Maybe you have heard this before: “Jesus never talked about homosexuality or gay marriage.” Of course, the idea is that if Jesus never said anything about it, neither can we.
So, did Jesus say anything about it? The answer is “Not specifically, as far as we know.” But we have to follow that up with “But He didn’t have to.”
There are lots of things He did not discuss. Jesus did not have to mention every sin for us to know it is wrong. As far as we know, He never said anything about carjacking, jay-walking, or going 70 in a 55. He did not even tell us whether we should get a vaccine. Just because He did not mention homosexuality does not mean He tacitly condoned it.
By the way, we could use that line of reasoning to argue the opposite. He did not say it was ok, either. After all, the homosexual act is so unnatural that we might do better to look for a place where Jesus said it is ok, rather than waiting for Him to forbid it.
Jesus did not have to specifically say that something is wrong for us to know it is wrong. He often taught in generalities. He never said that I shouldn’t mow down my neighbor’s prize rose bushes, but He did say to love. He never said anything about visiting X-rated websites, but He did rebuke wandering eyes. Neither did He say anything about gay marriage, but He did define what marriage really is.
One day some of Jesus’ contemporaries approached Him with a question that still abides unresolved in many minds today. They were struggling with divorce—a topic as hotly debated in their day as it is in ours.
The Pharisees came and asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing Him. (Mark 10:2)
Jesus did not offer an opinion and neither did He align Himself with either side of the marriage debate. After informing them that Moses had issued divorce guidelines because of the hardness of their hearts, He cut to the chase. Regardless of what anyone, even the esteemed Moses, said about divorce, the real issue was the definition of marriage itself.
But from the beginning God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. (Mark 10:6-8).
Who cares what anyone says. From the beginning there has only been one definition of marriage: one man and one woman for life.
The Supreme Court, in the infamous Obergefell decision, claimed that “the history of marriage is one of both continuity and change . . . [which] has evolved over time,”[i] Jesus took another approach. He consulted the source of marriage. God had defined marriage as the permanent union of one man and one woman, and anything that deviates from that definition cannot be defined as marriage. In saying it that way, He condemned bigamy, premarital and extramarital sex, divorce, and gay marriage. None of those fits the definition. He did not have to mention gay marriage—He just defined real marriage. If it does not fit, it cannot be called marriage.
[i]. Obergefell v. Hodges, 576:2
