“Jesus courageously confronted injustice. He challenged the temple’s hierarchy against the backdrop of the ongoing economic and social oppression of his times. Jesus was a non-violent revolutionary, but he was not passive. He regularly walked into the face of danger, spoke truth to power, and demanded justice. As far as religious people were concerned, Jesus was nothing but a nuisance and trouble- maker. He hung out with the wrong people, healed at the wrong time, visited the wrong places, and said the wrong things. His nonviolence was active, provocative, public, daring, and at times outright dangerous. Many of Jesus’ actions were illegal because he broke the law. He frequently committed civil disobedience, in similar if not the same ways in which we come to know of Gandhi’s and MLK’s acts of civil disobedience. Many thought of Jesus as a one-man crime wave walking through the Roman Empire, beginning the process of disarmament wherever he went.” — Rev. Irene Monroe

The Reverend Irene Monroe is an ordained minister, motivational speaker and African American lesbian feminist theologian who speaks for a sector of society that is frequently invisible. She writes for our column series Progressing Spirit, this is an excerpt from Rev. Monroe’s latest essay. Check out our website and consider signing up for a subscription (there are many sample essays to read) – click here Progressing Spirit.