Elton John told Parade Magazine in an interview: “”I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving.”
And Elton draws this conclusion based upon…?
Elton is hardly the first person to consider the possibilty of Jesus being a homosexual. Terence McNally once wrote a play about it and almost got himself lynched for the privilege.
It is like that with iconic figures -so easy to project our own wishes upon them. I recently mentioned Julie Burchill’s conversion to an Old Testament christianity. She probably doesn’t remember telling me decades ago about how “an eye for an eye” is the best rule of law. It is hardly surprisingly when she turned to religion she espoused a Christian tenency that she already thought was correct.
My sister Feriel’s faith is gentleness and her Jesus is (more or less) the new testament Jesus of love.
Back to Elton John -who must be very happy he didn’t claim the prophet Mohammad was gay, or would be in hiding with a Jihad on his head, I foresee no flak for his opinion and neither should there be any… if the person Elton John loves most is a homosexual man, it makes perfect sense for Sir Elton to see those qualities in the son of God.
BUT
If you take the New Testament at face value there is scant evidence to back up the assertion.
Sure, Jesus was surrounded by twelve disciples in essentially a sexually segregated life, but being surrounded by members of the same sex is not proof of sexual inclinations otherwise nearly every rock band in the world would be gay.
I don’t believe Jesus ever even mentioned homosexuality in his teachings though the Old testament didn’t like it much. There are lotsa things that the Old testament doesn’t much care for that hasn’t stood the test of time too well.
If Elton wants to believe Jesus was gay let him, I say.