I’ll admit homosexuality is an affront to Christianity if someone can show me where Christ condemns it. Some “Christians” claim that homosexuality is a sin and point to Leviticus in the Old Testament (Lev. 18:22, 20:13), and Romans (Rom 1:25-27) and Corinthians (1 Corr. 6:9-10) in the New Testament. But they never mention Christ or what he thought of homosexuality. The obvious reason is that Christ never mentioned or condemned it. There’s no doubt Jesus was familiar with homosexuality since it’s mentioned in the Old Testament and his contemporary Paul discussed it. But Jesus never mentioned it. Not once. Not even in passing.
Is there a way, based on the Gospels, to determine what Jesus might have thought about homosexuality? One way may be to look at how he dealt with issue of “sexual immorality,” which is often discussed along with homosexuality. In Paul’s condemnations, for example, homosexuality is mentioned with other types of sexual immorality, so the issues are closely related. So how did Jesus deal with these issues?
Christ addressed the issue twice in the Gospels. In Luke, Jesus is eating with a group of Pharisees and a woman comes and washes his feet. The woman is described as having lived a “sinful life” and one of the Pharisees asks Jesus if he knows what kind of woman she is. Jesus responded by saying that she has shown what kind of woman she is by the love she has shown by washing his feet. Because of this “her many sins have been forgiven.” (Luke 7:44-48).
The second story is one of the most famous in the Bible, from the Gospel of John. Jesus is teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem and a group of Pharisees come to him with a women “caught in adultery.” They say that “the Law [of Moses] commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” Many Biblical scholars contend that this was a trick to get Jesus to explicitly contradict the teachings of the Law of Moses. But Jesus doesn’t, he makes an end run: “Let any one of you who is without sin,” he says, “be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:3-11) No one does, and he forgives the woman and tells her to leave her life of sin.
In both situations Jesus noted that these women have sinned, but then ignored Old Testament rules on sexual morality, he also implicitly ridiculed those being judgmental and applying a strict interpretation of Biblical teaching.
Does this mean that Jesus was specifically rejecting Old Testament teachings regarding sexual immorality? The Pharisees at the Temple seemed to think he was. Why would they think that? Was it because he’d done it before? Are there other examples where Christ’s teachings contradict the Old Testament?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said he wouldn’t change a “jot or a tittle” of the Law of Moses, “so long as heaven and earth endures.” (Matt. 5:18). That’s a pretty clear endorsement of Old Testament teaching. But then he seems to reject the Law in a number of situations. Later in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:31-32) he rejects Old Testament teaching on divorce (Deut. 24:1), and harsh punishment. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ (Ex. 21:24.) But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” (Matt. 5:38). An “eye for an eye” is from the Law of Moses (Ex. 21:24), and here Jesus says to ignore it.
In other stories elsewhere in the Gospels, Christ rejected the rules on ritual cleaning before eating (the rule is in Lev. 15:11, and the rejection in Matt. 15:11), and on working on the Sabbath. Jesus said “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The prohibition on working on the Sabbath isn’t just one of a laundry list of rules set out in Leviticus, it’s one of the Ten Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep in holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.” (Ex. 20:8-11).
So on at least six occasions Jesus ignored, contradicted, or rejected lessons from the Old Testament. In each case he rejected what could be considered a harsh, rigid, and often cruel rule, in favor of forgiveness and tolerance.
It’s notable that Jesus even takes issue with one of the Ten Commandments. Not only did he reject that commandment, he created a New Commandment. At the Last Supper Jesus said: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35.)
This “New Commandment” seems to offer some explanation of Christ’s approach to the Old Testament. In most of the cases noted above, Jesus has reinterpreted Old Testament teachings through the lens of his New Commandment. It is clear that He applied this lesson to the two women accused of adultery, so it hardly seems illogical that he would have applied it to questions regarding homosexuality.
Let’s be clear: Jesus never condemned homosexuality. In fact he never even mentions it. Let’s also be clear: when confronted with questions of sexual morality, Jesus ridiculed the accusers and forgave the accused.
Given that clear record, I find it impossible to believe that Jesus would agree with most modern Christians. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ridiculed them, as he did the Pharisees. He might even question their claims to be disciple, particularly when they so clearly are unable to “love one another.”