As we continue our weekly study on Scripture and the Welcoming Journey, we spent last week looking at two passages, one from Jesus and one from the beginning of scripture, Genesis 1 & 2. The first question we asked was, what does Jesus say about LGBTQ+ people? Specifically, Jesus says nothing about LGBTQ+ people. Nothing. And yet, in a big-picture way, Jesus says a lot, as he talks often about welcoming the outcast, showing love to all people, and pushing the Gospel past the margins. We will look more at some of these stories in later weeks.
But there is one specific story from the Gospel of Matthew that touches on the subject in a closer way. The story is Matthew 19:10-12. Click the link to read the text for yourself. This text mentions “Eunuchs”. This is not a term we are very familiar with today, but a Eunuch was certainly a “sexual other”, someone who did not fit into the normal male/female sexual orientation or gender binary.
This text can’t be understood, however, unless you read the preceding verses, Matthew 19:1-9. Click the link to read them for yourselves. It’s important to note that this passage comes right after a discussion on forgiveness, and now the Pharisees have come to Jesus to test him with a conversation about marriage and divorce, trying to get him to either uphold or deny the typical patriarchal view of marriage: men are in charge and can do whatever they want.
We need to remember again that marriage in those days wasn’t primarily about love. It was about procreation, political/clan/familial alliances, and economics. Marriage was also the only way for women to make it in society, since they couldn’t own property and most jobs were not available to them. Divorce meant, usually, that the woman was kicked out of the family unit, thus left without any recourse economically. It was a different world and different culture than our own.
In this context, what does Jesus say? He lifts up this teaching: anyone who divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery. What does this mean? Now, we used to talk about “scriptural divorce” when I was growing up, and churches would allow divorce if there was infidelity. This is, basically, what Jesus is saying, but Jesus is not providing a legalistic loophole for divorce. Instead, he’s giving a principle. He’s actually being very progressive and a bit of a first century feminist, here. He’s supporting the idea that men need to give women a divorce certificate, which is something “the law of Moses” instituted in order to prevent men from simply throwing women out for no reason, with no legal recourse. But he’s also saying that even if you give a certificate, you can’t just throw your wife out for any reason. That’s what some were doing. Don’t like her any more—divorce her. Want to marry her sister instead? Divorce her! Just give her a certificate. Jesus isn’t giving only one reason for divorce, to be followed for all times. He is protecting women and refusing to fall into the trap of the Pharisees who are testing him.
But there’s more happening here, because Jesus refers back to creation, talking about male and female. More on that in a minute.
After the discussion with the Pharisees, Jesus is alone with his Disciples, and they, having heard what Jesus said, offer this reflection on marriage: it is better to not marry at all! When they say this, Jesus’ response is to talk about Eunuchs. He mentions three kinds of Eunuchs: Those from birth, those made eunuchs by others, and those made themselves eunuchs “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” But what is a eunuch?
Eunuchs pop up throughout scripture. Typically, eunuchs were people who were assigned male at birth who had their reproductive organs changed or removed prior to puberty, but the word “eunuch” in the ancient world would also sometimes be used for those who we would now call “intersex,” that is someone who was born with both sex organs or some kind of sexual difference in organs and male/female hormones.But, in ancient times, the term “eunuch” could also be given to a wide range of people. It could’ve been given to men who were castrated or men who were asexual. The main issue that prompted the giving of the name was that they didn’t experience sexual attraction/desire towards women. Thus, even a Gay man could be called a Eunuch, as there is some evidence that it was used as a blanket term for any man who did not want to have sex with a woman. Again, the focuse is on men, given it’s a patriarchal society. And in ancient times, we often see Eunuchs put in control of important things in government, because they wouldn’t be distracted by sex, or allowed to be around the palace harem, because they wouldn’t have sex with the women.
What is in Jesus’ mind here? We don’t know. But what is clear is, Jesus talks about a sexual “other”, that is, someone who is different than the norm. He acknowledges there is an “other”, and doesn’t condemn it. Instead, he lifts it up as an acceptable alternative to a male and female getting married.
Creation
That’s all we will say about Jesus for now. We spent the second half of our class going back to the beginning–to the creation stories found in Genesis 1 & 2. These passage are very important to this conversation for two reasons. First, they set up the whole notion of male and female. Second, they talks about marriage, from which we get that tired old argument, that it mentions, “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve…or Madam and Eve.”
It’s important to note that there are two accounts of creation. In the original Hebrew, they sound different. They are written different. They are, indeed, two different stories, that an editor put together to give us Genesis 1 & 2. The first account is the one we’re most familiar with. It gives us the “traditional” 6 days of creation. This is not a scientific text, and it doesn’t try to answer all our questions about how and when creation started. It doesn’t deal with evolution, nor does it preclude it. Instead, it offers a poetic picture of God creating the world, separating two opposites, and filling the void with life.
In the text, 6 binaries are created:
- Day 1 – Day and Night
- Day 2 – Water and Sky
- Day 3 – Earth and Seas – God fills earth with plants
- Day 4 – Daylight and Nightlight (sun and moon/stars)
- Day 5 – Sky animals and Sea animals
- Day 6 – Earth animals and Humans
It’s important to notice, though, that when God is referred to, it’s in the plural. The name of God is plural and plural pronouns are used. God, in Genesis 1, uses “we/us, they/them” pronouns.
Genesis 1 paints a neat and orderly picture of creation. But it’s important to note that not everything we know about creation fits into these binary categories. Sometimes there is dusk and dawn. Some places have daylight or nighttime all the time, during certain times of year. The zones of creation blur together. There are animals that live in multiple zones or do not fit categorization, like a penguin or a chicken.
Does Genesis 1 describe, broadly, creation? Yes. But there is a lot of diversity in between these binaries, and many things we don’t fully understand. There are edge zones that transcend or redefine categories. Is this true about gender, too? God creates Male and Female–two binaries. But there are others on this spectrum that don’t fit this mold. There are people born with two sex organs or different levels of hormones. There are those that have different interest in sexuality, or different orientations. Is there a norm…or, rather, a most common way? Yes. But does everyone fit into that “common” mold? No. Is that okay? Well, we have no problem when other parts of creation do not fit in their binary. We just accept it as it is. Why not with humanity?
The point I’m arguing isn’t to dismiss Genesis 1, but to point out that it’s not intending to be a catalog of all creation. It’s ultimate point is to point us to the love of God which created everything.
Genesis 2, starting in verse 4b, gives us a second creation story. This is a different story, with the same basic plot. But it is beautiful. God makes the earth and heavens, but there is no rain and no one to till the ground. But there’s a stream that would rise up and water the ground. That’s when God makes “Adam”, which here is a genderless term for human, from the dust of ground (the Hebrew word for ground is adamah) and God breathes–inspires–into his nostrils the breath of life. And God plants a garden in Eden, and then plants Adam there to till it. But God realizes, “It’s not good for Adam to be alone.” God forms animals, and presents them to Adam, but they’re not suited. Then he puts Adam to sleep, takes one of his ribs, and forms a woman (which means, literally, “out of man”).
Then we are given this poem in verse 23: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken. Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.”
This is a beautiful story of creation, and this story has been used to set up marriage. It’s also been used strongly as the basis for a patriarchal society, with man at the top because man was created first. Yet, most of us have rejected such a society. This text is used to talk about marriage, yes, but it creates an understanding of marriage that is based on the Man as the head of the house. If we want to make this text about setting up an exclusive male-female marriage model, then we have to accept, as well, that it puts man as the head of woman. I don’t think you can have one without the other.
But, again, if we ask the deeper question: what is the purpose of this text? What is it doing? We get a different answer. The text is not trying to make an argument for how marriage should be forever and ever. The real point of Genesis 2 is found in that comment from God: “It is not good that humans should be alone.” This is a text about relationship, and the critical need for humans to be in relationship with one another.
Seen in this light, we see that the real point of marriage isn’t about having the right gender. As we understand it now, it’s about a loving partnership. It’s about people coming together to make each other better, create a family, and exhibit God’s love. And when Jesus invokes this text in Matthew 19, he is pointing to that deeper meaning. It’s not just about a man being able to take or throw out a woman whenever he wants. It’s about a meaningful relationship, that seeks what is good for the other.
Thus, I would argue, the real point of Genesis when talking about gender and marriage, is not a static, binary, patriarchal view, but simply that God created us to be in healthy relationships. Period.
Join us next this Wednesday when my best friend Rev. Wes Mullins and I will interview each other about our own views on this subject, and how we came about changing our minds.