Sawadee Khrap
To sober up, I had to become honest with myself and seek a spiritual path or life. My childhood faith was “Christian†but I also had to admit that I was gay – two incompatible lifestyles – OR ARE THEY?
Since I had to be honest with myself about being a gay man and finding “Christ†in my life . Accepting Jesus, as the example to follow, was the best thing I have done to turn my life around, and admitting I was gay is the second. Nor I do find any contradictions here.
Let me turn to the Bible: “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.” (Matthew 26:17-18 KJV) and later
“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.” (John 13:23-26 KJV)
“Jews gather at Passover Seders to recall their foundational story with gratitude and awe: God extracted an oppressed people from under the yoke of their oppressors, making of them a vibrant nation. The Seder of today acts out the drama of the past in order to keep the memory fresh. But at the same time, the tradition hints at a powerful alternate understanding of the Seder: God took the Israelites out of Egypt so that they would tell the story later. In other words, the events of the past took place so that they could be recounted in the future.” (Tabletmag.com ‘What’s the point of Passover’)
“Seder plate: The seder plate (there’s usually one per table) holds at least six of the ritual items that are talked about during the seder: the shankbone, karpas, chazeret, charoset, maror, and egg – Zeroa: A roasted lamb or goat bone, symbolizing the korban Pesach (Pesach sacrifice), which was a lamb offered in the Temple in Jerusalem and was then roasted and eaten as part of the meal on Seder night.” (Google search)
“In olden times (meaning in the times of the Talmud and before) the wealthy and noble class would recline while they ate, whereas simple poor people would eat while seated on the floor. Reclining is indicative of a person of leisure who has time to dine with out worrying an interruption that would cause him to get up. The importance of leaning at the Seder is explained that since we were slaves in Egypt and now we are free men, therefore we must act in accordance to our new status. Since it was the custom of noble men to eat while reclining on a sofa or on cushions, so today we are obligated to eat as noble men who recline. ….. Reclining was done on the left side, not on the back and not on the right side. ….. Now in those times eating was not done as we do with a knife and fork, but rather the food was prepared in the kitchen and brought in front of the individual diner on small personal trays (which took the place of our table) ready for the diner to eat using only his hands. Since the food was pre-prepared in the kitchen, it was possible to recline on the left side, using the left hand to support oneself and use the right hand to eat.” (www.jewishmag.com ‘To lean or not to lean’)
Now picture – Jesus lying down on his left side with the disciple he loved “lying on his breast” – that to me is cuddling. I can’t picture it any other way, can you? That is not to say that Jesus was gay but that if he had a gay disciple that wanted to cuddle, Jesus would not deny him that security. Jesus loves all – EVEN GAYs. It is amazing that it is almost impossible to find a image of a actual Seder where they are all lying on the ground in the ancient style- NOT sitting at a table. That’s too GAY to show.
Does that mean that he was was gay because he had gay followers, or a prostitute because he had prostitutes in his group. – of course not. But to love as Jesus loves is to accept others as brothers and sisters in Christ and not condemn then for what they think they are, “the lie of the devil their fatherâ€. As he said “Father, forgive them they know not what they do†This last point is another discussion and I will post my insights and understandings on that too.
Being “gay” is not just having sex but wanting to have a total relationship with another of the same sex. Another post later.
And consider too Jesus broke bread to represent his body and did not choose the lamb – what insight could we gain from this ? Another question to ponder or meditate on.
God Bless