Jesus and the Eunuchs

I keep getting drawn back to Matthew 19: 10-12. Jesus has jsut responded to a track question by the religious leaders with a truthful, but thought provoking answer. He says the ever quoted phrase, "What God has joined together, man should not separate." This is often used to indicate that Jesus was anti-divorce. But that's not what he says. He says that God can join two people together and only God should separate two people. To say that marriage is always and only an act of God and divorce is always and only an act of man is presumptuous and irrational. I do believe God divorces couples. I truly believe God blessed my divorce. In fact it was his idea!!

Now about eunuchs. During Jesus day there, a eunuch was anyone not interested in women. Today we only think of castrated eunuchs. But homosexuals were commonly called eunuchs. The third type of eunuch is someone like Christ himself who forsake relations with a female to strengthen their relationship with God. Modern priests could be considered similar eunuchs. There was never an assumption that a man could be sterile - all fertility problems were blamed on ibarren women. And a man born without testicals is so rare as to be considered non-existent.

So here's the way Matthew 19: 10-12 reads:

10 The disciples said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry."
11But He said to them, "Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given.
12"For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."

Let me suggest a modern interpretation of what Jesus was saying understanding eunuchs the way society did.

The disciples said to him, “…it must be better not to marry.”

Jesus said, “Some men need to have a wife. But not everyone can accept the traditional male role. For there are men born without interest in women such as homosexuals, there are men who have been castrated by other men, and there are men who decide to remain celibate to bring them a closer relationship with God.”

I really believe Jesus is acknowledging that gays are born not made. And, the DaVinci Code notwithstanding, this is probably also an answer to the endless challenges Jesus likely faced by being unmarried.