Red Letter Revolution

Rereading the Yehoshua Teachings From The Eyes of Liberation

I originally created Red Letter Revolutionas a 24-day Advent journey, designed to help participants immerse themselves in the teachings of Jesus—the red letter words that stand out in many Bibles, often attributed to the direct voice of Christ. But as I revisit this content now, long past the traditional season of Advent, I find myself asking: When isn’t it time for liberation? When isn’t it time to reflect on love, humility, justice, and mercy?

In truth, the message of Jesus was never meant to be boxed into a liturgical season. The core intent of his teachings is—and has always been—liberation: liberation from fear, from shame, from oppression, from ego, and from any illusion that we are separate from God or each other. And yet, we live in a time where the liberating message of Jesus is often obscured by the loud contradictions of those who claim to follow him.

As Brennan Manning put it:

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

So many people are walking away from Christianity—not out of rebellion against Christ, but in disillusionment with religion that preaches love but performs exclusion. I understand. I’ve seen the wounds. I’ve carried some myself.

And yet, I’ve come to believe something quietly radical: when many people run away from unloving, dogmatic religion, they may actually be running toward the very essence of what Jesus taught. They are drawn toward dignity. Toward belonging. Toward justice. Toward mystery. In short, toward Christ—whether or not they call it that.

This is where the concept of the anonymous Christian, rooted in the theology of Karl Rahner, offers an expansive lens. Rahner proposed that sincere seekers of truth, goodness, and love—even those outside formal Christianity—may unknowingly respond to the grace of Christ. That grace is not confined by doctrine. It is as wide as the Divine heart.

In my own words, I call this the Christ Principle—a current of divine reality that animates all who live into Jesus’ two great commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Even if they do not name God. Even if they do not know Jesus. Something in them knows, through experience and compassion and sacred curiosity, what it means to live into the better part.

So here we are. This Red Letter Revolution is no longer just an Advent devotional. It’s an open invitation to anyone—faithful, skeptical, deconstructing, or somewhere in between—who still dares to believe that love has the final word.

Why the Red Letters?

When I was a child, I was fascinated with the red letters in the New Testament—simply because they were red. I read anything I could find: cereal boxes, soup cans, even pillow tags. But the red letters were special. They pulled me in. They glowed with importance.

I read those red letters over and over again—from our family Bible and later from the Bibles I bought with my own money. I even bought a micro-Bible once that came with a magnifying glass so I could carry the whole thing in my pocket. And still, I would scan for the red. For reasons that I expounded on in a previous post, I always kept the words of Jesus near to me.

Later, when I began to read the rest of the Bible, I did so with the red letters burned into my imagination. Everything else looked different in their light. The coherence I sensed wasn’t the result of doctrine—it was the presence of love, woven like thread through each page.

What This Journey Offers

The hope of Red Letter Revolution is to help you see the teachings of Christ in a new light—not just to believe them, but to live them. Each of the 24 reflections is grounded in a saying of Jesus and includes opportunities to reflect, to question, and to apply what you’re learning to your life and the world around you.

Even though it began as an Advent series, you can begin this journey any time. Especially now. Because now is always the right time to come home to love. Now is always the right time for liberation.

As Jesus once said to Martha:

“You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41–42)

May this journey help you choose the better part—not out of obligation, but out of awakening.

Let the revolution begin.

Resources

Below are links to the entire 24 Day Red Letter Journey to include links to YouTube videos, discussion questions, and reflection space. I am offering it in two formats, a online flip book and a downloadable PDF.

My hope is that you get as much out of it as I put into it and that it opens up conversations that are liberating.