How do we decide and discern God’s will for us
today?
The answer is found at the heart of the Christian
faith: Jesus Christ. We ask the question: What would Jesus do?
How do we know what Jesus would do?
We have to study the four biblical gospels of Jesus
to best know what Jesus would do. We have to look at what Jesus said and what
Jesus did. Let’s look at Jesus in light of the present rules people have placed
against gay people.
The most important thing Jesus lived and taught is
found in Mark 12:28-31. Jesus was asked a question by one of the teachers of
the law of Moses “What is the most important commandment?”
Jesus answered with two commandments: love God and
“love others as much as you love yourself.” Jesus said, “No other commandment
is more important than these.”
In other words, the Son of God says love trumps
human laws. Love is the essence of God’s true law.
What does it mean for us to love LGBT people?
Loving a
person means we value and respect them and do not treat them as second class
Christians. Loving LGBT people as much as we love ourselves means we allow them
as many rights and privileges as straight people. We allow them to love a partner
and get married just as straight people are able to love a partner and get
married. We allow them to provide leadership in our churches just like
straight people.
Jesus reveals what this love for all looks like by
his stories and his life. Jesus has a special passion for those who are not
treated as first class citizens. He reaches out to help the outsiders. He
welcomes in those who are excluded and oppressed. This can apply today to the
LGBT community who are often excluded and oppressed and treated as second
class outsiders.
The stories about how Jesus welcomes and includes
the outsider are many.
Jesus tells the story of a banquet in Luke 14:15-24 in
which the host tells the servant to go out into the streets to bring in
everyone to the party who is poor or crippled or blind or lame. Jesus heals an
“unclean” leper in Luke 5: 12-16. Jesus reaches out to women in Luke 7:36-8:3.
Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37. Jesus reaches
out to a tax collector in Luke 18: 9-14 and 19:1-10. Jesus welcomes the
children in Luke 18: 15-17.
All of these people were considered second-class by
the people of Jesus’ day. They were all excluded and oppressed. But Jesus loved
them and treated them as equals.
Jesus had strong words for those who focus on the
supposed sins of others. He talks about this in the Sermon on the Mount in
Matthew 7:1-5. He emphasizes our need to deal with our own problems and sins.
He would not want us to “judge gay people”.
The biblical God loves people in the
LGBT community. The biblical God calls for everyone to love those in the LGBT as much as they love themselves. This means we are compelled
to advocate for their equal rights and equal treatment.
Lord, help us love.
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