“WHO GETS TO STAND AT THE ALTAR?”
Matthew 19: 3 – 12 (NRSV)
August 30, 2009/Eigth in a series, “Your Questions Please”
Focus: God binds man and woman together to create one flesh.
A TOPIC FOR TODAY
I googled the words “gay marriage” this week; and these were the top five results from my search:
- Judge dismisses same-sex marriage suit that snared Obama. A federal judge in Southern California has dismissed on a technicality a same-sex marriage lawsuit that created a rift between President Barack Obama and his gay supporters.
- From Wikipedia: Same-sex marriage is a term used to describe a legally or socially recognized marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender.
- Is an essay on why the arguments against gay marriage don't hold up in the light of reason.
- From the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: In recent years, the debate over same-sex marriage has grown from an issue that occasionally arose in a few states to a nationwide controversy. Indeed, in the last five years, the debate over gay marriage has been heard in the halls of the U.S. Congress, at the White House, in dozens of state legislatures and courtrooms, and in the rhetoric of election campaigns at both the national and state levels.
- Is a website that identifies which states and countries that allow gay marriage.
While this topic is not one I would have selected to preach about; I do realize that it is an issue that is frequently on the front pages of newspapers and websites. A friend raised two powerful, tough questions: Is homosexuality a sin? Are same sex marriages sinful?
Anyone who would like to preach today is welcome to come forward now.
In debate that takes place among Christians around these questions, it is noted that Jesus never addressed homosexuality. In fact, there are only a small number of verses in the Bible that speak directly about the issue. Still, our Scripture Lesson today is found in the Gospel of Matthew 19: 3 – 12; and it records an occasion when Jesus spoke about marriage.
CAVEAT
I have never preached before on the topic of homosexuality, although many of my colleagues in ministry have. I realize that the pulpit is a loaded place. I stand here and get to talk for about 20 minutes without interruption and to do so as the recognized spiritual leader of this community. I haven’t been comfortable to use this place to address this issue. But, I’ve been asked to do so, and so I will.
A caveat is defined as a warning or a caution; or a qualification or explanation. Here are three caveats that I would bring before I try to answer these two questions. One, a caveat about my job as a preacher for this congregation: I am not the voice of this church. It is not my duty to try to speak on your behalf. The task of the preacher is to try to speak for God; which means that the work of preaching begins early in my work-week with me sitting with the Bible and trying to understand what a particular passage means. As I come to understand the meaning of that passage I then try to apply it’s meaning in appropriate ways to your life and mine. If I am doing my job well, on Sundays you should hear a word from God from this pulpit that could either comfort you or challenge you or maybe both at the same time. Second, good Christians disagree on the answers to the questions which have been raised. Another preacher could stand here, having looked at the same passages from the Bible that I looked at this week, and come to a completely different set of conclusions than I have. I would not challenge the Christian faith or competence of such a preacher, and I hope those who will disagree with me would not question my faith or my calling. This is an issue that Christians see differently. Three, I am a sinner, and I am a sexual sinner. Before I render an opinion on whether or not homosexuality is a sin; I must say that I have sinned sexually in my life. I have cried out to God in a spirit of brokenness and deep sadness for what I have done in years past and with a earnest desire to not continue in that life of sin. And I know that God has forgiven me. I am a sexual sinner and so are you.
There’s a great line from an old Abbott and Costello film, “Abbot and Costello Meet the Wolfman”. The man who is transformed into a wolf when the moon turns full says to Abbott, “You don’t understand my struggle. At every full moon, I turn into in a wolf and my worst desires come out.” Abbott responds, “Yeah you and 100,000 other guys.”
This leads me to say one more thing before I answer the questions. The Church of Jesus Christ has been wrong in how she has spoken about homosexuality and how we have related to the gay and lesbian communities. Though the Church, this church and all churches, are filled with people who have sinned sexually, the Church of Jesus Christ has often only spoken against homosexuality. We have demonized homosexuals and we have communicated clearly to such persons: You aren’t welcome here. We have missed, by a mile, speaking the grace of our Lord Jesus to all sexual sinners in a humble yet welcoming way.
SETTING
I am aware of our setting today. We are a Christian community gathered for worship. Our discussion of homosexuality will go in a very different direction here than it would in the living room in New Hope or a classroom in Council Rock North High School.
For me, I turn first to the Bible because of my conviction that it is the Word of God. The Bible speaks to me with an unequalled authority, often in ways that convict and unsettle me. Today, I would like to engage the Scriptures with you, trying to anticipate and answer what some are thinking or arguing.
IS IT A SIN?
Is homosexuality a sin? The Bible seldom speaks about homosexuality, you should know. I’ve listed the most direct passages found in Old and New Testaments and there aren’t more than six or seven. It should be said that the Bible is universal in condemning homosexuality, though it does so infrequently. But, someone says, doesn’t the Bible condemn other things that we do still? Yes, it is true that Christians don’t follow the food regulations found in the Old Testament, because some aspects of the Law have been set aside, while others haven’t. Did you realize that the command, “Love your neighbor as yourself” is first found in the book of Leviticus?
Some point out that American Christians in the south used the Bible to defend the institution of slavery and other Christians refer to the Bible for support subordinate roles for women? If the church was wrong about slavery or in their view of women, then isn’t it possible that we are wrong about homosexuality too? But through the course of the Bible, from Old to New Testament, you find movement from restrictive view to a more open and inclusive views on the role of women or on the position of slavery. No such movement is found with homosexuality.
But, some will insist, it’s been proven that homosexuality has a genetic origin. A person doesn’t choose his sexual orientation, he is born with it. How then can one’s natural sexual orientation be considered sinful? To me there are two simplistic views on sexual orientation. The first is that someone chooses it and the other is that someone just has an orientation of whatever sort from birth. Human sexuality is a mysterious thing, and each person’s sexuality may be found along a long continuum of interests and attractions. I also believe that we live in a broken world; and not everything is way it is supposed to be. It’s helpful to me in this discussion to speak of God’s intention rather than slapping on the label of sin.
WHAT ABOUT MARRIAGE?
What did Jesus say about homosexuality? Nothing. Can’t we assume that the One who welcomed and loved sinners and refused to condemn them would love and welcome homosexuals? That’s why this passage from Matthew is so interesting to me.
Jesus was once asked a hot question that was wrapped in barbed wire. Is it lawful to divorce your wife for any reason? Here is the hook to that question. If Jesus says, “Sure, you can go ahead and divorce your wife,” His critics would say that He was soft on the God-ordained institution of marriage. If He says, “No, you can’t divorce your wife,” then He stands as a greater authority than Moses, who was given the Law that included permission for divorce.
Jesus held a very high view of marriage and a very restrictive view on divorce. But within His answer, He affirms that God gave marriage and that a marriage consists of a man and a woman living faithfully within the bounds of a covenant. In Matthew 19: 4 – 6, “Haven’t you read the Scriptures? They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ This explains why a man leaves his father and his mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”
Marriage is for me more than two people who love each other who wish to remain together for the rest of their lives. If that’s all that marriage is then any two adults could get married, regardless of their gender. But the Bible says that marriage is more than that. Marriage is a walking announcement of an amazing thing: two different beings—male and female—enter into a life-long relationship. When those two different creatures are seen together, living an intimate, committed relationship, people can see a picture of God that can’t be seen when two women or two men are married.
In a recent article posted on the Presbyterians for Renewal website, this helpful point is made:
The biblical understanding of marriage is that of a union bridging the differences between male and female. Men and women are literally “made for each other,” not only in their similarities, but especially in their profound differences — differences also ordained by a loving Creator. When a man and woman are united in marriage they become a whole being in a way that same-gender individuals cannot. A same-gender relationship brings together like with like, and thus can never be considered the equivalent of marriage.
It is on the foundation of its teaching on marriage that the Bible in various contexts forbids and condemns all homosexual relations. These are not isolated “clobber texts” as has sometimes been alleged. Rather, the biblical prohibition of same-gender relations is in full unity with the Bible’s teaching on God’s gift of marriage and the life-giving pattern of Christian discipleship. As followers of Jesus, we are committed to live in faithfulness to Scripture, regardless of the license that may be given by secular law or the current caprice of an ever-changing culture.
I’ve tried to forge and answer to the two questions raised to me. There is more I could say, but won’t. I do have questions for myself, based on the convictions I have shared this morning. Question One, if the Bible declares that homosexuality is not compatible with God’s intention for human sexuality, then where does that leave gay or lesbian persons who wish to come to this church? I want to, and have tried my best to welcome such friends whenever I can. I want them to know the Jesus that I have met. Question Two, what do I say to the gay or lesbian couple who wants to live a committed, life-long relationship? What if, as Christians, they want to make their vows before God? I don’t know what to say, honestly. I can’t call that relationship a marriage because it lacks an essential diversity; and thus, I’m not sure I could bless such a union. But then I’m driving them away from the church.
Sarah Cunningham is a young Christian woman who has a lot of problems with the church. But like me, she would see the texts we’ve looked at today in the same way. Sarah was once talking to a gay friend and she said to him, “I want you to know I believe God loves every person deeply and equally. That includes the homosexual.” She went on, “It would be dishonest for me to pretend I agree with or understand the path you believe is right, but I accept that you are free to choose your own life course. That is not because I’m especially charitable or generous, but because God is. . . I’m not asked to impersonate the Holy Spirit but to live a life that gives off God’s fluorescence. And I resolve to remember that God often allows us to learn just as much as we travel our chosen paths as we would have if we had walked only in his lighted portions. But wait, we protest, that is like saying God allows learning even when we go the wrong way. But wait, we continue, now that we think about it, that sounds a whole lot like grace.”
“Your Questions Please” Study Guide: August 30, 2009
Question: Is homosexuality a sin? Are same sex marriages sinful?
Key Biblical Passages on homosexuality:
- Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1: 26 – 28; 1 Corinthians 6: 9 – 10; 1 Timothy 1:10
On Whether Biblical Injunctions Are Time-Bound:
“All statements by humans, including those in the Bible, are limited by the worldview of those who uttered them . . . A different but essential question is how binding the Pauline condemnation is for Christians of today . . .An outlook based on the revelation of God’s will in creation itself would not be easily changed. Scholarly discussion of the issue will continue, challenging Paul’s outlook on the ‘unnatural.’ Nevertheless, in insisting on the sexual limits imposed by a divinely commanded state of marriage between a man and a woman, Paul and indeed, Jesus himself, walking among us in our times, would not be frightened by being considered sexually and politically ‘incorrect,’ any more than they minded being considered overly demanding in the Greco-Roman and Jewish world of their times.”
Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament
Resources:
- In 2004, our denomination, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. received a report from a study group comprised of theologically liberal, conservative and centrist pastors, elders and academics. The group created a helpful overview of seven different theological views on same-gender relationships: http://www.pcusa.org/peaceunitypurity/finalreport/seventheologicalviewpoints.pdf
- The Covenant Network is an organization of people in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. who favor accepting all people, regardless of sexual orientation, to all offices of the church. Their website, with resources, is: http://www.covenantnetwork.org/home
- Presbyterians for Renewal is an organization with our denomination committed to maintaining biblical standards for ordination. Their website, with resources, is: http://www.pfrenewal.org
- Bridges Across the Divide is a “cyberspace initiative providing models and resources for building respectful relationships among those who disagree about moral issues surrounding homosexuality . . .” Their website is: http://www.bridges-across.org
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