Tag Archives: Jesus

Jesus drives out the money changers and preaches in the Temple (Gay Passion of Christ series)

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“He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.” — John 2:13 (RSV)

An angry modern-day Christ figure disrupts business in “Jesus Drives Out the Money Changers.” Jesus, hair flying, overturns tables stacked with money. Coins scatter, bills flutter away, and the men in suits run. A crowd in the background yanks off the barred gate that separates them from the wealthy money managers. One security guard struggles to keep out the mob. Another officer reaches to grab Jesus by the shoulder. Jesus looks like a freedom fighter standing up against greed and income inequality. The setting appears to be a present-day church office or financial institution with statues, classic columns, and a hanging lamp.

All four gospels describe what is commonly called “the cleansing of the temple.” By some accounts Jesus kicked the money changers out of the Temple as soon as he arrived in Jerusalem. When he saw them taking advantage of people’s faith in God, he exploded. It was the only time that Jesus used physical violence in the Bible. Jesus poured out the coins of the money changers and turned over their tables. Then he made a whip of cords and used it to chase them out, along with the sacrificial animals that they were selling. Nothing made Jesus angrier than religious hypocrisy. He yelled, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.” It was one of many occasions when he blasted religious leaders for exploiting the poor. He talked more about money than anything else except God.

Source: Jesus in Love Blog

“Ascension Day: Jesus Returns to God” (Jesus in Love Blog)

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“As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” — Acts 1:9 (RSV)

A male couple seems to dance skyward in a vision of the Ascension from “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision” by Doug Blanchard, a series of 24 paintings by Douglas Blanchard. Churches celebrate the Feast of the Ascension today (May 9).

Ascension, 22 J Returns To God.

The loving couple seems to dance in a mystical homoerotic union. Jesus, shirtless and wearing blue jeans, swoons in the arms of a dance partner who appears to be a hunky angel. But they both have crucifixion wounds on their wrists. Jesus is embraced directly by God! The position of their arms suggests a ballroom dance, perhaps a waltz, with God’s hand planted firmly on Jesus’ buttocks.

Detail from “Jesus Returns to God”

Beams of white light stream from God’s head in a bright sunburst, almost obliterating the blue sky. His wings look muscular, as if God must work hard to lift the dead weight of Jesus up from the earth. The wounds in Jesus’ wrists and feet were dark before, but now they glow like hot-pink jewels. Dissolving into white at the top, this is the lightest painting in Blanchard’s Passion series, contrasting with the pitch-black panel of “Jesus Among the Dead.” Now the misty clouds even spill over the frame on the lower left. The Bible and creeds make it clear where the dancing couple is headed. Soon Jesus will sit at the right hand of God.

– continue reading at Jesus in Love Blog

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“There’s Something About Mary” – Part Three

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At la lucha ma pulpito, delfinwaldermar continues his Marian series, with a post borrowed from Jesus in Love:

this reflection was not written by me, it was written by kittredge cherry and shared on her blog “jesus in love.”  i thought it was a simple yet powerful reflection that fit in well with “there’s something about mary”–exploring the relationship between Jesus and Mary through the lens of the pink triangle…how would a parent react to their child being marked for death.   for more information on the lgbt stations of the cross visit believe out loud.

from: Jesus in love Blog

4 Station

1945: Upon liberation of Nazi concentration camps by Allied forces, those interned for homosexuality are not freed, but required to serve out the full term of their sentences under Paragraph 175.

_________________________________________________

Mini-commentary by Kittredge Cherry:

Nazis and Allies were enemies, but they agreed that homosexuals should be locked up. The Allies liberated everyone else, but kept those who wore the pink triangle in prison! In Jesus’ time Romans and Jews were enemies, but they agreed that the man who loved without limits should die. The Nazis used pink triangles to identify prisoners sent to concentration camps for homosexuality. It was part of a system of triangles labeling people they deemed “undesirable.” Originally intended as a badge of shame, the pink triangle has become a symbol of pride for the LGBT movement.

“Stations of the Cross: The Struggle for LGBT Equality” is a new set of 14 paintings that link the crucifixion of Jesus with the history of LGBT people.

Artist Mary Button painted the LGBT Stations series for Believe Out Loud, an online network empowering Christians to work for LGBT equality. They invite churches and faith groups to download and use the images for free.

The whole series will also be shown here at the Jesus in Love Blog this week. Click here for an overview of the LGBT Stations by Kittredge Cherry, lesbian Christian author and art historian.

Featured image:  Jesus meets his mother and LGBT prisoners are kept in Nazi concentration camps after Allied liberation in Station 4 from “Stations of the Cross: The Struggle For LGBT Equality” by Mary Button, courtesy of Believe Out Loud

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“Jesus would be horrified by anti-gay ‘Christians’ “

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Religious singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth has said anti-gay pundits who use the Bible to spread hate are not Christian.

Kristin_Chenoweth_1

 

07 MARCH 2013 | BY JOE MORGAN

 In an interview with Gay Star News, the Glee and Pushing Daisies star said she believed if Jesus were to walk on Earth today, he would be horrified by people like American Family’s Association’s Bryan Fischer – who has compared gay people to cannibals.

She said: ‘It is very anti-Christian of them. It is the antithesis of what I believe. It is the antithesis of what you should believe if you believe in Jesus.

‘It’s not what he taught, it’s the opposite of what he taught.

‘If Jesus was to walk the Earth today, or Buddha or anybody, they would be horrified. Those people saying they’re doing it in the name of God? No no no no no.’

Chenoweth also said she had a lot of criticism from her community of Southern Baptists, but felt it was ‘important to say it, as a Christian person.’

In the interview, she also said she would love her gay friends to be able to get married.

‘I just don’t understand why we’re still having this conversation,’ she said. ‘I want it to be done. I want it to be over with, and, you know [marriage equality] is the biggest equal rights issue – at least in our country since the 50s.’

Chenoweth is starting her UK tour on 11 March, where she will start off at the London Coliseum before moving onto Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff.

via  Gay Star News.

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Queer Love (1 John 3:16-18)

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This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ died for us. And we, too, ought to lay down our lives for our sisters and brothers. If you have more than enough material possessions and see your neighbors in need yet close your hearts to them, how can the love of God be living in you? My children, our love must not be simply words or mere talk – it must be true love, which shows itself in action and truth.

 1 John 3:16-18

“Lila” by Philip Shadblot
@ http://www.philipshadbolt.co.uk/gallery/272108_lila.html

Love in this passage is portrayed in very down to earth terms. As Christ died for us so we ought to give our lives for others. Got more than enough to live on? Then share with those in need. Unlike those who only drone on about the virtues and beauty of loving we must love through our deeds.

While not perfect, and far from being a cohesive entity, queer love mirrors what the writer of 1 John aims at. By virtue of being outcasts our “forbidden” love is a love of deeds. Queer love stands in the face of hatred. Queer love teaches in the presence of ignorance. Queer love leads in the journey to liberation.

If there is a special “role” for the christian queer in the contemporary church, or queers of other faiths, this may be it. Who better to rekindle the flame of active love in an aging and increasingly unfeeling institution? Who better to quicken the spirit of inclusivity? Who better to buttress the ramparts to the onslaught of injustice? Who better to name the sins committed against the fringe and the weak?

-Read David Popham’s full reflection at “The Bible in Drag“

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Gays & Lesbians in Luke

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Introduction

Most people believe that Jesus never mentioned homosexuals. I have discovered that not only did Jesus mention gays and lesbians, he used two gay and lesbian couples to illustrate his teaching that celibacy for gay and lesbian believers was a non-issue.

The Evidence for the Same-Sex Theme

Luke 17:20-37 contains four pieces of same-sex thematic evidence.

  1. The story of the destruction of Sodom, a major element of which is man-on-man sex. (This is true, despite the core issue of hospitality.)
  2. The lightning and the eagles (verses 24 & 37), the primary logos of Zeus and his mortal companion Ganymede, who together were the ultimate cultural emblem of same-sex relationships in Roman culture.
  3. The “Two men in one bed” of verse 34, whose only O.T. antecedents were the Levitical prohibitions against a man laying with a man as with a woman.
  4. The “Two women grinding together in one place” of verse 35, whose double-entendre “grinding” is confirmed from both the O.T. and the Greek actually in use in the time of Christ and Luke. The word “mill,” which is present in Matthew, is absent from Luke, which absence leaves the ”grinding” ambiguous.

We need to recognize the striking same-sex element of each individual part before the meaning of the passage is clear.  The repeated phrase, “one shall be taken, and the other shall be left,” refers to the members of the gay and lesbian couples, who seem romantically involved ”in that night” (verse 34). Thus, according to Luke’s Gay Apocalypse, some non-celibate gays and lesbians are acceptable to God, and some are not.  Lesson: homosexuality is not among the criteria for non-acceptability to Christ or to God. (Note: this separation may or may not refer to what is known as the rapture. The nature of the separation is irrelevant to the argument.)

-full exposition at Bible Thumping Liberal

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