Cursing Archives - Renewed Heart Ministries

The Blessing and Cursing of the Gospel

Posted on February 14, 2025 by Herb Montgomery

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 Blessing and Cursing of the Gospel

Herb Montgomery, February 14, 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:

He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.Rejoice in

that day and leap for joy, because great

is your reward in heaven. For that is how

their ancestors treated the prophets.

“But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,

for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. (Luke 6:17-26)

This week’s reading is Luke’s sermon on the plain (cf. Matthew’s sermon on the mount). It’s one of my top favorite passages in the gospel of Luke. In this passage, Luke’s gospel characterizes Jesus as explaining how differently the healing, reparations, and justice of God’s just future will impact those in different social locations. Those whom the present system privileges or marginalizes will be impacted differently. Those on undersides and edges of Jesus’ society will hear his message as good news (or gospel). The powerful, propertied, and privileged will interpret Jesus and his message as a threat to the foundation their way of life has been built on.

Growing up in evangelical circles I was always taught that the gospel was universally good news: good news for everyone. And if the gospel is defined as a free gift of access to a post mortem heaven, I can understand that. But if we define the gospel the way the synoptic Jesus stories do, as God’s just reign arriving here on earth as it is in heaven with equity, reparations, and inclusion for all that are presently being harmed, then we can hear Jesus’ teachings as good news or as quite the opposite.

I remember this first being pointed out to me by the work of the late Peter J. Gomes, who was deeply influential in my journey. In The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, Gomes writes:

What if the “rules” are inherently unfair or simply wrong, or a greater good is to be accomplished by changing them? When the gospel says, “The last will be first, and the first will be last,” despite the fact that it is counterintuitive to our cultural presuppositions, it is invariably good news to those who are last, and at least problematic news to those who see themselves as first. This problem of perception is at the heart of a serious hearing of what Jesus has to say, and most people are smart enough to recognize that their immediate self-interest is served not so much by Jesus and his teaching as by the church and its preaching. (Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About the Good News?, p. 42)

Luke’s sermon on the plain alongside Gomes’ wise observations have grave implications for how we think about the gospel. When the church defines the gospel as a ticket to heaven rather than restoring justice (heaven) here and now on earth (as it is in heaven), then Gomes’ assessment squarely hits the mark. While the oppressed masses heard Jesus’ gospel as good news, those in positions of power in the story (Herod, Caiaphas, Pilate, etc.) heard his teachings as a threat.

This is why our reading this week blesses those the present system causes to be hungry, poor, to weep, or hated. God’s just future is specifically for them. But those the present system makes rich through making others poor or well-fed from making others hungry, who laugh while making others weep, and are spoken well of, these people are not referred to as blessed but as “cursed.”

Those who have experienced special favor, privilege, and exceptionalism at the expense of others will interpret diversity, equity and inclusion as negatives to be resisted and removed rather than as positives. They will see justice and reparations as a curse. The equity we find I in the synoptic gospels is more than simply giving people equal access to compete on level ground where in the end you still will have a winner and loser. The equity of the gospels enviosions of world where there are no more losers. Where cooperation has replaced competittion and our survival comes through our working together. The equity Jesus calls for in the gospels meant lifting certain ones up while bringing certain other ones back down, so that the first and the last are now the same. (The first shall be last and the last shall be first.)

I also appreciate the way that being hated is singled out in our reading this week. To be clear, being hated is not a sign that you’re on the right path. You have to ask yourself who is doing the hating. If those at the center of society, the upper elites, hate you, then you might be in the same story as our passage this week. It makes a huge difference if those privileged by society feel threatened by your solidarity and work toward justice, and so seek to exclude, insult, and reject you while warning others that you’re evil. Who is it that is threatened by you? Social location matters. Being spoken well of by the marginalized alongside whom you’re working while being hated by the powerful who have something to lose is quite different from being spoken ill of by the marginalized and praised by the powerful and securely located.

So what does this mean for us today?

Two weeks ago, we discussed learning to tell the difference between those who respond to justice and reparations with rage and those who respond by seeing these changes as good news. Right now organizations I sit on the boards of are rewriting their policies because their state and federal government are threatening consequences in response to any language of diversity, equity and inclusion. Justice agencies’, divisions’, and organizations’ funding is being threatened, lessened, or cut. People who have worked unceasingly to engage the work of shaping our society into a safer, more just, more compassionate place for all are being told their services are not longer needed. Multiple organizational are seeking to now navigate the new and changing social and political landscape. So this week’s reading is timely given our current climate.

The ancient hope of the Hebrew people was of a day when all injustice, oppression, and violence in our world would end, and the early Jesus movement grew out of this hope. Today, it’s difficult to recognize that hope among the many sectors of Christians that have thrown their support behind those who would dismantle progress our imperfect society has made toward justice, equity and inclusion over the last decades.

What can we do?

Look for those this week’s reading refers to as people who are poor, hungry, weeping, and spoken of as evil by those undoing justice in our communities. Look for those hungering and thirsting for things to be put right. Look for those weeping because immigration officers are separating them from their family members. Look for those the present power structures are being weaponized against, who are being accused of being dangerous or evil. Learn to rightly discern what is going on around us right now. And throw your energy on the side of right, equity, and justice. Whatever your hand finds to do in protecting and helping those being erased, marginalized, and hurt today, do it with every fiber of your being. This week, find those who belong in the list of those who are blessed , and align your stories with theirs. Come alongside them, and work in solidarity with them.

I still believe the gospel is good news for everyone. Whether you are privileged or marginalized right now, the gospel is about restoring a world that reclaims and affirms the humanity of us all regardless of our social location. It will feel like good news for many, yet initially feel like a stinging curse for certain others. Lean into it, regardless.

Discussion Group Questions

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

2. If you were to apply this week’s passage today, who would the blessings be directed at? Who would the woes be directed at? 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!

Season 3, Episode 2: Luke 6.17-26. Lectionary C, Epiphany 6

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 2 Episode 7: The Blessing and Cursing of the Gospel

Luke 6:17-26

“Rather than the gospel being universal good news, the first shall be last and the last shall be first sounds quite the opposite. The equity that the sermon on the plain envisions is a world where there are no more losers and survival comes through our working together. Luke’s gospel is for the underprivileged, longing for things to be put right, those present power structures are being weaponized against.”

Available on all major podcast carriers and at:

https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/the-blessing-and-cursing-of-the-gospel

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