Hating One’s Family
by Herb Montgomery "We don’t have to reject members of our own family. Rather, this week’s saying tells us that when we do take a stand for justice, we may be rejected by mother, father, daughter, son, brother, or sister,…
The Parable of the Invited Dinner Guests
by Herb Montgomery Karen Baker-Fletcher writes: “If Jesus is on the side of the least of these, as Matthew 25 suggests and womanist liberation theologians emphasize, then this includes the earth. It too is hungry for nourishment. It too is…
The Exalted Humbled and the Humble Exalted
by Herb Montgomery "There is a vast difference between the kind of pride that exalts self over others as if you were the normal or ideal and others were somehow less than, and the kind of pride that rejects the…
Judgment over Jerusalem
by Herb Montgomery "Every day we each face the choice of whether to work toward a new inclusive community or not. What can we learn from this week’s saying? It’s not just a lamentation for 1st Century Jerusalem . .…
The Reversal of the Last and the First
by Herb Montgomery "Economies that keeps workers desperate are structured that way by design . . . Just this past week it was published that there is not one state in the US where a 40 hours a week (full-time),…
I Do Not Know You
by Herb Montgomery "Why is the path narrow? It’s narrow simply because it’s traversed by so few. Paths are broad or narrow determined by the number of those who travel them. In other words, we too often think of this saying…
Jesus—Liberator of the Oppressed, Physician of the Sick
BY HERB MONTGOMERY As Jesus was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in…
Women and the Cheek Defiance of Jesus
Self-Affirming, Nonviolent Resistance and the Cheek Defiance of Jesus for Women. BY HERB MONTGOMERY If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. —Matthew 5:39 Over the last few weeks, I’ve been confronted by…
The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus; Part 7 of 9
Part 7 of 9 by Herb Montgomery I Am Thirsty Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” (John 19.28) As we continue in John’s telling of the…
The Seven Last Sayings of Jesus; Part 2 of 9
Part 2 of 9 My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? BY HERB MONTGOMERY And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my…