Subversive Jesus Quotes

“As Jesus showed us in his life and ministry, healing and transformation flow out of relationship—not the delivery of services. True love flows out of mutuality, where we blur the lines between those who are serving and those who are receiving, and where we humbly acknowledge that we all have something of offer and something to receive from one another...As Christians, we have become so fixated on our roles as servants that we miss out on relationships of mutuality that the Spirit wants to knit between people...This is the beautiful picture of mutuality...each one is invited to participate by serving others. When we allow those we have labeled victims or the poor to serve and participate in our acts of transforming love, we usher in the kingdom of God.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“I have found that if I pray for God to move a mountain, I must be prepared to wake up next to a shovel.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“As writer and activist Phileena Heuertz has said, “Through activism we confront the toxicity in our world, through contemplation we confront the toxicity in ourselves.” 99”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“As Christians, we have become so fixated on our roles as servants that we miss out on the relationships of mutuality that the Spirit wants to knit between people.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“Though our initial engagement with the poor might begin with a short-term mission trip, it must not end there, because Jesus himself was known as a friend of the broken—not just a visitor. Our lives must develop an ongoing rhythm of interacting with and embracing those who are struggling.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“Writer and activist Shane Claiborne once wrote, “Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“The law cannot be our ultimate moral guide. Slavery was lawful. The Holocaust was legal. Segregation was legally sanctioned...Simply put, the law does not dictate our ethics. God does. So it should not surprise us that the One we follow was executed as a criminal, and that there will be times when we are called to break unjust laws ourselves.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“Those who hold the most power and authority in society are the least likely to want to change the system that produces poverty. And yet, these are the ones we've empowered to control the work of the charities that are supposed to serve the poor.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“Lilla Watson, an aboriginal activist in Australia, confronted the hordes of do-gooders who came to serve and help her people by saying, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us walk together.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“So when people ask me whether I preach the gospel to the poor, I echo the words of St. Francis: “It is no use walking anywhere to preach, unless our walking is our preaching.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“My friend Joyce Rees says that if you want to understand the good news that Jesus offers for the poor in a particular place, you first have to discover what the bad news looks like.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“I have found that if I pray for God to move a mountain, I must be prepared to wake up next to a shovel.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“We need to see theological ideas in messy human form so they can spark something real in our imagination. We need to see other people screw up so we can laugh or weep and imagine that we might dare to risk failure too.”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“If you are seeking the work God made you to do, search for the deepest inclination of your heart and follow it to where it meets the suffering of the world.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“When we try to describe the love of God in words, it's like listening to a street preacher talk about salvation. Our words can rarely speak as powerfully as the lives we live together, so when people get together and create a space of welcome for others, the Spirit moves, and everyone experiences the love of God embodied. This is especially magical for those who are used to being excluded, rather than welcomed. It is the radical welcome of Christ with skin on.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“When we try to describe the love of God in words, it's like listening to a street preacher talk about salvation. Our words can rarely speak as powerfully as the lives we live together, so when people get together and create a space of welcome for others, the Spirit moves, and everyone experiences the love of God embodied.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“As Jesus showed us in his life and ministry, healing and transformation flow out of relationship—not the delivery of services. True love flows out of mutuality, where we blur the lines between those who are serving and those who are receiving, and where we humbly acknowledge that we all have something of offer and something to receive from one another...As Christians, we have become some fixated on our roles as servants that we miss out on relationships of mutuality that the Spirit wants to knit between people.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“As Jesus showed us in his life and ministry, healing and transformation flow out of relationship—not the delivery of services. True love flows out of mutuality, where we blur the lines between those who are serving and those who are receiving, and where we humbly acknowledge that we all have something of offer and something to receive from one another.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“So when people ask me whether I preach the gospel to the poor, I echo the words of St. Francis: "It is no use walking anywhere to preach, unless our walking is our preaching." In other words, unless I am living the upside-down kingdom of God, it is simply absurd to go around talking about it.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“Jesus is not respectable or nice in the sense of being placid or uncontroversial. He is not necessarily a good citizen. Jesus is wildly and prophetically subversive, because beyond our affluent comfortable suburbs, not all is right. And something has to change.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“...when Jesus left the most exclusive gated community in the universe to live with the people he loved and gave his life for, he turned everything we know and believe about life on its head.”
― Craig Greenfield, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn also grappled with this tendency, but he came to the conclusion that “the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts.”35”
― Anonymous, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“But Jesus knows well that we are people of story and grit. We need to see theological ideas in messy human form so they can spark something real in our imagination.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“I did not know that in setting out to change the world, I would end up being changed myself. But since my first encounter with the poor, I have found that if I pray for God to move a mountain, I must be prepared to wake up next to a shovel.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“I have found that if I pray for God to move a mountain, I must be prepared to wake up next to a shovel. Encountering”
― Zondervan Publishing, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“I did not know that in setting out to change the world, I would end up being changed myself. But since my first encounter with the poor, I have found that if I pray for God to move a mountain, I must”
― Zondervan Publishing, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“If you are seeking the work God has made you to do, search for the deepest inclination of your heart and follow it to where it meets the suffering of the world.107 Or in the words of Mother Teresa, “Find your own Calcutta.” If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed the one God places in front of you. You must resist the temptation to do nothing because you can do only a little or because you can’t be like someone else who seems more radical. It takes many tiny candles to overcome the darkness.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World

“As Jesus showed us in his life and ministry, healing and transformation flow out of relationship—not the delivery of services.”
― Zondervan Publishing, Subversive Jesus: An Adventure in Justice, Mercy, and Faithfulness in a Broken World