on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s Threads. If you haven’t done so already, please follow us on your chosen social media platforms for our daily posts.
Thank you for listening to The Social Jesus Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to like and subscribe and if the podcast platform you’re using offers this option, please leave us a positive review. This helps others find our podcast as well.
You can watch our YouTube show each week called “Just Talking”. Each week, Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking.
Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.
And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!
Lectionary Readings in the context of Love, Inclusion, & Social Justice
Season 3, Episode 13: Luke 24.44-53. Lectionary C, Easter 7 (Ascension of the Lord)
Each week, we’ll discuss the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and justice. We hope that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that we’ll be inspired to do more than “just talking” during our brief conversations each week.
If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out.
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 2 Episode 22: Carrying on the Work of Love and Justice
Luke 24:44-53
“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins that they taught had a quality that began with John the Baptist in Luke 3. John’s repentance was not for personal, private, individual sins. John called his listeners to a repentance for community sins, social and political choices, that were not only making the most marginalized vulnerable to harm, but also being the conduits of that harm as well. The elite, the powerful, propertied, and privileged, had become complicit with the Roman empire’s exploitation and extraction of the masses in Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. John then came, echoing the Hebrew prophets, calling for national repentance for national sins in the hopes that the people would experience national forgiveness. In the Hebrew scriptures, forgiveness did not mean being allowed to go to heaven when one dies. It meant liberation from oppression here on earth, violence being replaced with safety and peace, and injustice giving way to compassion and equity. It meant social healing, not private, personal, individual benefit that was separate from everyone else. That forgiveness isn’t connected to a post mortem destination later, but to healing of their land in this life. A more vernacular way of describing the “healing of the land” today would be to speak of societal healing for societal sins being committed right now.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/carrying-on-the-work-of-love-and-justice
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
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The Jesus Story and Living with Disabilities
We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our supporters for your support of Renewed Heart Ministry’s work of love, justice, and compassion. At a time when ministries like ours are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, your support is so deeply appreciated, and we want to simply say thank you. Whether in our larger society or within our local faith communities, Renewed Heart Ministries remains committed to advocating for change, working towards a world that is inclusive, just, and safe for everyone, and being a source of love. From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, thank you for your generous support. We deeply appreciate you.
If you’d like to join them in supporting our work, please go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”
Image created by Canva
The Jesus Story and Living with Disabilities
Herb Montgomery | May 23, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this week is from the gospel of John:
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,” (John 5:1-9)
In her book The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability, Nancy Eiseland writes, “Living with a disability is difficult. Acknowledging this difficulty is not a defeat, I have learned, but a hard-won accomplishment in learning to live a life that is not disabled. The difficulty for people with disabilities has two parts really—living our ordinary, but difficult lives, and changing structures, beliefs, and attitudes that prevent us from living ordinarily” (Italics/emphasis added, p. 13). This week, I want to push back against two things that make “living ordinarily” difficult for folks with disabilities: the way the Jesus story was originally written and specific Christian attitudes and beliefs.
First, I understand that whomever the gospel authors were, they were writing the versions of the Jesus story in our sacred canon today within the context and setting of their own time and culture. I get that. Nonetheless, how the Jesus story is often told when it comes to folks with disabilities is still damaging. We can tell the Jesus story in a more life-giving way for this community, and we must. It’s not optional. Everyone will eventually experience disability. It makes sense to address and ease this experience that is or will be so common, and does impact everyone in some way whether as care receiver or caregiver.
Let me give you just one example of the four gospels’s language. When Matthew’s gospel refers to religious leaders that were complicit in political and economic harm against the vulnerable people in Jesus’ society, it portrays Jesus telling the people, “Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14).
In passages like this, the gospels use blindness, deafness, the inability to speak, and the inability to walk as metaphors for something sinful or erroneous while characterizing mobility, vision, and hearing ability as righteous, whole, just, or holy. This language characterizes folks who live their daily lives with any of these disabilities as somehow of less worth or value. And it is akin to how Blackness is often equated with evil or sin (i.e. “the black sheep of the family) while whiteness and light is equated with righteousness or holiness. These racial implications have been promoted by those who subscribe to White supremacy for centuries. But it’s not especially righteous to have no disabilities. Being disabled is not a metaphor for being evil, sinful, or broken.
In this week’s passage, John’s gospel uses the man who couldn’t walk to set up a conflict between Jesus and the powerful in his society over Jesus healing the man on the Sabbath and Jesus’ relation to the Divine. I wish the gospel writers had given this man a name in a way that would have affirmed his humanity and worth, but he is instead presented as a nameless narrative object that only serves as a plot point in the larger story. This pattern also repeats in the gospels. The synoptic example is in Mark 2:1-12, and both Mark and John include a variation of Jesus’ instruction: “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home” (Mark 2:11, cf. John 5:8). In Mark, the story of Jesus healing a man who could not walk is at the center of a discussion on forgiveness. Here in John, it is used to discuss Sabbath observance and Jesus’ divinity: “For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18).
Over and over, disabilities are a theme in the gospels. The gospel authors characterize Jesus as reversing disabilities and using disabilities as a metaphor for things we need liberation from. And the gospel authors use Jesus’ interaction with people with disabilities to provide a context for other theological debate of that time.
Although I wish the gospel authors had handled disabilities with greater care, the evidence Jesus repeatedly gives for the authenticity of his teachings is his interactions with people living in poverty and people living with disabilities.
For example, when John the Baptist’s disciples question whether Jesus was really the one they had been looking for, Jesus replies, “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Matthew 11:5, cf. Luke 7:22). In Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ gospel is defined in itself as good news the poor, liberation for the oppressed, and the restoration of sight for the blind (see Luke 4:18). This challenges me another level.
I grew up in Christianity, and heard the gospel more times than I can count. But it wasn’t until much later, as an adult, that I ever heard the gospel as good news for the poor or good news to people living with disabilities. The good news was presented to me as universal, for all, poor and rich alike, because it had precious little to do with the material, economic, or political world around us. The gospel I grew up hearing about had zero specific application to the poor or those with disabilities, because it was solely about giving everyone forgiveness of sins and the assurance of heaven. That forgiveness and assurance never needs to mention poverty or disabilities, and in fact, the gospel I grew up with never did.
Where does this leave us today who want to return to a more consistent definition of what it means to follow the Jesus in the story?
Let’s briefly consider the gospel stories’ approach to the two groups Jesus’ gospel is good news for. First, people living in poverty. Jesus understood that poverty is created by systems that the powerful and propertied create. His efforts in regards to poverty were systemic and communal, not private and individual. He called for the reinstatement of the Torah’s jubilee where debts would cancelled and lands returned to families who originally owned them. His call to deeper Torah fidelity in relation to economic justice was a call to radically redistribute wealth. And along the path toward that redistribution, he called those who had more then they needed to share their resources with those whose needs were not being met. It was a combination of systemic change and mutual aid on the way to change.
For people with disabilities, his approach was similar. While there are stories of Jesus healing individuals and liberating them from their private and societal struggles to live life to the fullest, he also called for change in how his society thought about and treated people living with disabilities.
He challenged societal exclusion and pushed toward accessibility:
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.” (Luke 14:13)
He challenged how the exclusionary practice of those in power and how they related to those who had been excluded because of their disabilities:
“See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” (Mark 1:44)
And he challenged the theology behind how his society thought about and treated people with disabilities:
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus. (John 9:1-3)
Healing or removing a disability as Jesus did for so many in these stories is not an option for many if not most of us today. But we can take a cue from the narratives and challenge theologies that shape the exclusion and mistreatment of those with disabilities. We can also push for accessibility and inclusion for fellow members of this diverse human family who live with disabilities, whether in our faith communities or in society.
The Jesus story is complicated when it comes to our theology, practice, understanding, and relationship to our own disabilities and/or the disabilities of others. The Jesus story isn’t perfect on this topic, but there is still good we can glean from it to inform our justice work with and for people with disabilities today. No one throws away an apple because it has a core. You just eat the good flesh and discard the rest. There is good, too, in the Jesus story here: good that still calls us to create a safer, more accessible, more just, more compassionate world that is home for everyone, regardless of our differences.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. In what ways do you feel the Jesus story could be told in more in more life giving ways for folks living with disabilities? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.
My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.
As always, you can find Renewed Heart Ministries each week on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s Threads. If you haven’t done so already, please follow us on your chosen social media platforms for our daily posts.
Thank you for listening to The Social Jesus Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to like and subscribe and if the podcast platform you’re using offers this option, please leave us a positive review. This helps others find our podcast as well.
You can watch our YouTube show each week called “Just Talking”. Each week, Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking.
Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.
And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!
Lectionary Readings in the context of Love, Inclusion, & Social Justice
Season 3, Episode 12: John 5.1-9. Lectionary C, Easter 6
Each week, we’ll discuss the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and justice. We hope that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that we’ll be inspired to do more than “just talking” during our brief conversations each week.
If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out.
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 2 Episode 21: The Jesus Story and Living with Disabilities
John 5:1-9
“Healing or removing a disability as Jesus did for so many in these stories is not an option for many if not most of us today. But we can take a cue from the narratives and challenge theologies that shape the exclusion and mistreatment of those with disabilities. We can also push for accessibility and inclusion for fellow members of this diverse human family who live with disabilities, whether in our faith communities or in society. The Jesus story is complicated when it comes to our theology, practice, understanding, and relationship to our own disabilities and/or the disabilities of others. The Jesus story isn’t perfect on this topic, but there is still good we can glean from it to inform our justice work with and for people with disabilities today. No one throws away an apple because it has a core. You just eat the good flesh and discard the rest. There is good, too, in the Jesus story here: good that still calls us to create a safer, more accessible, more just, more compassionate world that is home for everyone, regardless of our differences.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
Are you getting all of RHM’s Free Resources?
Free Sign Up Here
Loving One Another and Distributive Justice
We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our supporters for your support of Renewed Heart Ministry’s work of love, justice, and compassion. At a time when ministries like ours are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, your support is so deeply appreciated, and we want to simply say thank you. Whether in our larger society or within our local faith communities, Renewed Heart Ministries remains committed to advocating for change, working towards a world that is inclusive, just, and safe for everyone, and being a source of love. From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, thank you for your generous support. We deeply appreciate you.
If you’d like to join them in supporting our work, please go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”
Image created by Canva
Loving One Another and Distributive Justice
Herb Montgomery | May 16, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this week is from the gospel of John:
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
(John 13:31-35)
Loving one another was a central value in the Johannine community. We see evidence of this in all their writings in our sacred canon. One example is in 1 John 4:8:
“The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
In the short film Journey to Liberation: The Legacy of Womanist Theology, which I watched last year, Dr. Emile M. Townes states, “When you start with an understanding that God loves everyone, justice isn’t very far behind.” This statement resonated so deeply for me that it brought tears to my eyes.
Before I became an ally to trans people, and before falling out with many of our early followers, I had spent years speaking, writing, and teaching on the universal love of God for everyone (see Finding the Father.) Yet one response I repeatedly heard during our transition as a ministry was that people couldn’t understand what made us shift from God’s love to God’s justice. I spent countless hours trying to help folks understand that love means justice. They aren’t separate! Justice is the fruit of love, and you can’t genuinely have one without the other. As Cornel West famously stated, “Justice is what love looks like in public.”
What do I mean by the term justice?
Justice is distributive. Speaking of how the Hebrew scriptures define justice, John Dominic Crossan writes, “The primary meaning of ‘justice’ is not retributive, but distributive. To be just means to distribute everything fairly” (John Dominic Crossan, The Greatest Prayer: Rediscovering the Revolutionary Message of the Lord’s Prayer, p. 2).
If we believe in universal love in our time, why wouldn’t that belief lead us toward compassion, action, and ensuring a distributive justice for all?
Distributive justice in the early Jesus communities was the outgrowth of Jesus’ teaching of a God that loves all universally:
“Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!” (Luke 12:24)
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!” (Luke 12:27-28)
“[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:45)
Jesus’ God universally loved even the ravens and lilies, therefore Jesus envisions God as also concerned with distributive justice for us. For Jesus, God’s love was at the root of God’s radical vision for a world in which all had enough.
A God who indiscriminately loves is also a God who indiscriminately and justly sends rain and sunshine on the objects of that love. Jesus is standing firmly in his own Jewish tradition when he connects love and distributive justice. Consider these passages from the Hebrew prophets where love and distributive justice are intrinsically connected:
“In love a throne will be established;
in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
one from the house of David—
one who in judging seeks justice
and speeds the cause of righteousness.” (Isaiah 16:5, emphasis added.)
“But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.” (Hosea 12:6, emphasis added.)
Calling for distributive justice was a way in which the Hebrew prophets spoke truth to power:
“For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.” (Isaiah 61:8)
“Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:15)
“Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.” (Isaiah 1:17)
As we mentioned last week, it is this preoccupation with distributive justice that defines whether someone in the Hebrew culture “knew God.”
“He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?”
declares the LORD (Jeremiah 22:16)
Jeremiah states that someone’s understanding of the Divine should inevitably work its way out in whether they defend the oppressed and vulnerable rather than drive oppression, marginalization, and/or exploitation. According to Jeremiah, to know the Hebrew God accurately is to defend the vulnerable. Gustavo Gutiérrez confirms this interpretation:
“For the prophets this demand was inseparable from the denunciation of social injustice and from the vigorous assertion that God is known only by doing justice. (A Theology of Liberation: 15th Anniversary Edition, p. 134)
Gutiérrez also writes, “To know God is to work for justice. There is no other path to reach God.” (Ibid., p. 156)
The Hebrew sacred text is repeatedly concerned with a societal, distributive justice (see Exodus 21:2; Exodus 22:21-23; Exodus 22:25; Exodus 23:9; Exodus 23:11, Exodus 23:12; Leviticus 19:9-10; Leviticus 19:34; Leviticus 23:22; Leviticus 25:2-7; Leviticus 25:10; Leviticus 25:23; Leviticus 25:35-37; Leviticus 26:13; Leviticus 26:34-35; Deuteronomy 5:14; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 10:19; Deuteronomy 14:28-29; Deuteronomy 15:1-18; Deuteronomy 24:19-21; Deuteronomy 26:12; 2 Kings 23:35; Nehemiah 5:1-5; Job 24.2-12, 14; Isaiah 3:14; Isaiah 5:23; Isaiah 10:1-2; Jeremiah 5:27; Jeremiah 5:28; Jeremiah 6:12; Jeremiah 22:13-17; Ezekiel 22:29; Hosea 12:6-8; Amos 2.6-7; Amos 4:1; Amos 5:7; Amos 5:11-12; Amos 8:5-6; Micah 2:1-3; Micah 3:1-2; Micah 3:9-11; Micah 6:10-11; Micah 6.12; and Habakkuk 2:5-6).
This tradition continues in the more Jewish portions of the New Testament texts (see Luke 6:24-25; Luke 12:13-21; Luke 16:19-31; Luke 18:18-26; and James 2:5-9).
It makes perfect sense, then, that a Jewish prophet of the poor from Galilee who in the 1st Century traversed the region teaching about a God who loved ravens, lilies and all people too would live, teach, minister, protest, and be crucified in profound solidarity with those suffering injustice in his society.
If we define politics as the distribution of resources and power, the gospel has real political implications that we must not hide or hide from. The portions of the New Testament believed to have been written by the Johannine community are the portions of the New Testament most preoccupied with defining God as “Love.” They don’t miss the connection between love and justice either:
“How can the love of God be in anyone who has material goods and sees a sibling in need and yet refuses help? . . . Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” (1 John 3:17-18)
I want to close this week with one more statement by Gustavo Gutiérrez that it would be well for us to spend this coming week contemplating:
“This does not detract from the Gospel news; rather it enriches the political sphere. Moreover, the life and death of Jesus are no less evangelical because of their political connotations. His testimony and his message acquire this political dimension precisely because of the radicalness of their salvific character: to preach the universal love of the Father is inevitably to go against all injustice, privilege, oppression, or narrow nationalism. (A Theology of Liberation: 15th Anniversary Edition, p. 135).
Those who believe they understand God’s love should be the loudest in the room opposing the injustices of classism, racism, misogyny, patriarchy, bigotry to and erasure of our LGBTQ siblings, and more. To believe in universal love is to work for a distributive, societal justice for those who are the objects of that universal love. As James Baldwin wrote in The Fire Next Time, ”If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.”
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. How are love and justice instrinsically connected for you? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.
My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.
As always, you can find Renewed Heart Ministries each week on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s Threads. If you haven’t done so already, please follow us on your chosen social media platforms for our daily posts.
Thank you for listening to The Social Jesus Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to like and subscribe and if the podcast platform you’re using offers this option, please leave us a positive review. This helps others find our podcast as well.
You can watch our YouTube show each week called “Just Talking”. Each week, Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking.
Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.
And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!
Lectionary Readings in the context of Love, Inclusion, & Social Justice
New Episodes each week!
Each week, we’ll discuss the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and justice. We hope that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that we’ll be inspired to do more than “just talking” during our brief conversations each week.
If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking/videos
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 2 Episode 20: Loving One Another and Distributive Justice
John 13:31-35
“Before I became an ally to trans people, and before falling out with many of our early followers, I had spent years speaking, writing, and teaching on the universal love of God for everyone. Yet one response I repeatedly heard during our transition as a ministry was that people couldn’t understand what made us shift from God’s love to God’s justice. I spent countless hours trying to help folks understand that love means justice. They aren’t separate! Justice is the fruit of love, and you can’t genuinely have one without the other. As Cornel West famously stated, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Those who believe they understand God’s love should be the loudest in the room opposing the injustices of classism, racism, misogyny, patriarchy, bigotry to and erasure of our LGBTQ siblings, and more. To believe in universal love is to work for a distributive, societal justice for those who are the objects of that universal love.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/loving-one-another-and-distributive-justice
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
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A Shepherd Restoring Paradise
We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our supporters for your support of Renewed Heart Ministry’s work of love, justice, and compassion. At a time when ministries like ours are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, your support is so deeply appreciated, and we want to simply say thank you. Whether in our larger society or within our local faith communities, Renewed Heart Ministries remains committed to advocating for change, working towards a world that is inclusive, just, and safe for everyone, and being a source of love. From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, thank you for your generous support. We deeply appreciate you.
If you’d like to join them in supporting our work, please go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”
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A Shepherd Restoring Paradise
Herb Montgomery | May 9, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this week is from the gospel of John:
Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem.
It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:22-30)
The context of our reading is the Gate and Shepherd image from John 10. Let’s take a moment to understand that context:
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” (John 10:1-18)
In this chapter, Jesus was not just a gateway, but also the only gateway through which to enter. This was a fitting image for the Johannine community given their proto-gnostic beliefs. It was also meaningful for them to describe Jesus as a shepherd. They used the shepherd imagery like other communities of Jesus-followers (see Matthew 11:28-30). What I appreciate about John’s use is the connection Jesus makes to life and life in its fullest expression. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” St. Irenaeus, a great second-century theologian, is noted for the phrase, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” The late Gustavo Gutiérrez is also remembered for connecting injustice and poverty with death. In his teachings on the gospel’s preferential option for the poor, Gutiérrez often referred to poverty as an early and unjust death. He reportedly said, “To be poor is to be familiar with death. It is very easy to see these things when we are working with poor persons. They speak with familiarity about death, the deaths of children or other persons because it is so frequent. Certainly, death is one aspect of human life, but I am speaking of early and unjust death. Poverty means physical death due to hunger, diseases and other factors. The poor are familiar with these other aspects of death.”
In fact, the economic injustice of poverty is not alone in its connection to death. All injustice falls somewhere on death’s spectrum. To say that Jesus came to show us the path of life so that we might have life and have it to the full also must mean that this same path points toward the way of love and justice.
I appreciate John’s use of the shepherd imagery in connection with Jesus. Where John’s gospel’s uses the shepherd imagery in a more mystical way, with Jesus leading us into knowledge of the way (gnosis), the synoptics’ use of this imagery is more tangible and tied to how this imagery was used in the Hebrew prophetic justice tradition. In Ezekiel for example, this imagery is used to critique those in positions of power who should have taken care of those they were responsible for. Instead, these same leaders were “slaughtering the flock” for their own consumption.
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.” (Ezekiel 34:2-6)
The good shepherd imagery in the synoptic gospels is referencing verses like these in Ezekiel. In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, likening Jesus to a shepherd meant he would gather those who had been scattered by the injustice of the Temple rulers who were complicit with Rome’s exploitation of the masses.
In Ezekiel we read the promised hope of restoration:
“As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness . . . I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice . . . I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.” (Ezekiel 34:12, 14, 23)
The early Jesus community held this imagery dear. Jesus, to them, was a shepherd who would restore the flock “with justice” as Ezekiel states. Perhaps the author of our reading this week contemplated this passage in Ezekiel. Regardless, shepherd imagery wasn’t used to describe whisking people away to a distant heaven but to describe restoring justice here “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). It was about restoring paradise, with Earth as an abundant pastureland tended over by a caring and just shepherd.
What does the image of Jesus as shepherd mean for us today? What does it mean for us to be about working to shape our world into a just, safe, compassionate home for everyone, even those who are not like ourselves? As we read last week, we are called to care for those we share our world with, just as a shepherd cares for their sheep. As followers of Jesus, shepherds under the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4), we are to do the same work the Shepherd worked at: restoring paradise. Though this is ancient imagery, today it points to the holy work of seeking distributive justice for everyone, a justice that ensures each of us has what we all need to thrive and that all, regardless of our differences, would have “life and have it to the full.”
In the insightful and well-documented research of their book Saving Paradise, Rebecca Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock remind us of how Christians used this imagery before the church became obsessed with apocalyptic destruction and imperial power. They write: “The prophet linked the work of the shepherd to God’s care for the people. [Ezekiel] said the good shepherd fed people with justice, made a covenant of peace, helped them flourish, and protected them.” (Parker & Brock, Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire, Kindle location 623)
May shepherding in this way be our work today too.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. What does the pastoral imagery of Jesus as shepherd putting our world to right mean to you this week? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.
My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.
As always, you can find Renewed Heart Ministries each week on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s Threads. If you haven’t done so already, please follow us on your chosen social media platforms for our daily posts.
Thank you for listening to The Social Jesus Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to like and subscribe and if the podcast platform you’re using offers this option, please leave us a positive review. This helps others find our podcast as well.
You can watch our YouTube show each week called “Just Talking”. Each week, Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking.
Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.
And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!
Lectionary Readings in the context of Love, Inclusion, & Social Justice
New Episodes each week!
This week:
Season 3, Episode 11: John 10.22-30. Lectionary C, Easter 4
Each week, we’ll discuss the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and justice. We hope that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that we’ll be inspired to do more than “just talking” during our brief conversations each week.
If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out.
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 2 Episode 19: A Shepherd Restoring Paradise
John 10:22-30
The good shepherd imagery in the synoptic gospels is referencing verses like these in Ezekiel where the leaders were censured for becoming an oligarchy that fed themselves off of the sheep rather than caring for them. In Mark, Matthew, and Luke, likening Jesus to a shepherd meant he would gather those who had been scattered by the injustice of the Temple rulers who were complicit with Rome’s exploitation of the masses. The early Jesus community held this imagery dear. Jesus, to them, was a shepherd who would restore the flock “with justice.” The shepherd imagery wasn’t used to describe whisking people away to a distant heaven but to describe restoring justice here “on earth as it is in heaven.” It was about restoring paradise, with Earth as an abundant pastureland tended over by a caring and just shepherd. Today, we are to do the same work the Shepherd worked at: restoring paradise. Though this is ancient imagery, today it points to the holy work of seeking distributive justice for everyone, a justice that ensures each of us has what we all need to thrive and that all, regardless of our differences, would have “life and have it to the full.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/a-shepherd-restoring-paradise
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
Are you getting all of RHM’s Free Resources?
Free Sign Up Here
Justice Work is Holy Work
We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our supporters for your support of Renewed Heart Ministry’s work of love, justice, and compassion. At a time when ministries like ours are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, your support is so deeply appreciated, and we want to simply say thank you. Whether in our larger society or within our local faith communities, Renewed Heart Ministries remains committed to advocating for change, working towards a world that is inclusive, just, and safe for everyone, and being a source of love. From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, thank you for your generous support. We deeply appreciate you.
If you’d like to join them in supporting our work, please go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”
Image created by Canva
Justice Work is Holy Work
Herb Montgomery | May 2, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this week is from the gospel of John:
“Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus ), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead . . .” (John 21:1-19)
In the synoptic gospels, a fishing scene is the setting for the calling of the disciples. The author of the gospel of John uses this same setting as a post-resurrection narrative. This story is a call to remember, post-crucifixion, what following Jesus is about, and it harkens back to earlier stories, calling the disciples to follow Jesus once again. This time though, the call is not to return to their previous occupations but to continue the work Jesus left them to do.
Let’s consider how this imagery was used in the synoptics for the disciples’ first call.
Here is Marks version:
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. (Mark 1:16-20, cf Matthew 4:18-22)
Luke builds on the story:
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” (Luke 5:4-10)
Our reading this week is very similar to Luke’s, but again, in John, this is happening after the crucifixion and resurrection. The timing in John is intentional. It was to remind his disciples that even though Rome’s crucifixion of Jesus and the resurrection rumors now circulating among the Jesus community had turned their worlds upside down, the work of fishing for people hadn’t changed. I have written at length about how the original audience would have understood this imagery of fishing (see Fishing for People and Speaking Truth to Power). Ched Myers gives us some insight on that:
“There is perhaps no expression more traditionally misunderstood than Jesus’ invitation to these workers to become ‘fishers of men.’ This metaphor, despite the grand old tradition of missionary interpretation, does not refer to the ‘saving of souls,’ as if Jesus were conferring on these men instant evangelist status. Rather the image is carefully chosen from Jeremiah 16:16, where it is used as a symbol of Yahweh’s censure of Israel. Elsewhere the ‘hooking of fish’ is a euphemism for judgment upon the rich (Amos 4:2) and powerful (Ezekiel 29:4). Taking this mandate for his own, Jesus is inviting common folk to join him in the struggle to overturn the existing order of power and privilege.” (Ched Myers, in Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus, p. 132)
“In the Hebrew Bible, the metaphor of ‘people like fish’ appears in prophetic censures of apostate Israel and of the rich and powerful: ‘I am now sending for many fishermen, says God, and they shall catch [the people of Israel]…’ (Jeremiah 16:16) ‘The time is surely coming upon you when they shall take you away with fishhooks…’ (Amos 4:2) ‘Thus says God: I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt…. I will put hooks in your jaws, and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales…’ (Ezekiel 29:3f) Jesus is, in other words, summoning working folk to join him in overturning the structures of power and privilege in the world!” (Ched Myers, Marie Dennis, Joseph Nangle, Cynthia Moe-Lobeda & Stuart Taylor, in Say to This Mountain: Mark’s Story of Discipleship, p. 10)
The passages the disciples would have associated with Jesus’ call to be fishers of people were rooted in the Hebrew prophetic justice tradition about catching and removing those in positions of power who use their authority unjustly:
“But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the LORD, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. (Jeremiah 16:16)
Speaking of those who “oppress the poor and crush the needy,” Amos reads:
The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks.” (Amos 4:2)
And speaking of the abusive king of Egypt, Ezekiel reads:
In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak to him and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
‘“I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
you great monster lying among your streams.
You say, “The Nile belongs to me;
I made it for myself.”
But I will put hooks in your jaws
and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales.
I will pull you out from among your streams,
with all the fish sticking to your scales.
I will leave you in the desert,
you and all the fish of your streams.
You will fall on the open field
and not be gathered or picked up.
I will give you as food
to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky.
Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 29:1-6)
John’s placement of this story after the crucifixion was a reminder to the post resurrection Jesus community that the nature of what it means to follow Jesus hadn’t changed. Everything the enemies of that work had sought to accomplish through Jesus’ murder had been undone, reversed, and triumphed over through the resurrection. And now the life-giving work of the kingdom must continue in the lives and teaching of Jesus’ followers. It was now time for them to take up Jesus’ ministry themselves. What was meant to permanently stop Jesus’ work had, through the resurrection, proven to only temporarily interrupt it. What happens next is also meaningful.
Next, Jesus feeds them. This part of our post-resurrection story is almost identical to the early story in John of the feeding of the multitude: Jesus once again breaks and blesses bread and fish. This is the earlier story:
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (John 6:5-13)
When Jesus recreates the same imagery after the resurrection, the disciples can’t help but recognize who Jesus is. It is in this moment that the story says, “None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.”
Then, after they finished eating we have this exchange with Peter:
. . . When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:1-19)
So much ink has been spent on the differing Greek words used for “love” here. That’s not what I want us to focus on this week. What matters more is Jesus’ response to Peter’s declarations each time. We must be careful not to miss this gospel’s point. As Jesus has fed the disciples, so they must feed others. It’s important not to spiritualize this storty but to read it as it is, materially. Jesus says, “Feed my lambs, take care of my sheep. Feed. My. Sheep.”
The needs of the people are holy. Their needs were holy for Jesus and they must be holy for Jesus followers today, too. Working for people’s material, physical, concrete daily needs (like bread and fish) is sacred, holy work. Others may call it a social gospel, but it is the same work Jesus engages in the gospel stories and the same work he calls each of his followers to engage as well.
I’m reminded of the words of Bonhoeffer in his letters from a German prison cell. It’s good place to end our contemplation this week:
“There remains an experience of incomparable value . . . to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison)
The needs of the people are holy. Feeding the people is sacred work. Justice work is holy work.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. What does the commission “feed my sheep” look like for you? Share and discuss with your group.
3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?
Thanks for checking in with us, today.
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My latest book Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political and Economic Teachings of the Gospels is available now on Amazon in paperback, Kindle and also on Audible in audio book format.
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You can watch our YouTube show each week called “Just Talking”. Each week, Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and social justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking. If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking.
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Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.
I love each of you dearly,
I’ll see you next week.
New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!
Lectionary Readings in the context of Love, Inclusion, & Social Justice
New Episodes each week!
Each week, we’ll discuss the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend in the context of love, inclusion, and justice. We hope that our talking will be “just” talking (as in justice) and that we’ll be inspired to do more than “just talking” during our brief conversations each week.
If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 2 Episode 18: Justice Work is Holy Work
John 21:1-19
The needs of the people are holy. Their needs were holy for Jesus, and they must be holy for Jesus followers today, too. Working for people’s material, physical, concrete daily needs (like bread and fish) is sacred, holy work. Others may call it a social gospel, but it is the same work Jesus engages in the gospel stories and the same work he calls each of his followers to engage. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Letters and Papers from Prison, “There remains an experience of incomparable value . . . to see the great events of world history from below; from the perspective of the outcast, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed, the reviled — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer.” The needs of the people are holy. Feeding the people is sacred work. Justice work is holy work.
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/justice-work-is-holy-work
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
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