The Hermeneutics of Elton John

There seems to be some hub-bub going on about Elton John's comment that he believes Jesus was a "compassionate, super-intelligent gay man." Some are even calling it blasphemous. I think we are, to borrow from McLaren/Campolo, embarking on an adventure in missing the point when we so easily condemn Elton's statement. What some are labeling an 'attention grab' I guess I just see as a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.

It is really quite easy to get all up in arms because someone thinks Jesus may have been gay. But there are a few things to think of here:

Being gay does not equate to sinfulness in and of itself. Gay is used as a pejorative term in many Christian circles in a way which couples orientation and practice in a destructive way. I say it is destructive in that it connotes a special level of disdain and degradation for those that have engaged in homosexual acts. If they were to do the same acts with the opposite sex, while still sin (outside of marriage), they do not receive any extra condemnation from 'Christian' society. As Christians we do not point a finger and speak under our breath, "you know that guy is a heterosexual right?" There are many and varied reason why a persons orientation may differ from heterosexual that have nothing to do with the choice of the individual.

It is statistical truth however that most people are heterosexual. Heterosexuality also has the weight of being the only way in which humans can 'go forth and multiply'. Those in mind it would seem that nature in general would point us towards a heterosexual pre-disposition in the majority of cases and we have no evidence that Jesus was otherwise. It makes anthropological sense then that Jesus was indeed heterosexual. Of the temptations Jesus faced the Bible does not speak to any matters of lust or sexual indecency that Jesus may have faced directly, although we do have assurance that he was tested in all the ways that we are as humans, the Bible simply just doesn't say 'how' he was tempted. The Hellenistic/pagan culture of that era, especially in the areas outlying the reach of Judaism, were libertine in nature and sexual temptations were not limited to heterosexual ones.

The main issues I take task with in Elton's assertion is not one of sexual correctness, but one of hermeneutic focus. How does he interpret the story of Jesus to make the assumption that he was gay? Elton has fallen prey to the interpretive error of egocentrism. In How to Read the Bible for All it's Worth Fee and Stuart make this observation:

"That is, most of us assume as we read that we also understand what we read. We also tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit's or human author's intent. However, we invariably bring to the text all that we are, with all of our experiences, culture, and prior understandings of words and ideas. Sometimes what we bring to the text, unintentionally to be sure, leads us astray, or else causes us to read all kinds of foreign ideas into the text."

It seems logical that Elton is simply bringing into his understanding of Christ an uneducated and perhaps egocentric world-view in which his interpretation is correct. This is no different than the many challenges we face in the church today whether it is unholy patriotism, prosperity gospel, name it and claim it, fierce judgmentalism, or churches that pray for the death of our president.

Everyone has a pet sin that they love to call out, I like calling out laziness in others because I struggle with it myself at times. It's really easy for me to read my pre-judgments into scripture.

What Elton faces is the same thing we all face in interpreting scripture, are we going to let the text inform our life and practice and let the text be the text, or are we going to continually ram the text into our mold of choice to fit our comfort level? I really wish parts of the Old-Testament weren't in there at times, all the violence is quite frankly a bit embarrassing, but I have to let the text be the text and learn from it and let it shape me. Not the other way around.

Lent, Pop Music, Facebook and Haiti

As the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday I can not get Haiti off my mind. Ash Wednesday reminds us of our mortality, that the reality of death is part of our shared humanity, and in light of this calls us to repentance. The word “repentance” has unfortunately become largely compartmentalized in our culture as somehow being primarily about turning away from ones personal sins. However such compartmentalization and individual focus of turning away from “personal sins” often takes away from the depth of the call to turn toward and follow the Way of Jesus. The Way of Jesus is not just about personal redemption, but the redemption of the humanity we share.

As many of us take the mark of the cross made with the ashes from last year’s Palm Sunday celebration on our foreheads, we will be reflecting on the very essence of the gospel message. The good news is that “God is with us”; through Jesus Christ he is “with us” by sharing in our mortal and human condition. The reality of human suffering, human injustice, and even our inevitable death was not enough to keep God from finding solidarity with human beings by becoming one himself. In this the cross becomes an extension of God’s incarnational work through Christ. As human beings, God meets us in our suffering, our sinfulness, and our very mortality, climaxing in one final statement of solidarity with us on the cross.

Jesus told his disciples that if anyone wanted to come after him they would have to pick up their cross and follow. The Way of the cross is not one of personal piety. As John Wesley once wrote, “Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the gospel than holy adulterers.” The Way of the cross is one that seeks solidarity with mankind the way God sought for it through Jesus Christ; thus also restoring us to solidarity with God. The gospel is therefore never about “me”, but always about “us”.

God so loved the world that he gave his Son. These words from John’s gospel are often used to summarize the gospel message. And who is the world? One very on target answer to that question sounds like the title of 1985’s collaborative single “We are the World”, which raised both awareness and money for relief of famine and disease in Africa. Now 25 years later the song has been remade by contemporary music stars in effort to help Haiti.

Listening to this song again while thinking about the Lenten season starting with Ash Wednesday, I could not help but be struck with a particular line in the chorus. The line, “There's a choice we're making, We're saving our own lives”, seems to capture the appropriate transition that Godly repentance should take us in. What begins as a choice made by collective individuals, ends with an understanding that our own salvation is deeply connected to the salvation of our neighbor. When we see the plight of others, and hear their cry, the illusion that there is a difference between "us" and "them" begins to disappear as we embrace the kind of Way and love that God embraced through Christ. Godly repentance, the kind that that calls us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, enables us to see the needs of others as our own. It matters not how well we ourselves are doing when others are going without, for what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:31-38, Matthew 16:21-27, Luke 9: 23-24)

This is how much God loved the world and the humanity he created, he found solidarity with it by seeing and embracing the needs and suffering of our human condition as his own. This is why love for God can never be separated from the love of our neighbor; for as much as we do unto even the least of these we do unto God.

For those of us participating in the liturgical drama of Ash Wednesday, the symbolism should be a reminder of the reality of our shared mortality as human beings. This should help us see beyond ourselves to those who may be feeling the weight of our mortality the most; where human suffering is magnified by things like poverty, injustice and the seemingly random harshness the world can pile on to its unsuspecting inhabitants. I can’t help but to think of the Haitians in the wake of their devastating earthquake last month. Already an impoverished country they now add to their hardship an estimated three million people who were affected by the quake, 230,000 people had been identified as dead so far, an estimated 300,000 people were injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 people are now homeless. While the people of Haiti are not the only ones suffering in the world, you can make an argument that they certainly should be included in “the least of these” that we are called to do unto as we would do unto God himself.


It is the tradition of many to “give up something” for Lent in the spirit of fasting. I have heard many people speak of this in terms of giving up some sort of personal vice in hopes that it will bring them closer to God. I would like to encourage us to also focus on “giving up something” for Lent as a way to identify with those who are without and are in need. I think in this we begin to embody a better theology, one that does not compartmentalize our love of God from our love of our neighbor. Going even further in a quest to identify with others, and find solidarity with even the “least of these” as Christ did and calls us to, let us also find a way to turn our “fasting” into resources for meeting the needs of others. As “going with out” helps us identify with those in need, let us truly start to see their needs as our own by dedicating the resources we save from our “fast” into resources to save others. May this Lenten season remind us that in repentance “There's a choice we're making, We're saving our own lives” as we come to understand that WE (all of us in this together) are the world for whom God gave his Son.

I think there are many ways we can give something up for Lent and turn our sacrifice into ways to meet some of the great needs Haiti faces. I would love to hear about some of the creative things you might be doing. I also want to invite you to join the Facebook group “Giving up something for Lent to help Haiti”.


By joining this group you are committing to give up something that you regularly practice and requires monetary resources. Then you are to give those resources you save to Haiti relief. You can be as creative as you want and can give to Haiti through any charity you choose. The point is to identify with those in need by going without, and then also turn our “sacrifice” into a means to help others in need.

You might give up eating out, drinking soda or coffee, or giving up cable for 40 days, (you may have other creative ideas and we would love to hear them). Then you dedicate those resources you save to a charity that is committed to helping Haiti.

Share what you are doing and at the end of the Lenten season let’s share the results. In the meantime let’s continue to pray for Haiti and one another while we put aside resources daily that we can save through the practice of self denial during Lent.