The phrase “What would Jesus do?” [often abbreviated as WWJD] was very popular in the 1990s as a personal motto for believers of Jesus Christ.  People used the phrase as a reminder of the belief that they should act in a manner demonstrating Jesus. This motto became even more popular from the “WWJD” on wristbands that became standard attire among Christian youth groups.

I begin this post like this to highlight that Christians like to climb into the mind of Jesus from time to time.  They like to imagine they know what Jesus would do even though they have little evidence that He did anything of the sort in His lifetime. 

Here is a case in point.

Christians who like to affirm the homosexual community’s role in the church like to attribute words to Jesus that He may have never said and actions that He may have never done.  Author Preston Sprinkle has dedicated his ministry to bridging the gap between those who affirm homosexuals in the church and those who do not affirm homosexuality [in general].  Chapter Five in his book People to Be Loved tackles the subject of WWJD regarding homosexuality very directly.  He starts his chapter with these words”  “This could be a very short chapter for one reason:  Jesus never directly addresses the question of whether two men or two women could fall in love, get married and have sex” [69].  Yet people love to “spin” Jesus’ silence into affirmation.  Non-affirming people tend to say that since Jesus condemned fornication, He also denounced same-sex relations.

The best Sprinkle can say about this topic is “I actually do believe that Jesus’ words and actions should profoundly shape how we approach our topic” [69].  But Sprinkle likens this argument between Christian groups to a fighting match between two parents.  A child hearing his parents yelling just wants them to “stop it!” 

First of all, what would Jesus say to the “affirming” crowd? Let’s begin with what Sprinkle says.  First of all Sprinkle feels that affirming writers are “ripping” Jesus out of his Jewish context.  It is a fact that Judaism condemned same-sex behavior five hundred years before Jesus’ time on earth and for five hundred years after His death.  You cannot find a Jewish leader, thinker, writer or rabbi who sanctions same-sex erotic behavior.

Why did Jesus not come out and condemn same-sex behavior?  We just don’t know.  No one has access to Jesus’ mind or can get a glimpse of His mind by reading His words.  Can one argue from His silence that He would have stood against same sex relations?   Sprinkle won’t go that far and maybe as readers of God’s word, we should not go that far.  For people who say that His silence is an affirming act, I would say that this is highly unlikely.  He was a devout Jew and it is not impossible, but it is highly unlikely. 

When one turns to other sex acts, Jesus does not comment on those either.  Jesus never mentions incest.  He does not mention rape.  He never mentions bestiality.  People who argue from silence think that He would have probably frowned upon such acts.  And given the nature of these sex acts, they could be right.

Today  however people are caught in an endless debate about the meaning of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.  Debate about homosexuality is very much part of our culture.  But just because we debate those verses today, would they have been debated in Jesus’ day?  It is doubtful.   Affirming Christians point to the fact that Jesus questioned some laws during His ministry, but He did not intend to totally discard laws.  Matthew 5: 17 says “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”  His problem was less with the Law and more with the Pharisaical interpretation of the Law.  For those who think that Jesus advocated an open acceptance of standards outside the law, they are just wrong.  He did want us to be released from the Law’s condemnation.  That’s why He fulfilled the sacrificial system of the Jewish Law through His own death and resurrection and while He was alive, He was a devout Jew but not afraid to correct Pharisaical misinterpretation.  Sprinkle describes Him as a “Jew through and through.  He loved and cherished His Father’s Law.”

Now what does Jesus say about The Law regarding sexuality in general? In Jesus’ day there were two schools of Judaism, the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai.  The school of Hillel was known for being more lenient and the school of Shammai more rigorous.  Jesus tended to adopt a Shammai perspective on sexuality.  Regarding divorce, He agreed that divorce is never acceptable [except when a wife commits adultery].   The school of Hillel was more lenient.  Regarding adultery, Jesus was very strict: “anyone who looks at a women lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” [from Matthew 5: 28].   As one examines His words, Jesus was consistently more strict regarding sexuality than lenient.  Sprinkle does not want to put words in Jesus’ mouth but what seems more likely?  Would Jesus affirm same-sex behavior or not affirm it?  Probably He would not affirm it.  Attempts at accepting same-sex behavior in the church today are probably recreating a twenty-first century Jesus who never existed. 

Now before we go too far and making Jesus “another Pharisee,” He probably did not shy away from condemning sexual sin but He was also not afraid to preach of the value of repentance and grace when sexual sin occurred.  He had high ethical standards and He cared about obedience to the Law, but “Not a man-made legalistic obedience cooked up by twentieth-century American fundamentalism, but that counterintuitive, life giving obedience to our gracious Creator” [74].

That man-made legalism can be very much akin to a Pharisaical perspective and that is not what Jesus advocated.  It is very true when Sprinkle says that Jesus was more interested in laying down love for sinners than laying down the law . 

This is the part of this endless ongoing argument that drives me crazy.  Yes, it is a “bridge too far” to say that Jesus is affirming same-sex behavior by being silent on the subject.  But it is also a horrible irritation to see Christians using hateful words towards people who practice same sex behaviors.  These are people who deserve our love, not our hate.  Jesus would offer them His love I believe and He would be disappointed to see His believers today who cannot do that.  Again Sprinkle it trying to bridge a gap between two positions that do not try hard enough to understand each other. 

Remember his book in entitled People to be Loved.

This idea of love is where Jesus challenges those who condemn.

Certainly no Christian who knows the Bible can challenge the fact that Jesus intended all of us to love one another.

Like all people, people who just happen to engage in same sex behavior are people to be loved.