WWJD at a Gay Pride Parade

It also just happened that the restaurant loaned to us to introduce this new ministry to some New Yorkers was located right by the parade route. My quadriplegia was severely hampering my ability to walk from the parking garage to the restaurant that day, especially as we neared the parade route and the sidewalk traffic got heavy. A friend walking with us finally insisted that I allow him to help me.

At first I just held onto his arm to steady myself. As I tired, I rested my forearm on his, and finally ended up holding his hand while leaning into him with my arm on top of his. I was so weary that I failed to consider the message we were sending to the throngs of LGBTQ supporters whom we were dodging and bumping into.

Hearing about the parade or seeing it on the news, it would have been possible to be repulsed by thousands of people singing, dancing and shouting their solidarity with LGBTers and celebrating the new freedoms granted by our Supreme Court and our culture to do whatever makes us feel good. Up close revulsion was more difficult to feel. The realization that people were assuming my friend and I were together forced me to realize that many other people at the parade including couples with children in strollers were not LGBTers either.

Somewhere in all those colliding thoughts the idea struck me, what would Jesus do if He was here?

It is clear in John chapter 17:14-19 that Jesus Christ came specifically to associate with messed up people. His objective was to teach us that God loves us and wants us to live within certain constraints. But the next part of His message was that when we mess up by stepping outside of God's designed limitations, if we are sorry about it and are willing to admit it and ask for forgiveness, God forgives us. God's plan was to have His own "Son" pay for all our sins with His life.

I wondered, "Would Jesus be marching in the parade?" No, because that would have been a celebration and condoning of sin. Would Jesus have run away in revulsion? No, He associated publicly with a divorced fornicator at the well. He allowed his feet to be washed by a sinful woman. He publicly accepted an invitation to have dinner with a known swindling, corrupt tax collector. Jesus got close to contagious lepers. He spoke to evil spirits and negotiated their fate in front of witnesses. He settled petty squabbles between sisters. The only people he treated as repulsive and openly berated were 'Holier than Thou' religious leaders and people who made church into a business.

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I think Jesus would probably have found a place along the gay pride parade route. I can see Him reminding his disciples that if He hadn't invited them to follow Him, they would likely have been in the parade too. I can also see Jesus catching the eye of various people watching the parade or marching in it, to kindly explain that it wasn't a good idea for people to promote what God does not condone. I am also quite sure He would have been tearful, realizing that the vast majority of the people in the parade and watching it were longing for love and a sense of worth and freedom with no idea that they were looking in all the wrong places.

Not only is it OK for Christ Followers to associate with and befriend messed up people, that is step #1 in our commission. Step #2 is to tell them that God will forgive them for living outside of His limitations. Step #3 is to let them know that the Holy Spirit can help us live happily within the limitations God has set out to keep us happy and safe.

Someone coined a phrase regarding the message in John 17:14-19. It is: "We are to be in the 'World' but not of it." Christ followers are to be in secular society but not of it. Our tendency, however, is to separate from the society that lives outside of God's restrictions, while copying them by crossing God's lines ourselves.

There is another complication in God's plan for those of us who choose to be Christ Followers. It seems counter-intuitive but here it is directly from Paul, who wrote it to the Christ Followers in Corinth, the 'Las Vegas'/'Sin City' of his day. He wrote, "When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn't talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don't even eat with such people. It isn't my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, "You must remove the evil person from among you." (1 Corinthians 5:9-13 NLT)

We are to be understanding and compassionate to LGBTers+ and to GADCers+ (Greedy, Abusers, Drunkerds, Cheaters etc.) unless they are or say they are Christ followers.

The Bible not only admits that there are people who are 'Gay', but it explains why some people have same-sex attractions. There is an explanation in Romans. It says, "And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. (Romans 1:23-24, 26-27 NLT)

I have a confession to make. I don't deserve any credit for not being a drunk, because I can't stand the taste of liquor. I don't have to work at being attracted to women instead of men. I don't even have to fight greediness any more. What I have to fight a lot is being mean spirited and critical instead of compassionate. Oh, and I have a hard time forgiving some people - at the same time God has orchestrated me to be a poster child of forgiveness because I love the men who killed my dad.

If God can change me, He can change anyone.

Jesus brought a message that is called "The Good News". Anyone can be forgiven and anyone can be changed to actually want to live within God's limitations, but He only changes us and forgives us if we ask Him to.

Christ followers aren't superior. We are like oil soaked birds. Those who are cleaned aren't superior to the birds that are still oil soaked. The difference between the two groups is that where all of us were once oil soaked, some of us have been cleaned without any merit of our own. The proper response of the cleaned birds should be humble gratitude and a sense of responsibility to help still-oily birds know how they can be cleaned.

PS- Mark in his writing makes it pretty clear who Jesus hung out with and even chose to teach others his message. I recommend that we all read Mark 2:14-28. It isn't so much what Mark says about Jesus but Mark quoting Jesus explaining why He came to hang out with "scum bags," if you will excuse my language.