What would Jesus say?
There is a lot going around in the wake The Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage. I have seen several things about how people think that Jesus would react to homosexuals in our society and, honestly, I am not sure where people are getting these things. Is there a 5th gospel that someone tore out of all my Bibles all this time?
Or is it possible that people’s estimations as to what Jesus would say come from their own thoughts about who Jesus was and what he did rather than what we read in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John? I would suggest that it is the latter. I think that a lot of people have thoughts about Jesus which sound very appealing but are not compatible to what we read that He said and did.
Jesus was one of the most confrontational, in-your-face teachers of all time and He didn’t pull his punches. Not with the hypocritical religious leaders, not with the common people, and certainly not with his disciples.
It seems like a lot of people have confused “love those who hate you.” With “be gentle and kind with those who hate the truth of God and desire to destroy it.” While Jesus always taught reconciliation with those who turn to God, he also taught strict brutally honest answers to those who did not.
The conciliatory tone that a lot of people want to put in Jesus mouth just does not square up with the Jesus of the bible. One of these articles about things Jesus would say, actually put that he would say He knows what it is like to be rejected. Really? That’s what Jesus would say? There were a lot of people being rejected in Judea in Jesus time, I don’t recall Jesus ever telling them that he identified with them for it. Was Jesus rejected? Sure, but he never went around saying “I know how you feel when these mean people don’t accept you as you are.”
Here is what I am pretty sure, from scripture, Jesus would say to the general population of actively homosexual people in our culture today: Nothing. That’s right. I don’t think Jesus would say a single word to them. Jesus almost never spoke to non-believers. He only preached to two types of people- those who already believed that Yahweh God of the Old Testament was their creator who needed to be worshipped and obeyed, and to those who came to Him because they wanted to know what was correct to be right with God.
Jesus completely ignored those who did not already recognize God as being in authority over them unless they came to him with questions. To those who did, he spoke the bold clear truth. If they came to Him with a genuine desire to know the truth He told it to them, not rudely but lovingly, but he didn’t sugar coat it either.
To the woman at the well, whose religion was far off from truth and her life was filled with sexual sin, Jesus was kind but He was also boldly honest to her that her life had been full of sin and must change.
The Greek culture which still dominated the region just North of where Jesus grew up thought homosexual pedophilia was just fine and Jesus never once spoke to any of them about it. Why? They were not believers in God.
Now, I believe that Jesus would have a LOT to say to those who call themselves His followers, yet actively participate in homosexuality. There are really, only three categories in which this can fall: 1 Those who are sinning, know that they are sinning and are remorseful and repentant. To these Jesus would likely say, as he did to the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you, [i.e. your sins are forgiven] now go and sin no more.” To the repentant, Jesus always showed grace. But he never just said “It’s OK, I forgive you.” He followed it up with how they had to change things.
2. Those who know that they are sinning but are not remorseful or repentant. To these Jesus would certainly say as he did to all who know better but refuse to change their behavior “Woe to you”. As he did in Matthew 11:20-24 to the cities in which he had taught and performed miracles but they refused to repent. Just as Jesus showed grace to the repentant, He showed the Law and the consequences of ignoring it to the unrepentant.
Jesus will not forgive any of us for sins which we refuse to repent of. It is the same for anyone, not just homosexuals. In fact in 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 we are told by the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit [that would be the same as if Jesus said it] that the standards of God are not even for those who don’t recognize Him on this earth, but for those who do. “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you.”
The third and final group is those who claim to be believers but do not even recognize that homosexual activity is sin. I think Jesus would treat them the same as he did the hypocrites who were religious leaders of His day. He would tell them boldly and pointedly that they were dead wrong and they had better change or things would not be good for them. Just as he set them straight when they had perverted God’s teaching on divorce, He would set them straight on their perverted teaching about homosexuality. Matthew 5:31-32. It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
To those who would be offended by Jesus telling them this, he had this to say when teaching people that it is their behavior not outward ritual that makes them sinful or not, in Matthew 15:10-14. And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
In other words, those who pervert the truth of God are not teachers from God and they should not be followed. 2 Timothy 4:2-4 tells us about people who will just preach what people want to hear and call it from God. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
This has happened many times in the past and it is happening now. If you are listening to a church or a preacher who tells you that homosexual activity or marriage is a good thing, that person or church is perverting the word of God, you need to leave them, they are blind guides.
Scripture is clear over and over that homosexuality is perverted sin, yet a lot of people want to deny that. To the masses of non-believers, I don’t think Jesus would say much of anything. But to those who believe that He is the way the truth and the life, he would not say anything that remotely seemed like “It’s OK I understand.”
Perhaps you think that I have spoken a bit harshly and maybe I have. It bothers me, however, when so many people want to take the bold, plain-spoken, confrontational, in-your-face teacher, our savior Jesus Christ who said right to the false teachers of his day You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And turn Him into a mealy mouthed feel-good, “can’t we all just get along” God who doesn’t take a stand on anything and just wants to give warm fuzzy hugs.
Kevin J. Greenlee, Senior Minister