Secretly Gay is my newest follower. His blog is called A Secretly Gay Teen Boy Blog. He lives in England, describes himself as working class, and writes about things that are going on in his life and his hopes for self-improvement. Maybe you can offer some good advice. Maybe you'll just like hearing about what he's doing. Why not check out the blog?
Glad you've decided to follow, Secretly Gay. I hope you find it worthwhile.
Today is the Feast of St. Matthew, the tax collector who answered the call to become one of the 12 apostles. One of the four gospels in the Bible bears his name. His profession of tax collector for the Romans meant that he was despised by his fellow Jews as a collaborator. Furthermore, it was a job which gave copious opportunities for extortion and fraud. So when Jesus and his disciples were joined by a large group of tax collectors and sinners for dinner the pharisees didn't like it. Table fellowship implied a considerable degree of closeness, and they thought that good people should have nothing to do with sinners. When they questioned Jesus' disciples about how he could do that, Jesus replied, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." Matthew 9:11-13
Because I worked for the IRS, I consider Matthew to be one of my patron saints. But more generally, I think we can realize both from the fact that Jesus chose him and from the reply to the pharisees that God does not reject people. If we realize that we have been doing things that are wrong, that doesn't mean that we can't get back to God. God still wants us and he'll help us to do better if we let him.
8 comments:
This reminds me of what we talked about last night:
"Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world,have mercy on us..." I think that line speaks for itself.
John, I think St. Matthew is on February 21st, at least it´s my Dad´s names day.
Thanks for the comments.
@ James — Yeah
@ Pilgrim — You ought to know by now that I'm able to follow the Roman calendar accurately. Does your Dad have a second name? If not could this be a case of following an Oriental Church calendar?
Not to my knowledge, John. Btw., you follow the roman calendar, but the St. Matthew my Dad was baptized after happens also to be the Patron Saint of Treves/Trier in the Palatinate, the only apostle ever north of the alpes. Roman enough for you?! :-)
@ Pilgrim — Well the only St Matthew I know of is the apostle and evangelist, and his day is definitely September 21. Your mention of Trier is, however, the key to clearing up your confusion. According to wiki, "the first three bishops of Trier, Eucherius, Valerius and Maternus are buried alongside the apostle Saint Matthias." Matthias is, of course, the one who was chosen to take the place of Judas, and is not the same person as Matthew. But the Schott (German) Daily Missal tells us that St. Matthias is said to have preached in Ethiopia and that his relics were brought to Trier by St. Helena. Schott and the German liturgical calendar for the year 2000 both show the Feast of St. Matthias on February 24 (not the 21st), and the liturgical calendar also says that he is the patron saint of Trier. (For some reason, the feast has been moved to May 14 in the general calendar. No doubt it remains in February in Germany because of longstanding tradition.) Glad to have cleared up your confusion.
Yep, now we´re dancing! :-) Have a nice day. Propz Pilgrim
Did Jesus Himself ever actually say anything about homosexuality?
I don't understand why I would have been created like this if God intended for me to be something else.
I think it's cool that you have a patron saint--something to help personalize the religion for yourself.
@ Brightened Boy — Thanks for your comment. I've checked your blog and it looks as if it will be worth reading, so I'm going to follow.
The gospels do not record any words of Jesus specifically mentioning homosexuality. But I don't think Christians can dismiss the moral teachings of St. Paul and the other New Testament writers just because they say things which Jesus did not already say. The epistles are as much scripture for us as the gospels are. So if Jesus does not say anything about it, but Paul does, then Paul's teaching is the word of God for us on the topic.
I also see an implicit teaching in Jesus' words to the Pharisees when they asked him about divorce. Matthew 19:3-12 and Mark 10:2-12. There he quotes Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 with approval. To me this doesn't say in so many words, but it is certainly consistent with saying that God's plan from the beginning is that sex is for male-female relationships.
But if that is so, why were you created the way you are? I think that we have to reconsider the assumption that God created you as you are. We have to remember that we are in a fallen creation. Not everything in this world is according to the perfect will of God. In his unfathomabe wisdom he permits things which are less than perfect, but he redeems them through the saving work of Jesus Christ. I believe that homosexual orientation is one of those things which was not part of God's perfect plan "in the beginning" — which is why Genesis 1 and 2 read as they do with respect to male and female. I believe that it is one of the less-than-perfect elements of our current fallen condition and that when creation is redeemed from its subjection to futility (Romans 8:19-23) that the redemption of our bodies will include an end to homosexual orientation. This is hard for me to write and hard to think because I am comfortable in my celibate homosexuality, and it is hard to imagine not finding men attractive, even harder to imagine finding women attractive. But then in heaven "they neither marry nor are given in marriage." Matthew 22:30, Mark 12:25, Luke 20:35. So apparently sexual attraction, having served its purpose, will no longer exist, and we will love nonsexually, as God loves us.
God bless you.
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