Free at last*

There is no more powerful scripture in the Christian canon than this: [Romans 8:1=2] “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”

You and I know that we are faced constantly with condemnation by our peers. And you and I who are gay know that we are constantly, even now more than 2000 years since these words were preached by the apostle Paul, constantly still condemned for who we are. Now, some of us think we should explain our way out of this, by reminding people that Jesus set us free. Some of us think we should shame our way out of this by shaming people for wearing clothes that mix fiber and leather, or shaming people who eat meat and vegetables together. In secular society, thank goodness (and maybe God, we’ll see) we are able to argue rationally that two people standing next to each other ought to have the same rights under the law. This seems to be working. Just because we are gay does not mean we should not have equality under the law. And people who think that homosexuality is condemned by God are just wrong. Go never has condemned people for loving each other. In Leviticus, those rules are for worship in the Temple; to worship a god other than our God in God’s temple is idolatry, clear and simple. But this is over the head of most followers of simpleton religiosity. This also is why all of those other Levitican laws are no longer relevant, indeed, have not been since Christ told us His commandments replace all of the law and the prophets.

Love one another, that’s it. That means respect one another. It means do not judge one another. It means help one another.

The court arguments about marriage equality are frightening for us because each argument means begging the heterosexist majority please to stop harming us. But, we cannot expect them to listen to reason if in two thousand years they still have not done so. Why is that? Because it is in their interest to keep us oppressed. We have to stand up. We have to say “no more.” We have to stop apologizing for being gay as God made us.

The answer, as usual, is in Christ my friends, whenever we live in the Spirit of Christ we walk in the light of God. And whenever we live in the spirit of self we walk in the path of what Paul calls “the flesh.” Did you think he meant sex? You were wrong. He meant self and self-ishness. Try that out tomorrow when you get cut off on 94. You have a choice. Love the other driver and let him have his way, evil as it might be. Or, judge yourself equal with God and run him into the ditch—after all, he deserves it, right?

See?

To those who despair of marriage equality in the United States I say “good for you, keep despairing.” I know of no reason to think the courts will find in our favor if we insist on pushing this to the highest level. To those who think “oh, they have to find for us” I say, you are fooling yourselves. They are in charge, and if in 2000 years they have not listened to Christ why do you think they will bother to do so now? On the other hand, those of us who are married have to insist on our rights. Every time I turn around my university has changed my marital status on some document from “married” to “single.” I have to call them each time. I have proof that I am married. They have to acknowledge that. Unfortunately, I have to constantly remind them. Just as we need constantly to stand up and be who we are in the light of Christ.

Hopeless? No, not quite. For their is no condemnation in Christ. That is the good news. After all, Christ is God, and Christ who is God is all that matters. We, in Christ, are free.

 

[To my regular readers (all both of you) I apologize for the hiatus; I lost my muse when I discovered my students were reading this instead of the academic blog I write for them. Maybe it will come back. We’ll see. God loves you. Don’t forget that.]

*Proper 10 (Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23)