The Courage to Stand Up to Harm
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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The Courage to Stand Up to Harm
Herb Montgomery; March 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 three temptations in the gospel of Luke:
At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Luke 13:31-35)
Our reading this week starts with a threat on Jesus’ life. This gives me pause in my own understanding of what Jesus and his gospel was all about. People don’t get killed for preaching a gospel that God loves people. People don’t get killed for passing out free tickets to heaven or assurance about the afterlife. These kinds of gospels rarely ever threaten the status quo or the powerful whom the status quo benefits.
In the Hebrew prophetic justice tradition, prophets were killed when they stood up to exploitative systems by speaking truth to power. John the Baptist was standing squarely in that tradition and was beheaded by Herod. Now, in this week’s reading, Herod’s sights are set on Jesus. And Jesus is boldly standing in the same prophetic justice tradition: a Galilean, Jewish prophet of the poor speaks truth to power once again.
One element that keeps the Jesus of this story relevant for me today is the courage we see here.
“Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’”
Jesus calls Herod a fox. It makes me think of a fox in the hen house. Herod was a client king of Rome who exploited the population to enrich himself and the elites and powerful who, in exchange for their allegiance, were also being enriched. Speaking of a fox in the hen house, Jesus uses this imagery further when he says he wants to protect the people of Jerusalem as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings when the fox circles. The Temple State centered in Jerusalem had become deeply complicit in the harm that Rome was committing against the economically powerless and vulnerable. Jesus states that although he is working in Herod’s region, his ultimate aim is to go to Jerusalem and stage his protest there.
We who know the rest of the story know that Jesus did just that. He shows up at the Temple, flips the money tables in the courtyard, calls out those in power wielding harm, and, before the week is ended, the powerful and elite hang Jesus on a Roman cross.
Jesus also defines his activity in Herod’s region as “driving out demons and healing people.” If we sanitize or domesticate these activities, we will fail to understand why they would have provoked death threats from Herod and we will miss the meaning here entirely.
In the gospels, casting out demons is a coded way to speak to driving out Roman possession and oppression of the region and its inhabitants. In Mark, the name of the “demon” Jesus faced was Legion, the same name as the occupying, possessing Roman military unit in the area.
“Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Legion,’ he replied.” (Luke 8:30)
Casting out demons meant exorcising Roman presence from Jewish societies.
This alone would make Herod’s death threats make sense. Liberating individuals from personal demons wouldn’t have even gotten Herod’s attention. But if Jesus was speaking out against Rome, this would have threatened Herod and his role and position with the empire. It would make Herod’s death threats make a lot of sense.
We must also see healing the people as more than physical. Jesus’ teaching was accompanied by healing for the people because his gospel of God’s just reign in the place of Rome’s was the undoing of the economic, political, social, and religious sickness Rome had brought to the masses in Galilee and Judea while enriching the elites at their expense.
Despite Herod’s threats, Jesus sets his sights on Jerusalem. He must take his gospel for the poor (Luke 4:18) to the very center of the system that is causing the harm. This reminds me of the saying about pulling people out of the river. If someone is drowning then by all means pull them out, but at some point you have to wander up stream and find out who keeps throwing all these people in the river to begin with! We must be about harm mitigation, but harm mitigation is not enough. Charity is not enough. At some point we must challenge the system that creates such a deep need for charity. This is the difference between feeding the poor, which is important, and asking why we have a system that creates poverty to begin with. That would not be simple bandaid solutions, but genuine systemic healing indeed.
Lastly, Jesus states that no prophet can die outside of Jerusalem. This statement alone gives us an idea of how far Jerusalem and her rulers had become enmeshed with Roman complicity in harm. Jerusalem had become known for silencing one way or another anyone who spoke out against the powerful: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you” (Matt 23:37). As the powerful did to the prophets of old, so the powerful also silenced contemporary prophets of justice. Think of the beheading of John. Jesus was following closely behind in his trajectory. Again, it is helpful to think of Jerusalem politically, as the capital city of that region and not strictly religious. Yes, religion was involved, as it was in everything. But Jesus’ denouncement is not against Judaism as a religion but against the temple state’s participation with the harm Rome was committing against the populace, participation enriching powerful people in Jerusalem who would be faithful to Rome.
All of this causes me to consider those today with the courage to speak out against harsh decisions and brutal acts being perpetrated in the name of government efficiency today. A chainsaw is quite metaphorically being taken to our system, all to grant benefits to wealthy elites who verbalize allegiance to our present administration in the U.S. At what cost? The dismantling of a system, and undeserving people harmed in its wake. And those who speak out now are also being targeted for doing so.
In our story, Jesus knew where his solidarity would lead. He knew that if he continued to speak out against the harm being perpetrated by the powerful, if he continued to stand in solidarity with the marginalized, the vulnerable, those most harmfully impacted by the decisions the powerful in his society were making, and if he called the entire populace back to fidelity to the God of the Torah with its economic justice (including the Torah’s periodic wealth redistribution and debt cancellation), he well knew that taking up the prophet’s role could garner him a prophet’s end. And this is why the Jesus story remains relevant for me in times like we are living through today. Jesus, knowing where his choices would lead, still had the courage to make those decisions and stand up for what was right for the people.
Today, many Christians (not all) are directly responsible for the political, social, and economic horizon we are looking out on in this nation. How would the Jesus of our reading this week respond to Christians who carry his name today being the very agents who have let a fox in the hen house to wreak havoc, chaos, and long lasting harm to so many? May those of us endeavoring to follow Jesus in our present moment be encouraged by the prophet we find in this week’s reading. A Jesus who named Herod for what he was. A Jesus who boldly refused to stop speaking truth about what was right. A Jesus who, setting his face toward Jerusalem, determined to go to the heart of the system in his commitment to God’s just future and making our world a safe, compassionate, just home for all. In the face of so many who are being harmed now, and for those for whom the next few years will bring untold harm, may we, too, find the same courage the Jesus of this week’s story showed.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. 2. What does saying “No” to injustice perpretrated by those in power 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.
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 6: Luke 13.31-35. Lectionary C, Lent 2
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 11: The Courage to Stand Up to Harm
Luke 13:31-35
All of this causes me to consider those today with the courage to speak out against harsh decisions and brutal acts being perpetrated in the name of government efficiency today. A chainsaw is quite metaphorically being taken to our system, all to grant benefits to wealthy elites who verbalize allegiance to our present administration in the U.S. At what cost? The dismantling of a system, and undeserving people harmed in its wake. And those who speak out now are also being targeted for doing so. In our story, Jesus knew where his solidarity would lead. He knew that if he continued to speak out against the harm being perpetrated by the powerful, if he continued to stand in solidarity with the marginalized, the vulnerable, those most harmfully impacted by the decisions the powerful in his society were making, and if he called the entire populace back to fidelity to the God of the Torah with its economic justice (including the Torah’s periodic wealth redistribution and debt cancellation), he well knew that taking up the prophet’s role could garner him a prophet’s end. And this is why the Jesus story remains relevant for me in times like we are living through today. Jesus, knowing where his choices would lead, still had the courage to make those decisions and stand up for what was right for the people. Today, many Christians (not all) are directly responsible for the political, social, and economic horizon we are looking out on in this nation. How would the Jesus of our reading this week respond to Christians who carry his name today being the very agents who have let a fox in the hen house to wreak havoc, chaos, and long lasting harm to so many? May those of us endeavoring to follow Jesus in our present moment be encouraged by the prophet we find in this week’s reading. A Jesus who named Herod for what he was. A Jesus who boldly refused to stop speaking truth about what was right. A Jesus who, setting his face toward Jerusalem, determined to go to the heart of the system in his commitment to God’s just future and making our world a safe, compassionate, just home for all. In the face of so many who are being harmed now, and for those for whom the next few years will bring untold harm, may we, too, find the same courage the Jesus of this week’s story showed.
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/the-courage-to-stand-up-to-harm
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 Temptations and the Rise of Authoritarianism in America
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 Temptations and the Rise of Authoritarianism in America
Herb Montgomery; March 1, 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 three temptations in the gospel of Luke:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
(Luke 4:1-13)
The current political environment in the U.S. has given us a different lens to read Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness through as this text, once again, rolls by in the lectionary. For readers today who have a difficult time with this story’s language and characters (such as a devil), remember that this story was written for people in that culture, not ours. This year, I would like you to consider not the fantastic nature of the story but the idea that this story, written in that fantastic flavor, was a conspicuously veiled critique of the political, economic, social, and even religious system of the society that the audience of Luke’s gospel lived in. It was written for those who had the understanding to perceive it.
The very first words Luke’s “devil” speaks to Jesus was to question: “If you are the Son of God…” Remember, “son of God” was one of the titles attributed to Caesar. Over and over again, Luke contrasts Jesus and his “kingdom” with Caesar and the Roman Empire. They are alternative ways of doing life collectively together as human beings. So the very first question this story is asking is on what grounds does Jesus and his way of doing life replace Rome and its way of doing life. In other words, “If you, Jesus, are the son of God instead of Caesar, then . . .”
And that leads us to Jesus’ very first temptation—turning stones to bread. Bread was one of Rome’s central promises to its citizenry. By the time the gospels were written, Rome’s grain dole was well established. Each citizen was assured a measure of grain on a regular basis, and this was one of the ways Rome sought to ensure riots and rebellion did not break out throughout its territories (see Bread and circuses). Those who controlled the bread ultimately controlled the people, and one way to motivate clients of Rome to cooperate was that these regional rulers could turn their stony, arid, less than suitable agricultural lands (i.e. stones) into bread by being loyal to Rome and thus receiving Rome’s grain dole. Recognizing Caesar as the son of God allowed many client rulers to turn stones into bread on a regular schedule.
This story is critiquing the way that the Temple State with its rulers and priesthood had become complicit with the Roman Empire. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 to remind Luke’s listeners of the words of the Torah. in the tradition of Jewish renewal, he is calling them back to fidelity to the Torah’s teachings. Here is the passage referenced in the first temptation from Deuteronomy.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3)
The second temptation is a bit more obvious. What Rome promised each of its client rulers was authority and power over their region. They literally could have said to each of their clients, “I will give you authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” If rulers of the regions that Rome conquered embraced the Roman religion of Caesar worship and swore fidelity to the Roman Empire, then authority and splendor would be theirs. In response to the way the Temple State with its golden Roman Eagle and the priest and rulers had become complicit with Rome, Jesus in the story quotes Deuteronomy again, this time chapter 6:
Worship the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. (Deuteronomy 6:13-14)
In Luke’s third temptation (the second temptation in Matthew’s gospel), Jesus is taken up to the highest point of the Temple. Jerusalem and the Temple should not be interpreted here in merely religious terms. Think of Jerusalem as the capital of the region of Judea and the temple as the capital building. The temple was the standing symbol of the Jewish Temple state and the center out of which the Jewish Temple state operated. What Rome promised the priest, scribes, Sanhedrin, and wealthy elites of Rome was protection “lest they dash their feet upon the stone” of Rome and lose their local power and wealth. This protection was conditional upon them using the Temple State to incorporate Roman allegiance into their systems of politics, economics, and religion. (The priesthood, remember, was taken over by Roman authority, and Caesar selected the priests.). It waste temple’s complicity with Rome that both Jesus and John the Baptist critiqued: it transformed the Temple and Temple State into a channel for local Roman oppression of the economically marginalized.
In response, Jesus quotes this final time from Deuteronomy (chapter 6):
Worship the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put the LORD your God to the test as you did at Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:13-16)
What is this testing at Massah that Luke’s gospel asked its listeners to remember? It’s found in Exodus 17:
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The LORD answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” (Exodus 17:1-7)
Had those in control of society in Jesus’ time returned to Egypt (now a metaphor for the Roman Empire) and the security it promised rather than trusting in the faithfulness of the God of the Torah by practicing the economic justice toward the marginalized and vulnerable found in the Pentateuch?
Although the Christian religion has now evolved far away from those early roots, the Jesus movement began as a Jewish renewal movement calling its adherents away from complicity with Roman oppression and exploitation and back to fidelity to the economic justice teachings in the Torah.
What does all of this mean for us today?
Today we are again witnessing the rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, and the weakening of and some feel the fall of democracy in our own society. It is time for Jesus followers of all types to return to the roots of saying no to a politics of exclusion, exploitation, and enrichment of the elites at the expense of the masses. What we have instead is how Egypt operated. It was also how Rome operated. It is not how Jesus envisioned God’s just future.
God’s just future will require willingness for Christians who bear responsibility for the mess we find ourselves in to embrace deep repentance. I also pray we become reacquainted with the Jesus of the gospels as encouragement to Christians who wisely saw the direction our society was headed and did all they could within their spheres of influence to divert our society’s course. Regardless, of where you find yourself in your own journey of endeavoring to follow Jesus, may Luke’s story of Jesus’ temptations be a source of encouragement, conviction, and, to those for whom it applies, repentance as we enter this years Lenten season.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. How are you being called to repent this lenten season and resist the tempations of Empire in your own life? 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 5: Luke 4.1-13. Lectionary C, Lent 1
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 10: The Temptations and the Rise of Authoritarianism in America
Luke 4:1-13
The current political environment in the U.S. has given us a different lens to read Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness through as this text, once again, rolls by in the lectionary. Presently we are witnessing the rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, and the weakening of and some feel the fall of democracy in our own society. The politics of the gospel call us to say no to a politics of exclusion, exploitation, and enrichment of the elites at the expense of the masses. The temptations story calls for a willingness from Christians who bear responsibility for the mess we find ourselves in to embrace deep repentance and to become reacquainted with the Jesus of the gospels. These stories also serve as encouragement to Christians who wisely saw the direction our society was headed and did all they could within their spheres of influence to divert our society’s course. Regardless, of where we find ourselves presently, the stories of the temptations are a source of encouragement, conviction, and, to those for whom it applies, repentance as we enter this year’s Lenten season.
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
Lessons of Justice from the Transfiguration
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
Lessons of Justice from the Transfiguration
Herb Montgomery; March 1, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this last week of the Epiphany season is the transfiguration passage from Luke’s gospel:
About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen. (Luke 9:28-36)
In this story, Moses and Elijah are symbols of liberation and justice.
Moses symbolizes the giving of the Torah, its principles of economic justice, and the liberation of the Hebrew people from their slavery to Pharaoh. Hebrew scholars have long recognized that the primary concern of the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures is social justice for the people. From the narratives all the way to the legal codes, justice for a people once enslaved is the theme. Just a few examples of that teaching:
“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21)
“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.” (Exodus 22:22-23)
“Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” (Exodus 23:6-7)
Elijah lived during the time of King Ahab, the latest in a long line of kings to dismantle the Torah’s covenantal precepts of economic justice and transfer common wealth into the hands of a few wealthy elites. Ancestral lands had become the possessions of the king or his dignitaries. The rich got richer through taxes and tributes while the poor got poorer. Ahab’s father Omri had restructured the economics of Elijah’s society away from the Torah’s economic safeguards for the people and transformed it into an apparatus of deep systemic injustice. Elijah emerged in this system to call out this injustice and became a symbol in the Hebrew folklore of speaking truth to power even at great risk of personal harm.
By connecting Jesus to these two figures in the transfiguration story, Luke’s gospel is telling us what Jesus was all about. Jesus doesn’t emerge only to hand out tickets to heaven and certificates of pardon for past personal sins. He is standing in the rich Hebrew tradition of working to make our present world a safe, compassionate, just home for the oppressed, marginalized, and subjugated.
Jesus emerges in a time when his society has once again become complicit in economic injustice toward the poor and the powerful, for their own survival and gain, have become tools of Caesar’s exploitation and power. This exploitation later erupts into the poor people’s revolt of the late 60’s C.E, but first Jesus comes preaching about returning to the way:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
This language resonated with the common people in his audience as they remembered this same language from their ancient prophets and psalms:
This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16)
I walk in the way of righteousness,
along the paths of justice. (Proverbs 8:20)
In his recent book In God We Do Not Trust, Walter Brueggemann elucidates the Torah connection between Jesus’ narrow “way” and the Torah’s “way” of justice:
“In the horizon of Jesus, this path/way consisted of discipleship that required leaving all else to ‘follow.’ This characterization of the alternative community around Jesus as “followers of the way” (Acts 9:2, 24:14) indicates the requirements that we know as “love of God” and “love of neighbor.” This narrow, hard way is an alternative to the broad, easy way of the world marked by self-sufficiency and self-securing. Discipleship to Jesus is indeed an articulation of covenantal obedience to the alternative of Torah. The Torah provides guidance and illumination for how to live this alternative life in the world.” (In God We Do Not Trust, p. 59)
Returning to the social justice elements of the Hebrew tradition became so central to early Jesus followers in the 1st Century that they became known as people of this justice “way.”
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1-2, emphasis added.)
And what was the concrete outcome of their following this Way? Acts 4 tells us. It wasn’t huge megachurches with record-breaking attendance. It wasn’t political power to enforce their dogma on unbelievers and liberals. The concrete result was “there were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34).
This reminds me of the proof Jesus gave to John’s disciples to validate his own ministry: “The good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Luke 7:22).
Lastly, we are living in a time when systemic protections for the vulnerable among us are being dismantled. Collective sustaining aid is being slashed or terminated every day. All of this channels more money away from the common wealth of the people into the pockets of privileged, propertied, and powerful wealthy billionaires.
What does it mean for us as we leave the Christian season of Epiphany, to remember Jesus standing not alongside Herod, Caiaphas, or Pilate but alongside Moses and Elijah, in solidarity with those whose society was being dismantled. Whose side Jesus is characterized as standing on in Luke is not the side of the powerful but of those who had been pushed to the edges. As Jesus followers today, where does this imply our solidarity should be? Considering the words of the Torah, how are we treating our migrant population? How are we treating our “fatherless and widows?” Is gutting such collective care programs (such as Medicare) in harmony with our edict to care for our elderly? How are we taking responsibility for ensuring the poor are not denied justice, the guilty are not acquitted, and innocent and guiltless people are not punished for standing up for what is right?
I can’t help but feel like I’m reading the current news when I consider these passages from the Torah. Who are the Moseses of our day? Where are our Elijahs? Who are the ones standing alongside the Jesus of the oppressed (whether they would describe it in those terms or not) on our mountain top moment right now? In the liberation and justice wakes of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, who are the ones working alongside those marginalized and made vulnerable in our day, and how can we align our stories, our energy, and our efforts with theirs?
I’ll close this week with the prophetic words of Ezekiel 34:
“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)
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. 2. Who are the present Moseses and Elijahs standing up to unjust power doing harm to our vulnerable? Who is it that needs our solidarity today? 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 4: Luke 9.28-43a. Lectionary C, Transfiguration
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 9: Lessons of Justice from the Transfiguration
Luke 9:28-36
We are living in a time when systemic protections for the vulnerable among us are being dismantled. Collective sustaining aid is being slashed or terminated every day. All of this channels more money away from the common wealth of the people into the pockets of privileged, propertied, and powerful wealthy billionaires. What does it mean for us as we leave the Christian season of Epiphany, to remember Jesus standing not alongside Herod, Caiaphas, or Pilate but alongside Moses and Elijah, in solidarity with those whose society was being dismantled. Who are the Moseses of our day? Where are our Elijahs? Who are the ones standing alongside the Jesus of the oppressed (whether they would describe it in those terms or not) on our mountain top moment right now? In the liberation and justice wakes of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, who are the ones working alongside those marginalized and made vulnerable in our day, and how can we align our stories, our energy, and our efforts with theirs?
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/lessons-of-justice-from-the-transfiguration
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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Free Sign Up Here
Insights on Turning the Other Cheek, Enemy Love, and Judging Others
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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Insights on Turning the Other Cheek, Enemy Love, and Judging Others
Herb Montgomery, February 21, 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:
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:27-38)
Nonviolence
Christians of privilege live in social locations more centered in our society. When these Christians speak of nonviolence, they’re often not speaking about nonviolent resistance, nonviolent protest, or the nonviolent fight for social justice. They are simply using the term nonviolence or “peace” to refer to the absence of conflict or social turmoil. This is why why Dr. King felt moved to write his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail.” Even if a Christian of privilege desires systemic change, they typically want to see that change come about through passive means. When a struggle for justice erupts, they also quickly critique protesters while remaining silent on the violence those protestors are standing up to and violence that protectors of the system are exercising against them.
I first learned of another way to interpret Jesus’ words about turning the other cheek from the late Walter Wink in his classic work Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way.
Here is a snippet:
“How does one strike another on the right cheek anyway? Try it. A blow by the right fist in that right-handed world would land on the left cheek of the opponent. To strike the right cheek with the fist would require using the left hand, but in that society the left hand was used only for unclean tasks. Even to gesture with the left hand at Qumran carried the penalty of exclusion and ten days’ penance (The Dead Sea Scrolls, I QS 7). The only way one could strike the right cheek with the right hand would be with the back of the right hand. What we are dealing with here is unmistakably an insult, not a fistfight. The intention is not to injure but to humiliate, to put someone in his or her “place.” One normally did not strike a peer thus, and if one did, the fine was exorbitant (4 zuz was the fine for a blow to a peer with a fist, 400 zuz for backhanding him; but to an underling, no penalty whatsoever-Mishnah, Baba Qamma 8:1-6). A backhand slap was the normal way of admonishing inferiors. Masters backhanded slaves; husbands, wives; parents, children; men, women; Romans, Jews. We have here a set of unequal relations, in each of which retaliation would be suicidal.” (Kindle Location 82)
A few years ago I wrote a series on nonviolence in Christian teachings called A Primer on Self-Affirming Nonviolence. If you can only read one section this week, read the portion on this week’s passage at A Primer on Self-Affirming Nonviolence, Part 3.
Loving your Enemies
In Luke 6, Jesus also speaks of an ethic closely associated with his teachings on nonviolence: the ethic of enemy love. It’s just as easily misinterpreted.
Loving our enemies does not mean we passively accept the harm they are doing. On the contrary, it means that while we obstruct their death-dealing choices and actions, we take care not to let go of our enemies’ humanity as we obstruct or stop them.
Pam McAllister expressed the tension well as she explain the teachings of Barbara Deming:
“Barbara wrote about the two hands of nonviolence . . . With one hand we say to one who is angry, or to an oppressor, or to an unjust system, ‘Stop what you are doing. I refuse to honor the role you are choosing to play. I refuse to obey you. I refuse to cooperate with your demands. I refuse to build the walls and the bombs. I refuse to pay for the guns. With this hand I will even interfere with the wrong you are doing. I want to disrupt the easy pattern of your life.’ But then the advocate of nonviolence raises the other hand. It is raised out-stretched—maybe with love and sympathy, maybe not—but always outstretched. With this hand we say, ‘I won’t let go of you or cast you out of the human race. I have faith that you can make a better choice than you are making now, and I’ll be here when you are ready. Like it or not, we are part of one another.’ Active nonviolence is a process that holds these two realities—of noncooperation with violence but open to the humanity of the violator—in tension. It is like saying to our opponent: On the one hand (symbolized by a hand firmly stretched out and signaling, ‘Stop!’) ‘I will not cooperate with your violence or injustice; I will resist it with every fiber of my being’. And, on the other hand (symbolized by the hand with its palm turned open and stretched toward the other), ‘I am open to you as a human being.’” (Pam McAllister, You Can’t Kill The Spirit, p. 6)
Do Not Judge
Lastly, let’s consider another easily misinterpreted teaching from the Jesus of the synoptics: Jesus’ instruction not to judge.
Given the context in Luke 6, I argue that not judging doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to the harmful actions of oppressors or abusers. It doesn’t mean that we fail to rightly assess the actions of those people or systems who are doing us harm. It also doesn’t forbid critically discerning and separating what is life-giving from what is death-dealing. Judgment in this context means dividing the people who are doing harmful things and those who are not, while simultaneosly not dehumanizing those who inflict harm so as to objectifies them as monsters rather than as humans who have lost their way. Even our enemies still have worth and are redeemable. It doesn’t mean we allow them to continuing doing harm while we seek to redeem them. We can stop the harm our enemies are doing and stop them in such a way that calls them to face their actions. We can hope not only to liberate ourselves, but also to change them, reclaiming the humanity of all who are involved.
When Jesus in Luke says, “Do not judge . . . do not condemn . . . forgive,” he is not telling us to passively accept what is being done to us, but on the contrary, he is telling us not to go so far that we lose our grip on our enemies’ humanity while we seek to stand up for our own. In our striving for justice, we don’t get to decide who belongs to humanity and who does not. This is the only way to accept Jesus’ teachings on enemy love and not condemning that I have found to be life-giving.
While we seek to establish justice on the earth, we do not jettison another human being’s worth or value regardless of who they are. And it doesn’t mean we have to actually feel something positive toward our enemies. It means that we still hold space, as Deming said about the two hands of nonviolence, for our enemies to make different choices when they choose. What good is replacing one hierarchy or hegemony with another? Our goal is a shared table. Whether our present enemies choose to change so they may sit at that table is completely up to them. But a place at the table is set for them nonetheless if they choose to change.
Again, in seeking to stand up for our own humanity, we do not diminish another person’s humanity. As Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas states, “God’s power, unlike human power, is not a ‘master race’ kind of power. That is, it is not a power that diminishes the life of another so that others might live. God’s power respects the integrity of all human bodies and the sanctity of all life. This is a resurrecting power” (Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, pp. 182-183). As Audre Lorde wrote, “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change” (“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” Sister Outsider, p. 112).
This week, as we seek to fight the harm those presently in power are doing, and in the context of our reading this week from the gospel of Luke, let us also remember the wise words of Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis in her book Fierce Love:
“The world doesn’t get great unless we all get better. If there is such a thing as salvation, then we are not saved until everyone is saved; our dignity and liberation are bound together.” (Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World, p. 14).
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. What does enemy love mean to you? What does it not mean? 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 3: Luke 6.27-38. Lectionary C, Epiphany 7
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 8: Insights on Turning the Other Cheek, Enemy Love, and Judging Others
Luke 6:27-38
“Pam McAllister expressed the tension well as she explain the teachings of Barbara Deming: ‘Barbara wrote about the two hands of nonviolence . . . With one hand we say to one who is angry, or to an oppressor, or to an unjust system, ‘Stop what you are doing. I refuse to honor the role you are choosing to play. I refuse to obey you. I refuse to cooperate with your demands. I refuse to build the walls and the bombs. I refuse to pay for the guns. With this hand I will even interfere with the wrong you are doing. I want to disrupt the easy pattern of your life.’ But then the advocate of nonviolence raises the other hand. It is raised out-stretched—maybe with love and sympathy, maybe not—but always outstretched. With this hand we say, ‘I won’t let go of you or cast you out of the human race. I have faith that you can make a better choice than you are making now, and I’ll be here when you are ready. Like it or not, we are part of one another.’ Active nonviolence is a process that holds these two realities—of noncooperation with violence but open to the humanity of the violator—in tension. It is like saying to our opponent: On the one hand (symbolized by a hand firmly stretched out and signaling, ‘Stop!’) ‘I will not cooperate with your violence or injustice; I will resist it with every fiber of my being’. And, on the other hand (symbolized by the hand with its palm turned open and stretched toward the other), ‘I am open to you as a human being.’”
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
The Blessing and Cursing of the Gospel
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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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.
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Fishing for People and Speaking Truth to Power
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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Fishing for People and Speaking Truth to Power
Herb Montgomery, February 7, 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:
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
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.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11)
I took me a long time to be able to read this passage without automatically rejecting how the passage would have been heard within its own time and context and defaulting to the way contemporary Christianity has interpreted it, in terms of missions, evangelism, and ultimately colonialism.
Every time I share what I’m about to this week, I always get pushback from those for whom the original context is new. Yet the most popular interpretation of our passage this week is actually the newest way to read it. If we go back to the way the original audience would have heard this passage, the implications are quite different.
Even though I was used to interpreting fishing as a metaphor for evangelism, I’ve never felt comfortable with it. Fishing never works out well for the fish! and fishing for people instead doesn’t fix that. Even today, when someone is trying to obtain your personal data, we refer to the attempt as phishing. It’s a bad connotation.
So how would the original audience have heard this metaphor?
I first learned an alternative interpretation of this metaphor from Ched Myers of Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries. I believe that if Jesus’ followers had chosen this interpretation, Christians would not have harmed or been complicit in the harm of Indigenous people through colonialism or Christianity:
“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)
As Myers and other theologians explain here, in several Hebrew scriptures, fishing for people was about hooking or catching a powerful and unjust person, and removing them from the position of power from where they were wielding harm. This wasn’t about saving souls so they could enjoy post mortem bliss, but about changing systemic injustice in the here and now.
The examples in Jeremiah, Amos, and Ezekiel, give Jesus’ call to the disciples a very different context. These were common fishermen who had failed in the past but now were experiencing immense, overwhelming success. They had fished all night on their own and caught nothing. But with Jesus, they’d caught so many fish they needed to ask for help with the net. What might this have meant for the original audience, people who had failed to remove harmful people from their places of power to abuse? What hope might this story have given early Jesus followers, whose past efforts to change harmful systems had had discouraging results?
In this story, Jesus is inviting these working class folk take up the justice work spoken of by the Hebrew prophets, to take up fishing for people as Jeremiah, Amos, and Ezekiel would have defined it. Speaking of those who do harm from positions of power, Jeremiah reads:
“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)
This way of understanding what it means to fish for powerful people who do harm resonates with me.
What does speaking truth to power look like for us today?
American prelate of the Episcopal Church and Bishop of Washington Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde recently made a choice to fish for the powerful. She asked for mercy, one of her three pillars of unity, from the man who holds one of the highest positions of power in our world. In that moment, she was choosing to speak truth to power, specifically the truth in regards to false narratives spread about migrants and the LGBTQ community. I encourage you to read the entire transcript of Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde’s address. Here are her closing remarks:
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people. The good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.” (January 21, 2025 sermon by The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde)
Oh that we all would heed Jesus’ call to be fishers of people in solidarity with those being made vulnerable today!
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. What does fishing for people in the prophetic sense mean for us, today? If these passages addressing unjust action by people in power were to be rewritten in our context, who would be named? 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 1: Luke 5.1-11. Lectionary C, Epiphany 5
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 6: Fishing for People and Speaking Truth to Power
Luke 5:1-11
“Fishing never works out well for the fish! and fishing for people instead doesn’t fix that. The examples in Jeremiah, Amos, and Ezekiel, give Jesus’ call to the disciples a very different social and political context of justice. In this story, Jesus is inviting these working class folk take up the justice work spoken of by the Hebrew prophets, to take up fishing for people as Jeremiah, Amos, and Ezekiel would have defined it. Fishing for people was about hooking or catching a powerful and unjust person, and removing them from the position of power from where they were wielding harm.This wasn’t about saving souls so they could enjoy post mortem bliss, but about changing systemic injustice in the here and now.”
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
Confronting the Discomfort of Our History and Our Present
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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Confronting the Discomfort of Our History and Our Present
Herb Montgomery, January 31, 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, and it encourages us to address parts of our own history two that are uncomfortable.
He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”
“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. (Luke 4:22-30)
How quickly the story changes in our reading this week!
Many interpreters see this story as part of a theme of expansion in Luke’s gospel. At the time of Luke, the early Jesus movement was predominantly a Jewish community, and it began including uncircumcised Gentiles. You can read about this expanding inclusion as well as the pushback to it in Acts chapters 10, 11, and 15.
Some other interpreters see this as a story about enemy love. Both Sidon and Syrian had been part of the historical Seleucid empire, which had oppressed Jesus’ people.
Still other interpreters, including those I resonate with, see this as Jesus confronting his own community with uncomfortable parts of their history. These two references to the stories of Elijah and Naaman refer to times when God had passed over Jesus’ people because of the injustices they committed against the vulnerable in their society. Instead, in these stories, God showed favor to people outside of that culture.
Consider the following examples:
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’S temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it. (Isaiah 2:2, emphasis added)
These I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7, emphasis added)
When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” (Luke 7:1-5)
I have a difficult time believing that the people in this week’s story got upset simply because these were stories of God including Gentiles in miraculous blessings. Many of the Jewish people at this time of this story were very open to Gentile conversions. I find it much more plausible that the people became incensed to the degree that they would attempt to throw Jesus off a cliff because he was calling them to confront uncomfortable parts of their history.
Let me offer a modern example.
White people turned critical race theory into a hot political talking point over the past few years. Critical race theory is an academic field that analyzes the relationships between race and ethnicity and our system of laws, social rules, politics, and the way race is discussed in the media. It is focuses largely on analyzing systemic racism in our society, not the racism of individuals. Critical race theory encourages better and more honest ways of telling our nation’s history in relationship to race. It calls us to confront and allow ourselves to be confronted by truth-telling about the racism that is baked into our social and political systems.
So when we read Luke 4 through the lens of how some White people in the U.S. today respond to any discussion of race, racism, racial history, or way racism shapes our present system, it makes the rage Jesus’ listeners feel in our story, to the degree that they want to throw him off a cliff, much more believable.
I also think of the reaction to the movement to remove Confederate monuments from many public spaces in the South and here in Appalachia. These monuments represent a commitment to telling American history in a way that supports the supremacy of White people. Under the false concern for preserving history, protecting these monuments is actually a concern for preserving the ways we tell our history. In the context of critical race theory, some White people would prefer we don’t talk about our history in relationship to race. But in the context of Confederate monuments, for these people, our history in relation to race becomes something that must be protected and preserved.
In Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter, Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas quotes New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu:
“So when people say to me that the monuments in question are history, well,…it immediately begs the question why there are no slave ship monuments? No prominent markers on public land to remember the lynchings or the slave blocks? Nothing to remember this long chapter of our lives of pain, of sacrifice, of shame…? So for those self-appointed defenders of history and the monuments, they are eerily silent on what amounts to historical malfeasance, a lie by omission.” (p. 82)
These concerns about our history are really about telling our history in a certain way that preserves White privilege and power in our society, and does not honestly confront the harm White supremacy and supremacists have done and continue to do both to non-White people and to White people as well.
In our story this week, Jesus is touching on parts of his community’s history to which his audience responds with immediate, vitriolic, and even murderous rage.
However we explain that rage, it foreshadows the Roman cross that Jesus will end up on later in the story. Both instances Jesus mentions were stories of Divine punishment on a society for practicing systemic injustice while God favors those outside of their community. Is their rage because these stories challenge a “chosen-people,” exceptionalist, supremacist worldview?
Our story this week reminds me of choices I have to continue to make in my own life. Those of us who benefit from the racism in our nation’s history and in our present economic, political, and legal systems must allow ourselves to be confronted by the discomforting parts of both our history and our present.
Not everyone responded to Jesus with this anger and rage, however. Those on the margins to whom Jesus would extend inclusion and a path toward justice saw Jesus’ teachings as good news, as gospel!
Today we need to pay close attention to responses that answer justice and reparations movements with rage and responses that define these movements as good news. Consider recent passion around the work to remove programs for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), beyond diversity, equity and inclusion in relationship to race. I think of cisgender rage against defining gender in nonbinary ways. I think of the response of some men to gender equity. I think of responses to calls for LGBTQ justice. I think of the rage against social safety nets for elderly people and children: there is more passion to “put prayer in schools” (anyone can already pray in school. Public schools simply cannont privilege one religion over another) than free lunches. I think of the rage certain sectors of our society feel toward calls for economic justice for the poor.
This week’s story reminds me that if at times I feel like throwing the Jesus of the synoptic gospels off a cliff, I’m in the right story! I’m being confronted with the discomforting truth of why we too often respond to calls for justice in our time with the same resistance and rage. What our story whispers to us is that this rage against justice today is the same rage that placed our Jesus in our gospel stories on that Roman cross. And it calls us to reject that rage and instead embrace a future where we live in a world that is a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.
Discussion Group Questions
2. What do you think produced the abrupt rage in this week’s story? What lesson does our story hold, today? Share and discuss with your group.
2. Do you consider economic justice as foundational to other areas of social justice? How so? 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 2, Episode 45: Luke 4.21-30. Lectionary C, Epiphany 4
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 5: Confronting the Discomfort of Our History and Our Present
Luke 4:22-30
“Today we need to pay close attention to responses that answer justice and reparations movements with rage and responses that define these movements as good news. This week’s story reminds me that if at times I feel like throwing the Jesus of the synoptic gospels off a cliff, I’m in the right story! I’m being confronted with the discomforting truth of why we too often respond to calls for justice in our time with the same resistance and rage. What our story whispers to us is that this rage against justice today is the same rage that placed our Jesus in our gospel stories on a Roman cross. And it calls us to reject that rage and instead embrace a future where we live in a world that is a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.”
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
A Gospel of Economic 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
A Gospel of Economic Justice
Herb Montgomery, January 25, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Our reading this upcoming weekend is from the gospel fo Luke:
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14-21)
Out of all of the passages in the Hebrew Scriptures that the author of Luke could have chosen, they connected Jesus with these words from the book of Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:1-3)
Luke’s gospel squarely places Jesus in the Hebrew prophetic justice tradition, speaking truth to power, on behalf of the poor in this case.
A Gospel of Wealth Redistribution
Considering how many times Luke’s gospel mentions “the poor,” it is no wonder that many consider it to be the gospel of economic justice. I’m reminded of what the late father of liberation theologies Gustavo Gutiérrez wrote in solidarity with the poor: “The poverty of the poor is not a call to generous relief action, but a demand that we go and build a different social order.” (The Power of the Poor in History, 2004, p. 45).
Certainly this was Jesus’ call in Luke, too.
So central is Jesus’ gospel of the wealth redistribution of the kingdom for the poor that when John’s disciples ask Jesus about the authenticity of his own movement, he responds that the good news to the poor validating his ministry:
So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: 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. (Luke 7:22)
One of the transitional moments for me in my own journey in ministry was realizing that the Jesus of the gospels never mentions so many of the things I used to be passionate about preaching. And so many of the things Jesus taught and that were central to his emphasis in the synoptic gospels, I never even mentioned.
The poor, poverty, and economic justice were one of themes for me.
In Luke, Jesus centers the poor. The kingdom belongs to them. And Jesus’ “kingdom” is good news for them. As Gutiérrez would say, it’s a different social order where poverty is no longer created. Poverty is an indictment of the system it exists in, because that system creates and allows for poverty. A system of winners and losers will always have those who lose. But in Jesus’ new social order, everyone has enough to thrive:
Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20)
For Jesus, everything depended on how generous our attitude and actions were toward those our system places in poverty. Notwhithstanding the problematic nature of purity cultures in general, and given that this passage was written within a kind of purity culture, notice how everything “being clean” hinged on generosity toward the poor:
But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. (Luke 11:41)
It is often said that Jesus’ advice in Luke 18 to the rich man, to sell his superfluous possessions and give them to the poor, were an isolated, private, and individual call only to that man. But this is far from the truth. Consider Jesus’ words to this man in Luke 18 and then compare them to Jesus’ words to the crowd in Luke 12. In Luke 12, this call is not to a specific wealthy person, but to all wealthy listeners in general.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22)
“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.” (Luke 12:33)
The wealth redistribution Jesus was calling for actually makes sense. Today, the difference between a $30,000 income and a $60,000 for a family is dramatic for the adults but especially dramatic for that family’s children. Their stress, health, life expectancy, and social outcomes are all dramatically different. At the same time, we now know people aren’t dramatically happier or more fulfilled if their net worth grows from $1 billion to $10 billion.
I’m reminded of Zacchaeus, who in Luke is one of those wealthy members of society (who also was a tax collector) who choose to heed Jesus’ call:
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (Luke 19:8)
A Gospel of a New Social Order
So central was this call to create a new social order where poverty is no more that in Luke’s companion book, Acts, the first generation of Jesus followers who put Jesus’ societal vision into practice eliminated poverty in their group entirely:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (Acts 2:42-45)
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. (Acts 4:32-35, italics added)
In our reading, Jesus’ gospel doesn’t just end with the poor. It also includes freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, liberation for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favor when slaves would be set free, debts cancelled, and lost or sold land returned back to ancestral families. The prisoners, the blind, and oppressed are all people whose social system had failed them. The blind were imprisoned in a dark Roman cell and deprived of all light. Their situation was referred to as “prison blindness.” In this context, “recovery of sight” means setting free those in these dark cells and ushering them back into the freedom of the sunlight where they could see again. This gives me pause for all whom our justice system in the U.S. is failing today. (To learn more about mass incarceration and the justice system, read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander; Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson; and Dead Man Walking: The Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty That Sparked a National Debate by Helen Prejean.)
Today, we could extend this list of system failures even further. Participating in Jesus’ justice work today is to combat white supremacy and anti-Blackness. It means combating misogyny and patriarchal norms. It means standing for the safety and well-being of our LGBTQ family and friends, and even more. This list ultimately includes all of us. Because to follow the Jesus of our reading this week means to engage the ongoing work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone, whatever obstacles we might face.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s Podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. Do you consider economic justice as foundational to other areas of social justice? How so? 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 2, Episode 44: Luke 4.14-21. Lectionary C, Epiphany 3
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 4: A Gospel of Economic Justice
Luke 4:14-21
“Poverty is an indictment of the system it exists in, because that system creates and allows for poverty. A system of winners and losers will always have those who lose. But in Jesus’ new social order, everyone has enough to thrive. In our reading, Jesus’ gospel doesn’t just end with the poor. It also includes freedom for prisoners, sight for the blind, liberation for the oppressed, and the year of the Lord’s favor when slaves would be set free, debts cancelled, and lost or sold land returned back to ancestral families. Today, in addition to econimic justice, we could extend this list of system failures even further. Participating in Jesus’ justice work today is to combat white supremacy and anti-Blackness. It means combating misogyny and patriarchal norms. It means standing for the safety and well-being of our LGBTQ family and friends, and even more.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/a-gospel-of-economic-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.
Are you getting all of RHM’s Free Resources?
Free Sign Up Here
Water, Wine and Human Beings Fully Alive
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
Water, Wine and Human Beings Fully Alive
Herb Montgomery, January17, 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 the gospel of John.
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
“Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. (John 2:1-11)
When it comes to interpreting this week’s reading from the gospel of John, we have options.
Our story this week could have represented how the Johannine community understood Jesus-following in comparison to the Judaism their community evolved from. The water that Jesus would turn into wine was being held in water jars “used by the Jews for ceremonial washing.” The gospel of John is filled with antisemitic comparisons like these. The Johannine community viewed the changed wine, which symbolized Jesus, as far superior to any previous wine and different than the Jewish ceremonial washing water it had been made out of.
This story could also have been a commentary on previous versions of the Jesus story. It doesn’t take a scholar to see stark differences between John’s version of Jesus and the Jesus story in the synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke). John’s gospel and many of its themes are quite unique. That includes this week’s story of the wedding wine at Cana.
Taking the Johannine community’s version of the Jesus story as a whole, it is preoccupied with contrasting our concrete reality with an alternative spirit realm. We can interpret it as presenting the spirit as superior to our bodies. Consider Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in John:
“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-7)
In keeping with Jesus’ theme in that passage, this week’s story could also affirm the hope of one day escaping our concrete reality for a far better place rather than establishing justice here. This story could contrast what is now with what is to come. This would be like the best-is-yet-to-come or saving-the-best-for-last mantras like Paul’s comment in his letter to the Romans that what is happening now can’t even be compared to what is to come.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
Regardless of what the Johannine community originally meant with the story of the wedding wine, this story affirms the supremacy of their version of Jesus and the Jesus story. It teaches that the wine they were serving was better than anything that had been served up to that point. Can we redeem from this story for our justice work today?
I like the image of turning water into wine. It reminds me of the saying in the womanist tradition of making a way out of no way. Th story asks us to focus on the present, to do all we can in the moments we have before us. Who knows: our efforts could produce something far greater than anything before, and not because what preceded us was inferior but because we are building on the efforts of those have gone before us.
The phrase that I keep returning to in our reading this week is “You have saved the best till now.” What had transpired in the story was a crisis: running out of wine at a wedding feast. And what ended up happening was better: wine being drank better than any that had been drunk previously. We are about to face crises of our own this coming year, crises of injustice rooted in marginalization and bigotry bearing the fruit of violence and oppression. In the midst of crisis, we too can be about turning water into wine. We won’t know exactly how till we are in the moment, but each moment will provide opportunities for us to make choices and build on them. The wine may be about to run out, and all we may have at our disposal is water. But don’t give up. Look for the water pots.
I’m deeply concerned about the immigration crisis being threatened now. I’m concerned for my LGBTQ friends and family. I’m concerned for the bodily autonomy rights of my wife and daughters living in our state here in Appalachia. Given our family’s history with two stillborn children, as traumatic as that experience was, we are both thankful it happened over twenty years ago under Roe and not today. I’m navigating anxiety for BIPOC communities and other marginalized communities here in Appalachia. I recently found out that my county here in WV is one of the top two in my state that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be focusing on in 2025. Churches in my area are organizing to become places of sanctuary for immigrants.
This didn’t have to be, and yet, here is where we are. We don’t have any other time available for us than right now. We have no other circumstances to turn to than the ones we presently find ourselves in. Jesus asked his mother why she was bothering him because his time had not yet come, but our time has. It’s now. And how we will choose to show up in our world this year and the following years will matter for decades to come.
Our reading ends with the declaration, “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory” (emphasis added).
This reminds me of the words of St. Irenaeus, the early church Father, who was a strong advocate of justice for the poor. In his infamous work Against Heresies, he wrote, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” (Book 4, section 20, verse 7)
What does it look like for us this coming year to dedicate our energy and efforts to ensuring our neighbors have enough of what they need to able to live fully, to be fully alive? This is what it means to work for the glory of God. Whether our neighbor is of a different race or culture, of a different gender, gender identity, or gender expression, of a different socioeconomic location, are differently able, differently educated, of a different orientation, or just different from us, period, these differences will be used to drive wedges between us and make us afraid of one another. The Jesus of John’s gospel tells us, above all else, to love one another instead. To love our neighbor means we take responsibility to do what we can to help them have all that they need not simply to survive but to also thrive. Some of us can do more, some of us can do very little, but whatever is within our ability as Jesus followers, the glory of God is human beings not marginalized, oppressed, or subjugated, but able to be fully alive.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s Podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. What does turning water into wine mean for you in your own justice work today? 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 2, Episode 43: John 2.1-11. Lectionary C, Epiphany 2
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 3: Water, Wine and Human Beings Fully Alive
John 2:1-11
“I like the image of turning water into wine. It reminds me of the saying in the womanist tradition of making a way out of no way. The story asks us to focus on the present, to do all we can in the moments we have before us. What had transpired in the story was a crisis: running out of wine at a wedding feast. And what ended up happening was better: wine being drank better than any that had been drunk previously. We are about to face crises of our own this coming year, crises of injustice rooted in marginalization and bigotry bearing the fruit of violence and oppression. In the midst of crisis, we too can be about turning water into wine. We won’t know exactly how till we are in the moment, but each moment will provide opportunities for us to make choices and build on them. The wine may be about to run out, and all we may have at our disposal is water. But don’t give up. Look for the water pots.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/water-wine-and-human-beings-fully-alive
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?
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Spirit, Love, Justice and Truth
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Photo credit: Scott, Lorenzo. Baptism of Jesus, from Art in the Christian Tradition
Spirit, Love, Justice and Truth
Herb Montgomery, January 10, 2025
If you’d like to listen to this week’s article in podcast version click on the image below:
Happy New Year!
Our reading this first weekend after Epiphany is from the gospel of Luke:
The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire . . . When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, NIV)
We covered the first part of this reading during this most recent Advent season. I think the last part of it has a special insight for us as we consider what lies ahead in 2025.
The language in this last portion is rooted in two passages from the Hebrew scriptures, one in the book of Psalms and the other in Isaiah.
I will proclaim the LORD’S decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father. (Psalms 2:7, NIV)
The rest of Psalms 2 is abysmally violent and nationalistic. But as the author connects Jesus to this psalm, they don’t only challenge the Roman claim that Caesar was the son of God, they also tie Jesus to David and the people’s contemporary hopes for their own liberation and restoration.
In Isaiah we read:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations . . .
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.” (Isaiah 42:1, 3-4, NIV)
As we begin a new year, it’s good to remind ourselves what following Jesus, that Galilean prophet of the poor ministering on the edges of his own society, should be all about. At the core of his message, the heart of Christianity, is the call to love our neighbor. And loving one’s neighbor is what we call today social justice: making sure we and all of our neighbors have what they need to thrive, not just barely survive. Dedication and commitment to the ethic of loving our neighbor will, if consistently applied, ultimately bring “justice on earth.” It would take participation from everyone, but that is the ultimate goal: establishing justice here.
Social justice is rooted in love, specifically love of one’s neighbor. It calls us to engage our civic responsibility toward one another. It calls us to take inventory of how we are sharing space with others we live alongside with on our planet.
In Isaiah, “my chosen one in whom I delight” will establish justice on Earth as the fruit of the Spirit. In our reading, that Spirit descends in the bodily form of a dove, which many today take as the symbol of peace arrived at because universal distributive justice has been established. There is an interesting passage from the apocryphal book of the Wisdom of Solomon describing the Spirit/Wisdom and its result:
“She renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;”
(Wisdom of Solomon 7:27, NRSV, italics added.)
Wisdom makes those on whom her Spirit rests both friends of God and prophets. So many prophetic voices throughout the centuries have called for justice. Let’s consider a sample from the Hebrew prophetic justice tradition. Look at how many times justice toward one another is the theme:
Justice and the Prophets
Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do right; seek justice.
Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless;
plead the case of the widow.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
Isaiah 11:4 But with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
Isaiah 16:5 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 28:6 He will be a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,
a source of strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
Isaiah 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Isaiah 32:1 See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
Isaiah 51:4,5 “Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
Instruction will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations.
My righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
Jeremiah 9:24 But let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 21:12 This is what the LORD says to you, house of David:
“‘Administer justice every morning;
rescue from the hand of the oppressor
the one who has been robbed,
or my wrath will break out and burn like fire
because of the evil you have done—
burn with no one to quench it.
Note that the end of this passage from Jeremiah sounds a lot like John the Baptist from the first portion of this week’s reading.]
Ezekiel 34:16 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.
Hosea 2:19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion.
Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph.
Amos 5:24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Micah 3:1 Then I said,
“Listen, you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
Micah 3:8 But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the LORD,
and with justice and might,
Zechariah 7:9 “This is what the LORD Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.
Malachi 3:5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify . . . against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.
This is the tradition in which both John and Jesus ministered, applying the themes to the situational injustices of their day. We are called to work for justice in our contexts in the same way.
The Justice of the Prophets in Our Context Today
Our sacred texts sometimes spell out how to apply love of neighbor in practice:
It means practicing justice toward migrants:
“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)
Loving our neighbor as ourself means loving even the “foreigner” as a “native-born,” and loving them, too, as ourselves.
It means practicing justice toward the poor:
Proverbs 14:31 Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.
It means practicing justice toward the young;
Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
It means practicing justice toward the elderly:
Psalms 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
It means practicing justice toward those who live with disabilities.
Leviticus 19:14 “‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.
It means practicing labor justice:
James 5:4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
In our context today we could expand to include new areas of justice work: environmental justice, gender equity and justice, racial equity and justice, LGBTQ equity and justice, and more!
Justice is also deeply tied to truth-telling. It is difficult to practice justice as a society when we don’t share the same reality, and when some have been misinformed and convinced through appeals to their own bigotries and fears that the reality is different from what is genuinely happening. One passage that gave me chills this week as I wrote this article is from Isaiah 59:
Isaiah 59:14,15: So justice is driven back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
truth has stumbled in the streets,
honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found,
and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.
The LORD looked and was displeased
that there was no justice.
This year in 2025, however we choose to be a Jesus follower, may we express truth-telling, love and justice for our neighbor, both foreign and domestic. May we renew our commitments to each other and our dedication to taking responsibility to ensure that not just us but also everyone around us has what they need to thrive. This year, more than any other in recent history, it is vital to keep our hand to the plow, continuing the work despite new obstacles of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.
Discussion Group Questions
1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s Podcast episode with your discussion group.
2. In what ways are you renewing your committment to the work of establishing justice on the earth in 2025? 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 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 42: Luke 3.15-17, 21-22. Lectionary C, Epiphany 1
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 2: Spirit, Love, Justice and Truth
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
“Establishing justice on Earth is the result of the Spirit. In our reading, that Spirit descends in the bodily form of a dove, which many today take as the symbol of peace arrived at because universal distributive justice has been established. At the core of Jesus’ message, the heart of Christianity, is the call to love our neighbor. And loving one’s neighbor is what we call today social justice: making sure we and all of our neighbors have what they need to thrive, not just barely survive. Social justice is rooted in love, specifically love of one’s neighbor. It calls us to engage our civic responsibility toward one another. It calls us to take inventory of how we are sharing space with others we live alongside with on our planet. Justice is also deeply tied to truth-telling. It is difficult to practice justice as a society when we don’t share the same reality, and when some have been misinformed and convinced through appeals to their own bigotries and fears that the reality is different from what is genuinely happening.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
https://the-social-jesus-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/spirit-love-justice-and-truth
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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