The Parable of the Entrusted Money
by Herb Montgomery | February 1, 2018 “In the story, this king’s passion was profit. The God Jesus described at the heart of the kingdom was passionate about people, not profit. Jesus’ “kingdom of God” was a community where people were valued over...
by Herb Montgomery | January 25, 2018 “It’s about compassion. Either we see ourselves in others, or we don’t. And if we don’t learn to do so, we run the risk of destroying life as we know it for everyone including ourselves. We are...
by Herb Montgomery | January 11, 2018 “This wakefulness means possessing a continuing awareness of issues related to marginalized people and their struggle for justice. It requires an intersectional awareness of racial, gender, economic, LGBT, and other social forms of justice. Jesus-followers staying awake will...
by Herb Montgomery | January 5, 2018 “Jesus was not a Roman citizen, and so when he taught nonviolence, he was not teaching from the social location of the Roman oppressor, but from the perspective of an oppressed Jew. Jesus’ nonviolence sprang from the...
The Son of Humanity Like Lightning
by Herb Montgomery “Any talk of nonviolence today must include an in-depth understanding of structural and systemic violence and oppression or nonviolence will end up being a violent form of nonviolence. It will place upon oppressed people an additional burden to remain nonviolent while...
by Herb Montgomery “Today, Jesus’s ‘Kingdom of God,’ a community that centers and puts first those our present society places as last, is within our ability. We can choose to do life differently. When it comes to the subject of immigration, we can put...
by Herb Montgomery “It is these [the marginalized] whom Jesus tells to have hope, that God is not like their oppressors have made them think, that the end of their misfortunes is at hand, that the Kingdom of God is coming and is for...
Forgiving a Sinning Brother or Sister Repeatedly
by Herb Montgomery | November 10, 2017 “Safe spaces” are not spaces where everyone’s opinion is equally valued. Safe spaces are spaces where there is a preferential option practiced for the most vulnerable in the room. Safe spaces are spaces where the voices and...
by Herb Montgomery | November 3, 2017 “Jesus willfully and intentionally transgressed the community boundaries of his day. We should too. Keep in mind, the more ritually pure you were, the more clean you were, the more included, centered and privileged you would be...
by Herb Montgomery | October 27, 2017 “This has implications for our justice work today as well. There are two types of justice work. One seeks to give people equal access to a competitive system where there will still be winners and losers regardless...
“Our experiences determine not only the questions we ask, but also the answers we get back. Plain readings are not plain but are read through the lens of our own paradigms and fears. And this is one reason why it is so vital, if...
by Herb Montgomery “Christians taking Jesus’ saying on divorce at face value have forced women to stay in untold situations of abuse. I want to argue this week that in the context of the 1st Century’s economic realities for women in Roman and Jewish...
by Herb Montgomery Interpretations are not eternal. They change with time. As we see the harmful fruit of present interpretations, we can make those interpretations give way to new ones, in the hope that new interpretations will bear the fruit of life. And if...
by Herb Montgomery “It’s one thing to mistake something bad as good. It’s quite another to mistake the Sprit’s work of liberating and re-humanizing those who have been dehumanized and objectified as an evil that should be opposed. This is the sin that is...
“Jesus’s ethic is not capitalist. In a capitalist system, the goal is simply to create capital. The game is won by those who are able to create the most capital and use it to create more . . . Jesus asks us to lift...
Insipid Salt: White Christianity in the Wake of Charlottesville
by Herb Montgomery “I do subscribe to nonviolence. I teach it. I uphold it. Yet, to claim a nonviolent neutrality, saying “I’m against violence on both sides,” while you yourself are socially privileged and benefit from violence being used against people of color, both...
by Herb Montgomery “Jesus didn’t die because he was a bigot, standing in solidarity with oppressors and justifying the domination of the vulnerable. He died because he stood in solidarity with the vulnerable against the status quo. It’s time we also stood with the oppressed....
by Herb Montgomery “Taking up one’s cross is not a call to patiently, passively endure, but to take hold of life and stand up against injustice even if there is a cost for doing so.” Featured Text: The one who does not take one’s...
by Herb Montgomery “We don’t have to reject members of our own family. Rather, this week’s saying tells us that when we do take a stand for justice, we may be rejected by mother, father, daughter, son, brother, or sister, and we should stand...
The Parable of the Invited Dinner Guests
by Herb Montgomery Karen Baker-Fletcher writes: “If Jesus is on the side of the least of these, as Matthew 25 suggests and womanist liberation theologians emphasize, then this includes the earth. It too is hungry for nourishment. It too is increasingly impoverished.” Featured Texts:...
The Exalted Humbled and the Humble Exalted
by Herb Montgomery “There is a vast difference between the kind of pride that exalts self over others as if you were the normal or ideal and others were somehow less than, and the kind of pride that rejects the social shame others have...
by Herb Montgomery “Every day we each face the choice of whether to work toward a new inclusive community or not. What can we learn from this week’s saying? It’s not just a lamentation for 1st Century Jerusalem . . . It’s a lamentation...
The Reversal of the Last and the First
by Herb Montgomery “Economies that keeps workers desperate are structured that way by design . . . Just this past week it was published that there is not one state in the US where a 40 hours a week (full-time), minimum-wage worker can afford...
Replaced by People from East and West
by Herb Montgomery “When you see who is welcomed and affirmed, when you see how wrong you were about those you thought should be forbidden from sitting at the table with you, it’s going to make you so angry!” Featured Text: “And many shall...
by Herb Montgomery “Why is the path narrow? It’s narrow simply because it’s traversed by so few. Paths are broad or narrow determined by the number of those who travel them. In other words, we too often think of this saying as describing a path...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “And again‚ with what am I to compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was fully fermented.” (Q 13:20-21) Companion Texts: Matthew 13:33 “He...
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “What is the kingdom of God like, and with what am I to compare it? It is like a seed of mustard, which a person took and threw into his garden. And it grew and developed into a tree,...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: While you go along with your opponent on the way, make an effort to get loose from him, lest the opponent hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the assistant, and the assistant throw you into...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “But he said to them, ‘When evening has come, you say: Good weather! For the sky is flame red.” And at dawn: “Today it’s wintry! For the lowering sky is flame red.” The face of the sky you know...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Fire have I come to hurl on the earth, and how I wish it had already blazed up! Do you think that I have come to hurl peace on earth? I did not come to hurl peace, but a...
The Faithful or Unfaithful Slave
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master put over his household to give them food on time? Blessed is that slave whose master, on coming, will find so doing. Amen‚ I tell you, he will...
The Son of Humanity Comes as a Robber
The banner reads: “Capitalism isn’t working: another world is possible.” G20, Meltdown Protest, City of London, Bank of England, 1 April 2009. Credit: Tony Hall. by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “But know this: If the householder had known in which watch the robber was...
Free from Anxiety like Ravens and Lilies
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you are to eat, nor about your body, with what you are to clothe yourself. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Consider...
Storing up Treasures in Heaven
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Do not treasure for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and gnawing deface and where robbers dig through and rob, but treasure for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor gnawing defaces and where robbers do not dig...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “When they bring you before synagogues, do not be anxious about how or what you are to say; for the holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you are to say.” Q 12:11-12 Companion Texts: Matthew 10:19:...
Speaking against the holy Spirit
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “And whoever says a word against the son of humanity, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him.” Q 12:10 Companion Texts: Matthew 12:32: “Anyone who speaks a word...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Anyone who may speak out for me in public the son of humanity will also speak out for him before the angels. But whoever may deny me in public will be denied before the angels.” (Q 12:8-9) Companion Texts:...
More Precious than Many Sparrows
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? And yet not one of them will fall to earth without your Father’s care. But even the hairs of your head all are numbered. Do not be afraid, you are worth more...
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. But fear the one who is able to destroy both the soul and body in Gehenna.” (Q 12:4-5) Companion Texts: Matthew 10:28: “Do...
Proclaiming What Was Whispered
by Herb Montgomery #SilenceIsViolence Why We Cannot Be Silent Featured Text: “Nothing is covered up that will not be exposed, and hidden that will not be known. What I say to you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in...
Wisdom’s Judgment on This Generation
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Therefore also Wisdom said: I will send them prophets and sages, and some of them they will kill and persecute, so that a settling of accounts for the blood of all the prophets poured out from the founding of...
Woes against the Exegetes of the Law
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “And woe to you exegetes of the Law for you bind burdens and load on the backs of people, but you yourselves do not want to lift your finger to move them. Woe to you, exegetes of the Law,...
Making 2017 a year of compassion and justice. by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “Woe for you, Pharisees, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and give up justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these one had to do, without giving up those. Woe...
The Jaundiced Eye Darkens the Body’s Light
by Herb Montgomery Featured Text: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is generous, your whole body is radiant; but if your eye is jaundiced, your whole body is dark. So if the light within you is dark, how great...
by Herb Montgomery “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place‚ but on the lampstand, and it gives light for everyone in the house.” Q 11:33 Companion Texts: Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world. A town built...
Something More than Solomon and Jonah
by Herb Montgomery “The queen of the South will be raised at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and look, something more than Solomon is here!...
The Sign of Jonah for This Generation
by Herb Montgomery “But some were demanding from him a sign. But he said‚ ‘This generation is an evil generation; it demands a sign, and a sign will not be given to it — except the sign of Jonah! For as Jonah became to...
Hearing and Keeping God’s Word
by Herb Montgomery “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.’ He replied, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’ (Luke 11:27-28;...
The Return of the Unclean Spirit
(And standing in solidarity with the Native nations on Standing Rock Indian Reservation in the Dakotas) by Herb Montgomery Photo by Desiree Kane “When the defiling spirit has left the person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, and finds...
by Herb Montgomery The one not with me is against me, and the one not gathering with me scatters. (Q 11:23) Companion Texts: Matthew 12.30: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Luke 11.23: Whoever...
by Herb Montgomery “A strong person’s house cannot be looted, but if someone still stronger overpowers him, he does get looted.” (Q 11:21-22) Matthew 12:29: “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties...
Refuting the Beelzebul Accusation and the Finger of God
by Herb Montgomery “And he cast out a demon which made a person mute. And once the demon was cast out, the mute person spoke. And the crowds were amazed. But some said: By Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, he casts out demons!...
The Certainty of the Answer to Prayer
(Universal or Particular?) by Herb Montgomery “I tell you, ask and it will be given to you, search and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the...
by Herb Montgomery “When you pray, say‚ Father — may your name be kept holy! — let your reign come: Our day’s bread give us today; and cancel our debts for us, as we too have cancelled for those in debt to us; and...
The Beatitude for the Eyes that See (God in the Othered)
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you: Many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, but never saw it, and to hear what you hear, but never heard it.” (Q 10:23-24) Companion Texts: Matthew 13:10-17: “The...
Knowing the Father through the Son
by Herb Montgomery “Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and to whomever the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Q 10:22) Companion Texts: Matthew...
Thanksgiving that God Reveals Only to Children
by Herb Montgomery Learning to listen to the most vulnerable within our societies. “At that time he said: I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you hid these things from sages and the learned, and disclosed them to children. Yes, Father,...
Whoever Takes You in Takes Me in
Both the positive and negative implications. by Herb Montgomery “Whoever takes you in takes me in, and whoever takes me in takes in the one who sent me.” (Q 10:16) Companion Texts: Matthew 10:40-42: “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes...
by Herb Montgomery “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the wonders performed in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, in sackcloth and ashes. Yet for Tyre and Sidon it shall be more...
Response to a Town’s Rejection
by Herb Montgomery “But into whatever town you enter and they do not take you in, on going out from that town‚ shake off the dust from your feet. I tell you: For Sodom it shall be more bearable on that day than for...
Sayings Gospel Q: What to Do in Houses and Towns
BY HERB MONTGOMERY “Into whatever house you enter, first say: ‘Peace to this house!’ And if a son of peace be there, let your peace come upon him; but if not, let‚ your peace return upon you. And at that house remain, eating and...
by Herb Montgomery “Carry no purse‚ not knapsack, nor sandals, nor stick, and greet no one on the road.” (Q 10:4) Companion Texts: Matthew 10:7-10: “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead,...
Sayings Gospel Q: Sheep Among Wolves
by Herb Montgomery “Be on your way! Look, I send you like sheep in the midst of wolves” (Q 10:3) . Companion Texts: Matthew 10.16: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as...
Sayings Gospel Q: Workers for the Harvest
What do you want the next revolution to look like? by Herb Montgomery “He said to his disciples: The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to dispatch workers into his harvest.” (Q 10:2) Companion Texts Luke...
Hello Everyone, Here is a quick update for you on how the flood recovery efforts are going. (Original Flood Update) First, I could not be more proud of my county. It was announced earlier this week that John Unger & FEMA have congratulated Greenbrier County...
July 1, 2016 by Herb Montgomery Hello Everyone, My heart is heavy as I write this. So many of you have been asking for an update of what is happening here in the wake of the flood that ravaged West Virginia last weekend. First,...
Confronting Potential Followers
by Herb Montgomery Before we begin this week, I want to take a moment to pause and remember the forty-nine victims of the Orlando Shooting. This tragic event took place at the gay nightclub Pulse, where our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning siblings...
This Generation and the Children of Wisdom
(Being awake to today’s socio-economic, Liberation movements.) by Herb Montgomery “To what am I to compare this generation and what is it like? It is like children seated in the‚ market-places who addressing the others say: ‘We fluted for you, but you would not...
“For John came to you. The tax collectors responded positively, but the religious authorities rejected him.” (Q 7:29-30) Companion Texts: Luke 7:29-30: “(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been...
(And the Inability of Those in “Fine Clothing”) by Herb Montgomery “And when they had left, he began to talk to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? If not,...
John’s Inquiry about the One to Come
(Healing versus Destruction) by Herb Montgomery “And John, on hearing about all these things, sending through his disciples, said to him: ‘Are you the one to come, or are we to expect someone else?’ And in reply he said to them: ‘Go report to...
The Centurion’s Faith in Jesus’ Word
(Who Are Our Centurions?) by Herb Montgomery “And it came to pass when‚ he ended these sayings, he entered Capernaum. There came to him a centurion exhorting him and saying: ‘My‚ boy is doing badly.’ And he said to him: ‘Am I‚ by coming,...
BY HERB MONTGOMERY “Everyone hearing my words and acting on them is like a person who built one’s house on bedrock; and the rain poured down and the flash-floods came, and the winds blew and pounded that house, and it did not collapse, for...
Not Just Saying Master, Master
by Herb Montgomery “Why do you call me: Master, Master, and do not do what I say?” (Q 6:46) Companion Texts: Luke 6:46, 47: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to...
The Tree Is Known by its Fruit
BY HERB MONTGOMERY “No healthy tree bears rotten fruit, nor, on the other hand‚ does a decayed tree bear healthy fruit. For from the fruit the tree is known. Are figs picked from thorns, or grapes from thistles? The good person from one’s good...
BY HERB MONTGOMERY “And why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but the beam in your own eye you overlook? How can you say to your brother: Let me throw out the speck from your eye, and just look at the...
by Herb Montgomery “A disciple is not superior to one’s teacher. It is enough for the disciple that he become‚ like his teacher.” (Q 6:40) Luke 6:40: The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their...
by Herb Montgomery Can a blind person show the way to a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? (Q 6:39) Luke 6:39: “He also told them this parable: ‘Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a...
by Herb Montgomery “Do not pass judgment, so you are not judged. For with what judgment you pass judgment, you will be judged. And with the measurement you use to measure out, it will be measured out to you.” (Q 6:37-38) Luke 6:37: “Do...
by Herb Montgomery “Be full of pity, just as your Father is full of pity.” (Q 6:36) Luke 6:36: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Matthew 5:48: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. We can split this week’s saying...
by Herb Montgomery “If you love those loving you, what reward do you have? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what reward do you have? Do not even the Gentiles‚ do...
by Herb Montgomery “And the way you want people to treat you, that is how you treat them.” (Q 6:31) Luke 6:31: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would...
by Herb Montgomery “The one who slaps you on the cheek, offer him the other as well; and to the person wanting to take you to court and get your shirt, turn over to him the coat as well. And the one who conscripts...
by Herb Montgomery “Love your enemies and‚ pray for those persecuting you so that you may become sons of your Father, for he raises his sun on bad and good and rains on the just and unjust.” (Sayings Gospel Q 6:27-28, 35c-d) The saying we’ll...
The Beatitude for the Persecuted
by Herb Montgomery Blessed are you when they insult and persecute you, and say every kind of evil against you because of the son of humanity. Be glad and exult‚ for vast is your reward in heaven. For this is how they persecuted the...
The Beatitudes for the Poor, Hungry, and Mourning
by Herb Montgomery And raising his eyes to his disciples he said: Blessed are you poor, for God’s reign is for you. Blessed are you who hunger, for you will eat your fill. Blessed are you who mourn, for you will be consoled. (Q...
by Herb Montgomery Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. (Matthew 5.1-2, emphasis added.) From each of us here at RHM, Happy New Year!...