Breaking Down Boundaries
Jesus’ family thought he had lost his mind.1 He wasn’t acting as others thought he should. He didn’t conform to the norms of society. He was modeling the queer spiritual gift of breaking down boundaries. Any LGBTQ+ person who chooses the freedom of living as their authentic self not only accepts the gift of who God made them to be, but they give that gift of freedom to others by challenging the arbitrary and nonsensical boundaries society attempts to use to control us. Of course, conformity with the rules and expectations of society can sometimes be a good and even necessary thing. Most people conform to traffic rules, for example. When we don’t, then people get injured. But conformity can be dangerous as well.
Expectations of conformity often go beyond issues of safety and become more about control and the privilege of the powerful. Sometimes we conform out of fear or shame. We might be afraid of looking foolish or being labeled as weird or different. Religion has long tried to shame LGBTQ+ people into conforming to the expectations of heterosexuality and gender stereotypes in an effort to make sure everyone falls in line with how religion has defined reality. Sometimes conformity is a tool of power used to create an enemy to unite against, such as our government has done to immigrants and transgender people. We band together and ostracize the invented enemy, someone who’s made to seem different than us, a non-conforming outsider.
In Jesus, the theologian Patrick Cheng sees what he calls the Transgressive Christ.2 This is the Jesus who was killed because he refused to conform and sometimes actively subverted the standards of behavior imposed by the authorities of his day. This is the Jesus
who was accused of not following rules on the sabbath,
who overturned the tables of the money changers in the Temple,
who touched and healed those who were marginalized and said to be unclean,
who ate and drank with outcasts and was accused of being a drunkard himself.
The Transgressive Christ practices the spiritual gift of breaking down boundaries. This is the Christ represented
in the play Corpus Christi by Terrence McNally, where Jesus is a gay man,
in a series of photos by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin which show Jesus baptized in a bath house and imagines a drag Last Supper,
and in theologian Marcella Althaus-Reid’s image of a bisexual Christ who disrupts the hierarchies and binary constructions that we create.
The Transgressive Christ pushes against conventional boundaries relating to sexuality and gender identity and represents God’s solidarity with the suffering of queer people who refuse to conform to the rules of the dominant culture. Cheng understands mindless conformity to those rules a sin, a roadblock to good relationship with each other and God. And if mindless conformity is a sin, then, according to Cheng, the correcting grace is deviance, the transgression of societal, legal, and religious boundaries and norms. Deviance means choosing not to go along with society’s expectations when they are un-just and harmful.
The grace of deviance is another way of talking about the queer spiritual gift of breaking down boundaries. When marginalized communities such as the transgender community refuse to conform, they give a gift to the wider world, expanding our minds and hearts and creating a better, more beautiful, and more just world. This deviance is a gift from God. It asks us to stand up and speak out against injustice. It means being our true, authentic selves when society or religion tells us to be someone else. Jesus himself was a deviant. He didn’t conform but chose to ignore worries and fears about his reputation and what others thought was right. He chose to put the welfare of people above the demands of family and religion. He chose to do what he knew was right according to God and fully live the life that God called him to.
We are all created with unique gifts and talents. The apostle Paul says we are created as an important and unique part of a bigger unity, each with our own vital role.3 God actually designed deviance into Creation. It’s a blessing and not a curse. Conformity that asks us to all be the same makes no more sense than asking a foot to be a hand or an ear to be an eye. It’s also important to note that conformity and unity are not the same thing. Jesus often encourages unity while at the same time being deviant. Unity binds us together in love, but it never asks us to mindlessly conform. Unity celebrates the uniqueness that makes us special. Deviance actually strengthens unity. Jesus broke rules and defied expectations that hurt people. The motivation for his transgressions were not selfishness, but his deviance arose out of his compassion and love for others.
Acting out of love for others is to also to act in our own best interests. Likewise, acting out of love for ourselves can help create a better and more accepting world for others. The Stonewall Riots in 1969 are often referred to as the beginning of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. They were started largely by drag queens and others who finally got fed up with being harassed and arrested by police. In their anger they fought back and stood up for their right to be their authentic and true selves. They were deviants in the best way possible. Demanding our right to live fully as our true selves makes the world a better place, a more just place, and a more loving place.
1. Mark 3:20-34
2. Much of today’s reflection is inspired by Patrick Cheng’s book “From Sin to Amazing Grace,” pages 101-109.
3. 1 Corinthians 12:12-20