The sexual Pharisees

In case you missed it, the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics included what appeared to be a drag queen rendition of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Jesus was replaced by a large woman wearing a halolike crown, while queer and trans figures (plus a child) depicted the apostles. Some no doubt looked upon such a spectacle and thought it represented a “blessing of liberty.” I, on the other hand, was reminded of the parable of the prodigal son and the way a particular application of that story has left the Christian moral imagination impoverished in the modern world.

You remember the story, which is about a man who has two sons. The younger son takes his inheritance, leaves home, and blows it all in a flood of debauchery and reckless living. Meanwhile, the older brother remains “faithfully” at home. When the younger brother hits rock bottom, he humbles himself, acknowledges his wickedness, and returns to his family, willing to be a servant in his father’s house. His father has different plans. Seeing his son from afar, he runs to him, kisses him, throws the best robe on him, and has a big party celebrating his return. The older son is angry at his father’s generosity and grace and grumbles about it, refusing to join the party.

This story is often used, rightly, to show that there is more than one way to be wrong. There are at least two. There’s the licentiousness of the younger brother, and there’s the legalism of the older. Blatant unrighteousness, debauchery, and reckless living, on the one hand. Hypocritical self-righteousness, smugness, and pride, on the other. Tax collectors and prostitutes. Pharisees and teachers of the law.

So far, so good. However, we often misapply the parable because we misunderstand the failure of the Pharisees. We think of them as scrupulous law-keepers, and, thus, only recognize them in a conventional religious form. Pharisaism shows up in good church kids and conservative religious folk, the kind that were appalled by the Olympics display.

But we must remember that Jesus does not condemn the Pharisees for their law-keeping; He condemns them for their law-breaking. In Matthew 23 and Mark 7, Jesus indicts the Pharisees for hypocritically and externally “obeying” for the sake of appearance while in reality lowering God’s standards, misapplying God’s law, inventing and imposing their own traditions, rewriting and misusing history, aggressively spreading their teaching to others, and attempting to be the arbitrators of guilt and innocence in society as a way to indulge themselves, make money, win praise, and gain power over others.

Given this indictment, it’s clear that the pharisaical temptation can come in many forms. It certainly can come in a conventional religious form (as in the first century). But in our contemporary moment, where do we see the features that Jesus indicts? Who are the cultural gatekeepers who misapply God’s laws, aggressively indoctrinate others, and attempt to be arbitrators of guilt and innocence to make money, win praise, and gain power?

We might start with the regnant sexual revolutionaries, the kind on display at the Olympics opening ceremony. We might even dub them “sexual Pharisees.” To return to Jesus’ parable, they combine the sins of the two sons. They embrace the debauchery of the younger brother with all of the smugness and self-righteousness of the older brother. This “third brother” comes home from his bender in the far country with a prostitute on each arm and demands that his father continue to fund his cocaine habit. “Dad, I’m a debauched pig-feeder, and I’m proud of it. Now where’s my robe and my ring? And I want a party for all of my new friends. And a parade. No, a month of parades. Oh, and bake me a cake, bigot.”

Sexual Pharisees are sure they stand on “the right side of history” in their rainbow phylacteries, patting each other on the back on the way to the next awards ceremony. They have commandeered the calendar, devoting an entire month (and then some) to celebrating practices that God hates. They indoctrinate and groom the next generation with their rainbow curriculum through public schools, higher education, and entertainment, hijacking pubescent awkwardness with their demented and demonic ideology. And when they are successful, they bring twice the destruction on their disciples, even cutting off healthy organs in obedience to their false religion. They have rejected the righteousness of God and have sought to establish their own, and in so doing have exalted themselves above the living God.

Our response ought to be the same as Christ’s. We should respond with both condemnation and invitation. Like Christ, we ought to say, “Woe to you, scribes and sexual Pharisees, hypocrites,” whenever we see the unfruitful deeds of darkness. We ought to cultivate a holy revulsion at the grotesque and debauched. And we ought to sincerely and compassionately extend the gospel invitation to every kind of sinner. We must never forget that our God loves to knock Pharisees off their high horses, whether they’re riding a horse named Law-Keeping, or a horse named Sexual Debauchery, whether they’re on the road to Damascus, or the road to Paris.