If we are to properly understand the biblical text it must be interpreted through the lens of the Incarnation. So, what would Jesus say about same-sex marriage? What would Jesus say to homosexuals?
Several prominent Christians have suggested that Jesus would affirm homosexual marriage. The problem is that there is no biblical evidence to support this. If we are to be faithful disciples we have to deal with the inspired Biblical text and the great tradition of the Faith. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word, with God and is God (John 1:1). He is the Word who “became flesh” and reveals the glory of God “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He is the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15); the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s nature (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus is the embodied Torah – the fulfillment of the law (Matthew 5:17-19; Romans 3:21-22, 31).
In the Gospel of John, the first miraculous sign performed by Jesus was at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-12). The wedding is a significant motif throughout the Bible (Isaiah 62:4-5; Matthew 22:1-14; Ephesians 5:22-32; Revelation 19:9). Jesus attended the wedding at Cana, and turned water into wine, as a prophetic and messianic sign of God’s covenant love. Marriage is a salvific mystery. “The bond and covenant of marriage was established by God in creation, and our Lord Jesus Christ adorned this manner of life by his presence and first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. It signifies to us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church, and Holy Scripture commends it to be honored among all people” (Book of Common Prayer). Jesus was straightforward about the nature of marriage. In fact, Jesus’ teaching about marriage was stricter than that of Moses. “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6). Any deviation from this is due to the hardness of the human heart (Matthew 19:8).
Because Jesus is the embodied Torah, the fulfillment of the Law, we must assume that Jesus affirmed the teaching of the Torah regarding human sexuality (Leviticus 20:10ff). Heterosexual extramarital sex is immoral; likewise homosexuality is immoral. Both are forbidden and were punishable by death. There is no biblical reason to suggest that Jesus would affirm homosexual marriage, or polygamy. That leads to another consideration. Since Jesus often ate with sinners, would he have attended the wedding at Cana if it were a homosexual wedding? It is true that Jesus associated with sinners. Thank God! However, he did not celebrate their sinfulness, but offered forgiveness and deliverance from sin.
The second sign in John’s gospel was the cleansing of the Temple (John 2:13-25). He exclaimed, “Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” (John 2:16 NLT). Maybe, his cry today would be, “Stop turning my Father’s house into a political convention!” The Temple was no longer the residence of the Shekinah of God; Jesus was the embodied Shekinah (John 1:14). Jesus was provoked to anger because the Temple no longer faithfully represented God’s presence with humanity. As the embodied Shekinah, Jesus was consumed with zeal. This zeal is reflected in Jesus’ message to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 2-3). Jesus rebuked the churches because they “left your first love,” were “lukewarm,” and embraced idolatry and immorality. Jesus warned that unless they repent, he would “remove the lampstand,” “make war against them,” and bring “great tribulation.” He declared, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19). Just as Jesus judged the Temple, he speaks judgment to his church. I fear that those in the church who are affirming homosexual marriage are falling into great apostasy and inviting the zealous judgment of Christ.
We must always remember that Jesus, full of grace and truth, extends mercy to sinners. John presents the story of a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). The Law provided for the execution of those guilty of sexual immorality. This woman was to be stoned to death. But Jesus, the embodied Torah, extended grace with the words, “I do not condemn you.” Jesus did not excuse her sinfulness, nor did he affirm her love affair. He offered an alternative to the wages of sin – he offered life. He commanded, “Go and sin no more.” Grace and truth fulfills the Law and makes a new life possible.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do… God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh… (Romans 8:1-3).
So, allow me to offer a retelling of this story. A man is caught in a homosexual act and brought to Jesus. Some of his accusers are quoting the Torah: “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). They then turn to Jesus and ask, “Moses commanded us to stone such men; what do You say?” I expect that Jesus, the embodied Torah, would say, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at him.” Then Jesus would say to the homosexual man, “I do not condemn you.” Jesus would not excuse his sinfulness, nor would he affirm his homosexual acts. But he would offer life – new creation (1 Corinthians 5:17; 6:11; Titus 3:3-7). Also, Jesus would say to him, “Go and sin no more.”
Let there be no mistake. Those who resist God’s offer of grace and persist in unrighteousness – including fornicators, adulterers, and homosexuals – will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Instead, they will have “their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:8). Until that day, we are called to extend grace to all sinners. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
