But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
—Luke 6:27-28
 
Can we finally agree that it is better to acknowledge the humanity and the potential to do good in the enemy, rather than to choose death? Will we be able to care for our enemies, who are also our neighbors?
—Amy-Jill Levine,
Short Stories by Jesus
 
The luminous black theologian James Cone was frequently asked by white Christians whether he believed in non-violence. In her book Dear White Christians, Jennifer Harvey writes he would respond with another question: “Whose violence are we talking about?”
 
Cone’s response exposed that the violence of those in the majority, of oppression in all its forms, is frequently ignored, unseen, or disregarded. But Jesus’ admonition to love enemies does nothing of the kind. It is anything but passive, complacent, or naïve. Instead it calls for an oppositional, creative response to abusive power that seeks the common good. Turning the other cheek, for example, does not imply weak acquiescence, but overthrowing evil, perhaps by the force of its own momentum. It can take different forms depending on the moment and the need.
 
Are we ready to engage for the good of all. Are we ready to be disciples in the ways Jesus imagined?
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Genesis 45:3-11, 15 † Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40 † 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 † Luke 6:27-38

About the Art: Henrietta. Kindness and Generosity, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59069 [retrieved February 10, 2025]. Original source: https://flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/4463707407/.

“Blessed are you who are poor..., you who are hungry now..., you who weep but, woe to you who are rich..., who are full now...,who are laughing now.”
~Luke 6:20-21,24-25
 
Last week, Jesus invited his first disciples to follow him and to fish for people. So here they are this week “in the boat” with Jesus – these first four fisherman and some others – as Jesus paints for them a picture of their destination and as he starts to show them how to sail. He confirms the rumors, the messages already delivered, about the mission they are on. Yes, they are to be about holy reversals: envoys of God’s jubilee and the desire of God for the flourishing of all. It’s a message that’s already been delivered in Luke’s gospel by Jesus’ mother Mary, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself in the synagogue a few chapter before. Jesus affirms this mission again in his beatitudes and then he shows them the way they will go. And the way they will go is the way of Love.
 
Admittedly, this feels rather passé in our current moment when modes of power and self-enrichment are broadly celebrated. Is this still the way for us? What promise could it possibly hold against such forces?
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Jeremiah 17:5-10 † Psalm 1 † 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 † Luke 6:17-26

About the Art: Ferenczy, Károly, 1862-1917. Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56296 [retrieved February 3, 2025]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sermon_on_the_Mount_K%C3%A1roly_Ferenczy.jpg.

​And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
—Isaiah 6:5
 
Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
—Luke 5:5
 
What qualifies us to follow? In an age of authenticity, when our focus is so often centered on our personal integrity and uniqueness in the world, the question can become confusing. Sure. We are saved by grace through faith so that no one can boast. But boasting seems to be in these days. How are we to situate ourselves amidst such confusion?
 
The prophet Isaiah’s response to his vision seems to be utter astonishment that he could be used. And how do we think about our Simon (who will become a very sinkable Peter “the Rock”) in his journey following the one who emptied himself and chose a way of obedience, service, and sacrifice—but who also seems to have a pretty good handle of where those fish are in the deep? What is it in these interesting times to trust the One who knows and invites us into these kinds of depths?
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) † Psalm 138 † 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 † Luke 5:1-11

About the Art: Moyers, Mike. Miracle Catch, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57139 [retrieved February 3, 2025]. Original source: Mike Moyers, https://www.mikemoyersfineart.com/.
 
From the Artist (www.mikemoyersfineart.com): An impression depicting the miracle of catching fish viewed from the shoreline. It is an honor and a joy to share my work with you. For years, I have illustrated, designed and directed many book covers, ads, logos, commercials and campaigns. However, my deeper side is the life of a fine artist. I love to paint with the palette knife to keep my work loose, textured and bold. You will see that I paint all kinds of subjects. My deepest passion, however, is to use fine art to communicate matters of faith.

I firmly believe that art is a communion with the soul. Through my art, I strive to make known the beauty and wonder of life and faith. The pieces in this exhibit are inspired by things that have touched my life in a meaningful way. They range from plein air and impressionism to abstract and conceptual. My hope is to successfully communicate those inspirations so that you might be touched as well. 

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove [Jesus] out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.
~Luke 4:28-29
 
“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”
~John Locke
 
“There is no such thing as an innocent reading, we must ask what reading we are guilty of.”
~Louis Althusser
 
It was such a lovely beginning! The local boy made good, returning home, reading the scriptures among the hometown folk. Sitting down, as was the custom, to then begin the discussion, according to custom. But it does not go where the good people expect. The story is told “slant”—a new interpretation of an old text, and an explanation of what blocks the miracles that Jesus performs everywhere, but in his hometown—and in the blink of an eye they want Jesus to go over a cliff, vertical.
 
What just happened?
 
Jesus challenges their feel-good insider story with a reminder that God’s love extended outside their accepted relational bonds—to a widow outside of Israel when many were in need on the inside, to a foreign general, an enemy of the people, to a people like us who do not own this story but are grateful recipients of it. What do we make of this kind of love? And what do we make of it when it is jeopardized?
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10 † Psalm 71:1-6 † 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 † Luke 4:21-30

About the Art: Coley, Nathan, 1967-. There Will Be No Miracles Here, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=58328 [retrieved January 28, 2025]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:There_Will_Be_No_MIracles_Here,_Edinburgh.jpg.