Daily Devotional for Small Group Discussion: Christ Was Queer

Discussion Questions 

1. How do LGBTQ+ persons navigate anti-queer hostilities in your hometown? In your school district? In your church? Where is support provided unconditionally? 
2. In your understanding of scripture, what does the Bible teach about hatred? 
3. How do Jesus’s challenges to social norms through his relationships and teachings impact your approach to others who are different than you?

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” – Matthew 5:11 (NRSV)

I take comfort in Jesus’ words above because I get a lot of hate from “Christians” on TikTok.

Why? In one post, I pointed out a ritual in the Bible for terminating a pregnancy (Numbers 5:11-31). And, in a different post, I said Christ was “queer.” I offered both as an ally to women and to my queer siblings.

In addition to affirming non-binary people (Matthew 19:12), Jesus queried social norms and loved unconventionally. There was the male disciple repeatedly referred to as “the one Jesus loved.” And let’s not forget the transfiguration. Resurrection? Fabulously qweird! Oh, and if you take the virgin birth literally, Jesus was conceived without a Y chromosome.

Jesus may or may not have been gay, but he was very queer. What else would we expect from a gender-fluid God (Genesis 1:27)?

Apparently, since the overturning of Roe, people bent on controlling the bodily autonomy of others have an excess of hostility to unload. The convenient (and by no means new) target is the queer community, particularly in educational settings. Such attacks go against the life and teaching of Jesus and the nature of God.

The animosity I receive on TikTok is minor compared to the senseless antagonism queer students, parents and educators face today. They need the support of all Jesus followers because queer people are Jesus’ people.  

Prayer
Fluid One, once again we turn to the rainbow as a sign of hope for the end of violence.

About the Author
Matt Laney is the Senior Pastor of Virginia Highland Church UCC in Atlanta, GA and the author of Pride Wars, a fantasy series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers. The first two books, The Spinner Prince and The Four Guardians are available now.