What does Jesus say about homosexuality?
NOTHING! Nada. Zip. Not a word.
That is right. Nowhere in the Bible is there record of a single word spoken by Jesus about homosexuality. In fact, out of 31,173 verses in the Bible, only four condemn homosexuality directly and none of these are by Jesus (Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; and Timothy1:9).
Since the Bible does say on many occasions that Jesus knew what people in his audience were thinking, we must assume that he knew the hearts and behaviors of the homosexuals in the audience as well. So if he knew they were there, why did he not call them out, like many Christians of today would do in His name?
I suspect Jesus was more interested in the hearts of those homosexual men and women and in their relationship with God, than in their private bedroom behaviors. On many occasions Jesus demonstrated a focus of the heart rather than behavior. (Examples: Luke 7:37; Luke 19:2; and John 8: 2-11)
In order to fully understand Jesus’ attitude about this, it is important to first look at the Jewish laws against homosexuality. For that we must visit the Book of Leviticus, traditionally believed to be penned by Moses during the years in the wilderness.
In Leviticus 20, Moses spoke against many kinds of immorality and dished out some very harsh penalties. For example, people were to be put to death if they sacrificed their children to Molek - a god of the Philistines and Canaanites. Most people today would agree child sacrifice deserves the harshest penalty. Moses also lists several other sins that most of us would agree are wrong, but his punishment is over the top, and in each of these cases the woman is put to death along with the man, even though the passage tends to suggest that the man was the perpetrator.
11 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
12 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.
14 “‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.
15 “‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal.” (Like the animal was a consenting partner.)
Then there is Leviticus 20:9 and 20:18 which makes most of us say, “Wait a minute!”
Leviticus 20: 9 “‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head."
18 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them are to be cut off from their people.”
Finally, here are two other key verses only a few lines away from each other.
10 “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.”
And finally the much quoted verse 13, “If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
So the big question is how did Jesus view these Old Testament laws? We have a few clues like in John 8: 2-11. Jesus was teaching on the Mount of Olives when the Teachers of the Law brought a woman to him saying that she was caught in the act of adultery. They told Jesus that, “In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.” (It is interesting that they only brought the woman because the Law they referred to clearly said that both the man and woman should be killed, and if she was “caught in the act of adultery” the man was clearly present.) Then these religious leaders asked Jesus, “Now what do you say? 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.”
Then Jesus spoke those unforgettable words that ring throughout history.
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
After all the accusers had dropped their stones and left, Jesus asked, 9 “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Jesus did not say it was OK to commit adultery. He simply did not believe that sinful people should be judging, condemning and prosecuting other sinners. On another occasion he put it his way: Matthew 7:4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”
I believe that if Jesus were here in flesh and blood today, he would be telling the religious leaders that they need to look in their own hearts and at their own behaviors before trying to correct the bedroom behavior of otherwise law-abiding citizens. I wholeheartedly believe he would have rebuffed efforts to legislate morality. He had his harshest words for religious leaders who were so caught up in the law that they were dead inside. He called them “whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” Matthew 23:27
In July 2013, Pope Francis made headlines when he said that the Church was too obsessed with issues like abortion, homosexuality and contraception. He said "The church has sometimes locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules,' Francis said. "The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials."
What do you think Jesus would say about the fact that many religious people today make the battle to vilify homosexuality their prime religious platform, while disregarding the needs of the poor and the ill? Pope Francis recently said Christians are too focused on homosexuality and not the spirit of faith. Jesus said "“Go into all the world and preach the gospel " Mark 16:15. He did say to go throughout the world and condemn. He also said, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:17
Comedian, Jon Steward made a great point. He said, “Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. ..We protect religion. And talk about a lifestyle choice – religion is absolutely a choice. It’s a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to have to make their case that they deserve the same basic rights as someone else.”