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The way the Bible is interpreted is very much influenced by the
culture and world views of those who do the
interpreting. For years
passages which showed our
people in a positive light have been seen as
"friendships" or referring to other things. Now in a
world where we have
more freedom we can start to
view the Bible with new eyes.
Jesus
Affirmed A Gay Couple
There is a
passage in St Matthew's (8:5-13) and St Luke's
(7:1-10) gospels where
Jesus healed the servant of a
Roman centurion. In St Matthew, we are told
that the
centurion came to Jesus to plead for the healing of his servant.
Jesus said he was willing to come to the centurion's
house, but the
centurion said there was no need for
Jesus to do so — he believed that if
Jesus simply
spoke the word, his servant would be healed. Marvelling at
the man's faith, Jesus pronounced the servant
healed. Luke tells a similar
story. Just another
miracle story, right? Not on your life!
In the
original language, the importance of this story for
gay, lesbian, and
bisexual Christians is much
clearer. The Greek word used in Matthew's
account to
refer to the servant of the centurion is "pais". In
the language of the time, "pais" had three
possible meanings
depending upon the context in
which it was used. It could mean "son or
boy;" it
could mean "servant," or it could mean a particular type of
servant — one who was "his master's male
lover."
Often these lovers
were younger than
their masters, even teenagers. To our modern minds, the
idea of buying a teen lover seems repugnant. But we
have to place this in
the context of ancient
cultural norms. In ancient times, commercial
transactions were the predominant means of forming
relationships.
Under the law, the wife was
viewed as the property of the husband, with a
status
just above that of slave. Moreover, in Jesus' day, a boy or girl
was considered of marriageable age upon reaching his
or her early teens.
It was not uncommon for boys and
girls to marry at age 14 or 15. Nor was
it uncommon
for an older man to marry a young girl.
Fortunately
civilization has advanced, but these were the norms
in the culture of
Jesus' day. In that culture, if
you were a gay man who wanted a male
"spouse," you
achieved this, like your heterosexual counterparts, through
a commercial transaction — purchasing someone to
serve that purpose. A
servant purchased to serve
this purpose was often called a pais.
Jesus
doesn't condemn the centurion for having a male lover, but heals the
lover and tells the crowd that the centurion is full
of faith.
Ruth and
Naomi
The same Hebrew word that
is
used in Genesis 2:24 to describe how Adam felt about Eve (and how
spouses are supposed to feel toward each other) is
used in Ruth 1:14 to
describe how Ruth felt about
Naomi. Her feelings are celebrated, not
condemned!
And throughout Christian history, Ruth's vow to
Naomi has been used to illustrate the nature of the
marriage covenant.
These words are often read at
Christian wedding ceremonies and used in
sermons to
illustrate the ideal love that spouses should have for one
another. The fact that these words were originally
spoken by one woman to
another tells us a lot about
how God feels about same-gender
relationships.
This context makes the next scene almost
unbelievable. Naomi, grieving and recognizing her
fate as a widow, decides
to return to Bethlehem
where her father's family is, and where she hopes
to
find food. She counsels her daughters-in-law to do the same — to return
to their own families. She knows she can't offer
them any support as a
woman, and she fears she'll
only be a burden. One, sensibly, returns home.
But
the other, Ruth, cannot bear to do so. Her feelings run too deep. The
Hebrew word used in Ruth 1:14 to describe those
feelings is quite telling.
The text says, "Ruth
clung to [Naomi]." The Hebrew word for "clung" is
"dabaq." This is precisely the same Hebrew
word used in Genesis
2:24 to describe how Adam felt
toward Eve.
The Book of Genesis
draws an
important theological conclusion from Adam's experience. It says
that, for this reason (i.e., the need for
companionship), a man should
leave his father and
mother when he grows up and "cling"
("dabaq") to his wife. And, of course, for
the vast majority of
human beings, that is God's
will for them — for a man and woman to leave
their
parents home and form a relationship with each other that is so
close, so intimate, that they can be described as
"clinging" to one
another.
But what about
people who aren't heterosexual? Ruth 1:14
shows that
— without apology, embarrassment, or qualification — Ruth felt
the same way toward Naomi as spouses are supposed to
feel toward each
other. Far from being condemned,
Ruth's feelings are celebrated. In fact,
so as to
remove any doubt about how Ruth felt toward Naomi, the Scriptures
go on to record the details of the vow that Ruth
made to Naomi. Here are
her
words:
"Do not press me to leave you or to turn back
from following you! Where you go, I will go; where
you lodge I will lodge;
your people shall be my
people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will
die — there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus
and so to me, and more
as well, if even death parts
me from you!" (Ruth 1:16-17)
The
passage
shows that God affirms committed love between two people of the
same sex.
David and
Jonathan
You may
have heard
Jonathan and David's story, but if you're like most people, you
have probably never looked at it closely. Some
Christians point to
Jonathan and David as an example
of idealized male bonding — a type of
"brotherly
love" not "stained" by the romantic entanglements of
male-female relationships. The Bible however, is
completely inconsistent
with this strained
interpretation. We can see in three passages the great
romantic love David and Jonathan had for each other:
"When
David had finished speaking to
Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the
soul of
David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that
day and would not let him return to his father's
house. Then Jonathan made
a covenant with David,
because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan
stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing,
and gave it to David,
and his armor, and even his
sword and his bow and his belt." (1 Samuel
18:1-4)
To give another all one's goods
and symbols of power
is a sure sign of love. If
Jonathan's name had been substituted by a
woman's
name everyone would see that this is the start of a love
story.
Then we have the family dinner from
hell when Jonathan gets
home....
"You
son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not
know
that you have chosen [David] the son of Jesse to your own shame and
to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long
as the son of Jesse
lives upon the earth, neither
you nor your kingdom shall be
established." (1
Samuel 20:30)
References to
"nakedness"
indicate a sexual subject and clearly Saul, Jonathan's father
who is speaking, is a little homophobic! The
implication is that
Jonathan's love for David is
bringing sexual shame on the family. This is
no
normal friendship.
After the dinner Jonathan ran to see
David:
"David rose from beside the stone
heap and prostrated
himself with his face to the
ground. He bowed three times and they kissed
each
other and wept with each other; David wept the more." (1 Samuel
20:41)
Clearly each needed comfort.
After Jonathan's death in
battle David
laments:
"I am distressed for you my brother
Jonathan; Greatly beloved were you to me; your love
to me was wonderful,
passing the love of women."(2
Samuel 2:27)
Here it is in simple language - David was bisexual and had a gay
relationship with Jonathan. We know he was bi as he
married twice and had
children.
Want
to Know More?
Visit www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.com
to look at these, and other, passages in more
detail. Or come along one
Sunday to your local
Metropolitan Community Church and see a church full
of lgbt Christians simply getting on with living
lives of Christian
discipleship, using the Bible as
a friend and valuable resource in our
spiritual
journeys.
We invite you read through the following short articles
which offer some more detailed insights into this
whole area of "The
Bible
says...".
The seven deadly texts - Interpretations
of:
What to
say when the Bible is used as a weapon -
Does the whole village
really need to stone my
neighbour to death, or can we nominate a few
people
to do it for us? |
