When Justice Means Division 

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When Justice Means Division 

Herb Montgomery | August 15, 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 Luke:

“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? (Luke 12:49-56, NRSV)

This week’s reading describes Jesus in Luke’s gospel as the cause of division. This is, at best, problematic for Christian communities that prioritize unity above all else. Every community has a priority of values, a scale where some things matter more than others. This passage challenges those who place unity above justice, protecting the vulnerable, and standing up for those are being harmed. These communities pit unity against division as if division or conflict even over things that matter is the worst fate that could befall their community. These types of communities tend to be conflict-avoidant, using rhetoric such as “Don’t rock the boat.” 

Prioritizing unity above justice shapes communities to emphasize peace, harmony, and shared identity over the often disruptive process of confronting and correcting injustice. It appeals to the desire to maintain relationships and foster a sense of togetherness, especially within faith traditions. Proponents argue that disunity can fracture community, but don’t recognize that what fractures community is the injustice some are forced to be silent about. They caution that a relentless focus on justice, especially when perceived as adversarial, may alienate individuals, polarize communities, or create division as if harmony is what is most needed.

However, unity without justice is always a fragile and superficial peace—one built on silence, marginalization, and the status quo. When people prioritize unity to the point of avoiding uncomfortable truths, it often means asking the oppressed to carry the burden of cohesion while the structures that harm them remain intact. Such unity demands quietness from those whose voices most need to be heard. It risks becoming complicit, where harmony is preserved only for those in positions of comfort.

The challenge, then, is to understand that we cannot build real unity on the denial of justice. Authentic unity emerges not from avoiding conflict but from walking through it together. It is forged in the hard work of truth-telling, repentance, reparations and transformation. Unity and justice are not necessarily enemies; they can be companions. But the order matters. Justice creates the conditions for lasting unity, not the other way around. When we seek unity without first addressing what divides us, we merely delay deeper fractures. We only kick the problem down the road, hoping the matter simply goes away. Placing unity above justice may feel safe and noble, but ultimately, it undermines both unity and justice. A better path is to pursue a justice that repairs, restores, and reconciles, and a unity that is not afraid of truth. Only then can we have a peace that endures.

Often through the years when I have found myself experiencing pushback from those telling me to prioritize unity over speaking out for what is right and for those being harmed, I have found comfort in Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. It’s a letter I return to almost annually in my own justice work with faith communities today. King’s words in 1963 remain relevant and challenging in my life, encouraging me when I’m faced with my fear of speaking out and when I’m tempted to embrace what King names a “negative peace.”

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

He later calls the agents seeking positive peace “nonviolent gadflies”:

“Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Being a nonviolent gadfly reminds me of Matthew 5:9: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Being a peacemaker is not the same as being a peacekeeper. Peacekeepers are primarily motivated to keep King’s “negative peace”, one where no one is rocking the boat and where injustice continues to be unaddressed. But as Frederick Douglass reminded us, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Demands from those experiencing injustice disrupt the peace while they seek to establish a positive peace rooted in justice. Zechariah 8:12 teaches that “there shall be a sowing of peace.” Peace is something sown. The seed of peace is distributive justice. Justice grows and produces the fruit of peace. Peace, then, shouldn’t be the primary goal. It’s the secondary result of establishing a just, compassionate, safe environment for all. And to plant that initial seed of justice, to push the analogy a little further, the ground for that seed must be broken up, tilled, turned over, and disrupted. 

The hard-packed ground of misogyny and patriarchy, the hard-packed ground of racism and White supremacy, the hard-packed ground of White Christian nationalism, the hard-packed ground of homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia must be broken up, and that process always involves disruption and conflict. But the ultimate goal is always a justice that produces peace. This is what it means to be a peacemaker! 

With our hands on the plow, peacemakers are preparing our social soil for the seed of justice. We know that when watered by others justice will produce a peace where everyone has enough not simply to survive but also to thrive. Peacemakers, even when disrupting the hard-packed social soil, are still working toward a world matching Micah 4:4’s description where every person will “sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.”

What does this kind of peacemaking look like? Representative John Lewis tweeted in June 2018, “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Note those three words: good, necessary, trouble. It’s good, necessary trouble that Jesus himself was getting into in our reading this week. It was this kind of trouble that he modeled for his followers to get into too.

Lastly, Jesus confronts his listeners’ inability to discern what was happening around them at this moment. This also is fitting given our present context. In the face of growing authoritarianism and the dismantling of democratic norms in the U.S., silence is not an option for peacemakers. Voter suppression and reorganization, disinformation, attacks on laws that provide protection for the marginalized in our society, and political violence threaten the very foundation of a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone where everyone’s voice is heard. Standing up now means defending the safety of the vulnerable and marginalized, holding leaders accountable, and protecting the rights of all—especially the most vulnerable. It means rejecting fascist rhetoric and resisting efforts to centralize power through fear and retaliation. Democracy, justice, peace are not self-sustaining in any society; they depend on the courage and commitment of everyday people to speak out and take a stand, even when, as our reading this week reminds us, those choices initially cause division.

Discussion Group Questions

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.

2. How are you or your group engaging the work of peace and justice presently? 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.

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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.

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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.

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New Episode of “Just Talking” Now Online!

Lectionary Readings in the context of Love, Inclusion, & Social Justice

Season 3, Episode 24: Luke 12.49-56. Lectionary C, Proper 15

When Justice Means Division 

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.

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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 33: When Justice Means Division 

Luke 12:49-56

“The challenge, then, is to understand that we cannot build real unity on the denial of justice. Authentic unity emerges not from avoiding conflict but from walking through it together. It is forged in the hard work of truth-telling, repentance, reparations and transformation. Unity and justice are not necessarily enemies; they can be companions. But the order matters. Justice creates the conditions for lasting unity, not the other way around. When we seek unity without first addressing what divides us, we merely delay deeper fractures. We only kick the problem down the road, hoping the matter simply goes away. Placing unity above justice may feel safe and noble, but ultimately, it undermines both unity and justice. A better path is to pursue a justice that repairs, restores, and reconciles, and a unity that is not afraid of truth. Only then can we have a peace that endures . . . Peace is something sown. The seed of peace is distributive justice. Justice grows and produces the fruit of peace. Peace, then, shouldn’t be the primary goal. It’s the secondary result of establishing a just, compassionate, safe environment for all. And to plant that initial seed of justice, to push the analogy a little further, the ground for that seed must be broken up, tilled, turned over, and disrupted.”

Available on all major podcast carriers and at:

https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/when-justice-means-division

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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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