Today’s listener question is something that we know a lot of people can relate to, but might be too afraid or shy to ask about. It deals with the guilt of masturbation and watching porn. “My main concern is that I have prayed to God asking for forgiveness… even made several promises that I end up breaking. What should I do?”
Then we queer a well-known text from Matthew: the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people. This is a really beautiful story of people taking care of each other and of sharing what they have. It’s also worth noting that this is what we queer folks do. We provide shelter for those who have been kicked out of their homes, we give what we can give to help someone pay for medical expenses, and we’re just basically each other’s support system.
Things we talked about:
- Fr. Shay’s quick getaway experience [0:46]
- Brian shares his 2020 goal [2:05]
- Listener question [6:29]
- The conservative ideology of who God is [8:23]
- Reconceptualizing what sin is [9:48]
- Masturbation: taking ownership of your body [13:11]
- Queering the Bible: Matthew [16:07]
- Queer folks simply just taking care of each other [18:56]
- What Jesus did was politically subversive [21:24]
Mentioned in this episode
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Matthew 14:13-21
When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities. When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.”
They replied, “We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish.”
He said, “Bring them here to me.” He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them and broke the loaves apart and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full, and they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten.
Photo by Branimir Balogović