In today’s Gospel, we read the famous “Golden Rule,” but what does Jesus actually mean by “Love your enemies, don’t judge others?” Is love passive action and wishful thinking? Is love accepting oppression or domination? Or is love an active, dangerous responsibility? 

I serve in two different ministries. I’m one of the Ministry Coordinators with the Church of the Common Ground, an Episcopal Street Ministry in Atlanta, and I serve as the Community Program Coordinator with Transmission Ministry Collective, an online community dedicated to trans and gender-expansive Christians. Homeless folks and transgender folks have and will surely continue to be political fodder over the next four years, though we’ve already been under intense attack and scrutiny. I think of the reality of many homeless folks at our church, seeking housing and having to work tirelessly to gather things like lost birth certificates, social security cards, or a new state ID. These documents can take weeks, sometimes longer, to gather, and the reality is that once folks can get these things, they often come up against even more barriers, like struggling to find housing that will accept their housing voucher. At the mercy of the state, they find themselves forced to continue living in shelters or in the streets in a country where just last year, homelessness was made illegal. Just a month into 2025 over 300 anti-trans bills have already been introduced on state and house floors. Last year, 672 bills were introduced with 50 eventually passed. In the wake of the new administration, trans and nonbinary folks are anticipating further attacks on our housing, education, access to gender-affirming care, and more. 

Sometimes loving your enemy, or even your neighbor, doesn’t seem like enough. How can love and non-judgment fix a horribly twisted, dangerous, and evil society? I think it depends how we define “love.”

As Jesus demonstrates in his life and ministry, love is not a passive, wishful hope. Instead, “love” is an active force that speaks, heals, and cares for people in dangerous and violent societies. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is preaching as part of his Sermon on the Plain, and like most of his ministry, this section in Luke sees Jesus not in a bustling city, but in a rural countryside. Jesus’s ministry, and his message of bringing the Kingdom of God here on Earth, spoke most directly to peasants, who were poor, hungry, and at the mercy of oppression by the Roman Empire and the religious elites. As we see in the section right before Luke 6:27, Jesus speaks of the woes as a counter to the Beatitudes (Luke 6:24-26): 

“But woe to you who are rich,

  for you have received your consolation.

“Woe to you who are full now,

  for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you who are laughing now,

  for you will mourn and weep.

“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Right before Jesus tells us to love our enemies and not judge others, he makes it clear that systems that hoard wealth and make us poor, and people who try to appeal to those in power instead of doing what is right have been condemned by God. When he’s calling on us to love, he’s not saying we have to accept or put up with systems that hurt or seek to erase us – instead we have to boldly love ourselves and those around us. We must love our neighbors by lending to one another without expecting anything in return, we must show compassion to those who are hurting alongside us, and we must not judge the people who those in power tell us to despise, such as trans folks or homeless folks. Ultimately, we must love each other and ourselves enough to rise up against systems that go against the will of God.

We are in dangerous times, with many communities coming under intense and heightened attacks. It is not the time to passively hope that things will get better or won’t be as bad as we think they will. Passive inaction will only allow horrible things to come to fruition. It’s also not the time just to hope and pray that unjust leaders’ hearts will be softened only by the will of God, or to hope that a passive kind of peace and love will somehow magically transform our nation. In dangerous times, we are called to love as Jesus asks us to. The kind of love he calls for is love in action – love that feeds, houses, and cares for one another. It’s a love that demands a different kind of world and society. It’s a risky and dangerous love, but it’s ultimately the kind of love that Jesus was really talking about.

Transmission Ministry Collective is an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender and gender-expansive Christians. We are a community that is created by and for transgender people who are committed to growing in faith, supporting each other, and healing the world. We offer video-based support groups, an online Bible Study, a 24-7 chat server and more. Recently as a commitment to the love and care that we have for each other, TMC launched our Mutual Aid Program (MAP). MAP offers structured, informed and faith-driven mutual aid for trans folks navigating complex challenges. You can read more about MAP here.

Child of Justice 3 by Anni Brink

Image description: Against a colorful backdrop of buildings, a multi-racial group of people stand together. Some hold signs that say “healthcare” and “The people united will never be defeated.”

Song:

“We Belong Together,” Anu Yadav

We Belong Together came out of the We Cried Justice Art Collective. The writer and performer, Anu, speaks about how the song was inspired by the community that surrounded her when she was homeless. In the beginning, Anu sings how “love is an action, a place to sleep.”