Barabbas Archives - Renewed Heart Ministries

Give Us Barabbas

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Herb Montgomery

Marching Donations Till End of Year

As we are seeking to reach our ministry goals here at the end of 2024, we are excited to share that all donations to Renewed Heart Ministries for the remainder of year will be matched! Every dollar you give will have twice the impact, helping us further expand the work of Renewed Heart Ministries in 2025. Join us in making a difference—together, we can maximize our collective impact!

We want to take this moment to express our heartfelt gratitude to all of our supporters for your invaluable role in the Renewed Heart Ministry community and for your dedication to our mission of fostering love, justice, compassion, and healing. Your support is the bedrock of our work. Your support empowers us to do what we do. At a time when ministries like ours are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, your support is incredibly important, 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 in our world. From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, thank you for your generous support. We deeply appreciate each and every one of our supporters.

If you’d like to join them in supporting our work, please go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”

Give Us Barabbas

Herb Montgomery, November 22, 2024

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:

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”

“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:33-37)

In the World But Not of the World

Let’s unpack the language John’s author uses, of Jesus’ Kingdom being from another place and not this world. Christians have long understood this language in such a way as to discourage them from civic engagement and activity. It is why certain Christians are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good. Let’s consider what the Johannine community thought about “the world” and determine whether we can redeem this language at all.

First, the Johannine Jesus-following community viewed our concrete, material world, including our flesh/bodies, as a negative and something our “spirits” needed to be liberated from. This is how salvation was defined by this community. In 1 John 2:16, we find this community equating the world and things they considered bad:

“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:16)

John’s gospel uses this dualistic language when Jesus meets Pilate:

“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (John 15:18-19)

“They [Jesus’ disciples] are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” (John 17:14-16)

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” (John 17:18-19)

Again, this kind of language has led to some deeply problematic interpretations. Some Christians completely disregard the injustice, oppression, violence, and therefore concrete suffering people are experiencing now and focus solely on saving their “souls” for postmortem heaven later. Honestly, I’m struggling a bit this week. In the wake of the recent election, I sincerely wish Christians were less involved here and now. If Christians’ civic participation is going to result in harm for women, my LGBTQ and immigrant friends, and so many others, I would rather they do just focus on heaven. Please stay out of the affairs of our world! If Christians do engage this world, we must ensure our actions make our world a safe, more just, more compassionate place for everyone or we end up doing more harm than good.

In John, responding to Jesus’ statement about being on the side of truth, Pilate asks, “What is Truth?” Let’s explore that a bit next.

What is Truth?

At the end our reading, Jesus states, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?” (John 18:38-39)

I don’t believe Pilate was living in a post-enlightenment world where all truth was labelled as relative. But I do believe he understood that life is complicated, and what appears one way to one person can appear totally different to another. What benefits some can harm certain others. I read this statement as a moment of transparency for Pilate, one that reveals his own cynicism and complicity.

But I also am living in a culture where truth has been sacrificed on the altar of political power. Today we are living in a world of “alternative facts.” I’m exhausted from hearing the phrase “fake news” aimed at anything thing the Right deems disagreeable. It’s one thing to have differing political and economic views about what we as a society should do based on a shared set of facts. But how can democracy function or even survive when people have no shared reality? Democracy seems impossible without a shared reality. Disinformation has created a state where half the country lives in one reality while the other half is genuinely trying to survive in another. We are sorely missing the ability to critically think and assess what is taking place right before our eyes. In Orwellian fashion, we are being told by certain ones not to trust what our eyes are seeing in real time.

Next, Pilate addresses the crowd. Their response strikes too close to home for me and my country’s present state.

Give Us Barabbas

They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising. (John 18:40)

In this story, the popular vote cried out:

Not Jesus.

Not the sermon on the mount.

Not enemy love.

Not nonviolence.

Not economic justice for the poor.

Not inclusivity and care for the marginalized.

Not compassion and safety for the vulnerable.

No.

“Give us Barabbas!”

Give us the convicted criminal.

Give us the insurrectionist.

Give us the indicted rapist.

Give us the twice impeached.

Give us the racist, white supremacist.

Give us the authoritarian strong man.

Give us the misogynist grabber.

Give us the remover of protections for women’s bodily autonomy.

Give us the totalitarian dictator.

Give us the fascist.

Give us the autocratic nationalist.

Give us the anti-immigrant, xenophobe.

Give us the scapegoater.

Give us the plutocrat.

Give us the corporativist.

Give us the earth-destroying, extractive industrialist.

Give us the bankrupt business man.

Give us the compulsive liar.

Give us delusion.

Give us fairy tale identity.

Give us deeper injustice as long as I come first.

Give us cheaper eggs and cheaper gas.

Give. Us. Barabbas.

In our context today, these words indict the kind of Christianity that leads adherents to work arm-in-arm to elect another Barabbas. Barabbas promised those in his society storybook liberation from whatever they felt was wrong in their society and the empire. He also claimed to be a savior of the people.

But in the Jesus story, the people chose the wrong savior.

So much is here in this story for us to painfully unpack and explore. So many lessons for our present movement, and I’m not rushing to positivity and hope. My work to shape our world into a safe, compassionate, just world for everyone just got a lot harder, and I’m choosing not to rush to put a positive spin on present events. Reasons to be hopeful probably do exist, but I agree with others that looking for them right now in the immediate wake of recent events may not be the healthiest choice.

Chaplain Quinn Elleen Gormley recently posted on social media, “Lament and despair are human emotions. They are necessary, and they must be metabolized, which can only be done by feeling them. Ritual, humor, screaming, crying, moving your body, these are all healthy ways to feel the emotions. Let yourself have a few bad days, it will make the hope more secure when it comes. Hope has to be allowed to blossom, it won’t stick if it’s forced.”

Today I’m choosing to sit somewhere between hope and hopelessness: simply in honesty.

For right now we need to let the reality confront us that the majority of our society including far too many, many Christians and others of faith, either actively or passively just chose Barabbas.

Justice and love demands we still roll up our sleeves and continue the work. I still believe in a multicultural democracy.

Discussion Group Questions

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

2. Simply share how you are feeling at the present moment with your group. Encourage one another and build each other up.

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 X (or Twitter), 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!

Season 2, Episode 36: Mark 13.1-8. Lectionary B, Proper 28

Each week, we’ll be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend 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 we’ll be inspired to 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 at:

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 1 Episode 32: Give Us Barabbas

John 18:33-37

“Again, this kind of language has led to some deeply problematic interpretations. Some Christians completely disregard the injustice, oppression, violence, and therefore concrete suffering people are experiencing now and focus solely on saving their “souls” for postmortem heaven later. Honestly, I’m struggling a bit this week. In the wake of the recent election, I sincerely wish Christians were less involved here and now. If Christians’ civic participation is going to result in harm for women, my LGBTQ and immigrant friends, and so many others, I would rather they do just focus on heaven. Please stay out of the affairs of our world! If Christians do engage this world, we must ensure our actions make our world a safe, more just, more compassionate place for everyone or we end up doing more harm than good. So much is here in this story for us to painfully unpack and explore. So many lessons for our present movement, and I’m not rushing to positivity and hope. Our work to shape our world into a safe, compassionate, just world for everyone just got a lot harder.”

Available on all major podcast carriers and at:

https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/give-us-barabbas

Now Available on Audible!

Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels.

by Herb Montgomery, Narrated by Jeff Moon

Available now on Audible!

After two successful decades of preaching a gospel of love within the Christian faith tradition Herb felt like something was missing. He went back to the gospels and began reading them through the interpretive lenses of various marginalized communities and what he found radically changed his life forever. The teachings of the Jesus in the gospel stories express a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of those in marginalized communities. This book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, and presents a compelling argument for a more socially compassionate and just expression of Christianity. Herb’s findings in his latest book are shared in the hopes that it will dramatically impact how you practice your Christianity, too.

Are you getting all of RHM’s Free Resources?

Free Sign Up Here