WAS JESUS A HOMO?

By Samuel Leighton-Dore

Jesus and John – “the beloved disciple” – BFs or BFFs?

The subject of Jesus Christ’s sexuality has been hotly debated by some and blatantly ignored by others for centuries. Despite the widely held belief that Christ was an unmarried heterosexual who remained celibate until his death, there are those who offer alternative theories.

In light of my recent Was Hitler A Homo? piece, I feel the need to clarify that I do not harbor an alarmist obsession with proving all significant cultural/religious figures were gay. However, I am occasionally intrigued by how historical figures or events might’ve turned out a little differently if it weren’t for the societal views on homosexuality of their time.

I suppose it’s kinda in my genes.

Despite being essentially raised by nuns in rural Australia, my mother’s developed into a fairly progressive, outspoken and forward-thinking sexuality/relationships counselor. Not being one to do things by halves, this dramatic swing of her morality pendulum often leads to family tension or arguments regarding religion. For instance, she recently refused to attend my baby cousin’s baptism out of protest over the Church’s covering up cases of sexual abuse. Fair enough, right? However, one day last year, as conversation inevitably shifted from the unlikelihood of me ever becoming a home-owner to my sexuality, mum seized yet another valuable opportunity to prove her relatively newfound open-mindedness.

“Jesus was gay,” she quipped over a house glass of chardonnay.

“It’s true – he was in love with John.”

Naturally skeptical, I did some research that evening and quickly discovered that mum’s comments weren’t entirely unfounded. In 2012 minister Paul Oestricher wrote a relatively controversial column for The Guardian about the Good Friday sermon he’d recently delivered in New Zealand – an opportunity, he said, to make “an act of penitence for the suffering and persecution of homosexual people that still persists in many parts of the church.”

“Faced with this privilege, I was painfully aware of the context, a church deeply divided worldwide over issues of gender and sexuality.” He wrote. “Suffering was my theme. I felt I could not escape the suffering of gay and lesbian people at the hands of the church, over many centuries.”

“Jesus was a Hebrew rabbi. Unusually, he was unmarried. The idea that he had a romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene is the stuff of fiction, based on no biblical evidence. The evidence, on the other hand, that he may have been what we today call gay is very strong.”

Oestricher is not alone in this belief. In a 2015 interview for Vice, openly gay pastor (and author of books including Queering Christ) Dr. Reverend Bob Shore-Goss said, “At the very least, Jesus was queer. He broke the rules of his culture, of heteronormativity. He subverted masculinities and gender codes in his culture. Queer doesn’t necessarily mean sexual orientation, but it can include that.”

Bringing himself into the eye of controversy, Elton John added his two cents in an interview with Parade Magazine in 2010, saying that “Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems.” This was met with outrage from the Church, with Catholic League president, Bill Donohue, rebutting, “to call Jesus a homosexual is to label Him a sexual deviant. But what else would we expect from a man who previously said, ‘From my point of view, I would ban religion completely.'”

British gay activist Peter Tatchell also released a press release on the subject in 1998, stating: “We don’t know for sure whether Jesus was straight, gay, bisexual or celibate. There is certainly no evidence for the Church’s presumption that he was heterosexual. Nothing in the Bible points to him having desires or relationships with women. The possibility of a gay Christ cannot be ruled out.”

This isn’t just provocative gossip, either. There’s loads of dry timber to fuel the speculative fire. According to Biblical scholar, Morton Smith, fragments of the manuscript he discovered at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958, revealed that the full text of St. Mark chapter 10 includes the passage:

“And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God”.

The youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body? I think I’ve seen that video – and it was far from Biblical. This so-called “Secret Gospel of Mark” has been vehemently contested for years by members of the Church, with Bishop Clement of Alexandria once penning a letter to a disciple named Theodore, saying: “One must never give way… [or] even concede that the secret gospel is by Mark… but deny it on oath. For, not all true things are to be said to all men.”

There’s no denying it’s pretty fishy stuff; with some suggesting references to Christ’s sexuality have been edited and altogether removed from The Bible over the centuries. Hmm. Now that would make for an epic follow-up season of Serial or investigative doco-series on Netflix. Someone get Sarah Koenig on the phone – stat! What’s more, the deeper you dig, the more interesting and complex the case for Christ’s homosexuality becomes. There are depictions of The Last Supper which show John’s head resting affectionately on Christ’s bosom; the fact that Jesus was a rabbi and there were no rabbinic traditions of celibacy – and the explicit notion that for Jesus to have been fully human would’ve meant for him to have experienced some level of sexuality.

Now, back to my opening question: Jesus and John, BFs or BFFs? In the Gospel of John, the disciple John frequently refers to himself in the third person as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. Furthermore, In the Book of John a word is used eight times that means “is in love with” with the implication of sexual intimacy. Five times it is used with reference to Jesus’ relationship with John. Once it is used to describe Jesus’ relationship with Lazarus – as well as being used to describe his relationship with Mary Magdalene and with her sister Martha.

*Shrugging angel emoji*

Regardless of whether or not Jesus was one of the first fucking fabulous homo leaders of planet Earth – it’s interesting to consider that the overt discrimination too regularly shown towards the LGBTQIA community by the Church could be (unbeknownst to them) underpinned by the worship of a long-dead, long-haired pioneer for peace, love and equality. I mean, even if he were straight, there’s little doubt that Christ was a serious advocate for bromance, wine and casual toplessness.

I don’t know about you – but that’s a Jesus I’d pray to.