When Jesus preached in ancient Israel, he preached about the coming heavenly kingdom. He preached the way to salvation. And being a Jew teaching in a Jewish environment, he taught the Mosaic law. So the so-called sinners in his time were those who violated the Mosaic law. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Mt 5.17 NIV)
But as teacher (rabbi), he believed too that that the end was near --- “The time is coming when all who are in their graves… will come out --- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (Jn 5.28-29 NIV)
And this would happen in Jesus’s generation. “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Lk 21.32 NIV)
So Jesus was concerned with salvation of mankind, whatever their sins, not any particular transgressions of man. Jesus came not to condemn sinners but to save them, not to judge but to render mercy, not to punish but to forgive. Condemn the sin but love the sinner.
Similar Event in New Testament
The reason why Jesus didn’t say anything about homosexuality was because in his daily preachings the situation did not present itself. We can deduce however what he would say based on a similar situation. When the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in the act of adultery, and they asked him what to do with her, knowing full well that Mosaic law commanded to stone such women, and intending to entrap him in order to have a basis for accusing him --- Jesus said, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Nobody did, and they all left. So Jesus asked the woman, “Woman where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (Jn 8.3-11 NIV)
Now Jesus did this to avoid entrapment by the scribes and the Pharisees, but more importantly, to emphasize the power of forgiveness over punishment, the overarching goal of salvation, and the coming apocalypse.
In the meantime, through the centuries, social upheavals, scientific discoveries, and secular governments have loosened the grip of religious institutions on society. Where slavery, racism and sexual bigotry were condoned in the scriptures --- now these ideas, in the 21st century, are rejected by most countries in the world, regardless of society’s predominant religion.
Diverse Demographic
Now in America, we have reelected the first black president, we have been electing openly gay and non-Christian candidates to Congress. It will only be a matter of time when we shall elect an atheist as president.
If Jesus were to preach today, he would have to preach before a diverse American demographic. He would have to interpret the scriptures in the light of today’s amalgamating culture and homogenizing society.
Today, in the 21st century, he cannot preach under the cloak of mysticism, ignorance and superstition. (Which was the worldview in the known world at that time.) He cannot honestly say that the graves will open up and the dead breathe life again in their physical bodies which had been eaten away by worms and rotten by decay. He cannot say, echoing the statement of a present-day evangelist, that homosexuals caused the tragedy of 9/11.
If Jesus were alive today, and he professed to be a Christian, Jewish or Muslim, he would say --- “God loves everyone regardless of faith, race or sexual orientation. So love everyone. That is my commandment.”
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