Biblical Reflections from Father Maletta

Homosexuality is one of those highly charged issues where a balanced approach is very difficult to find (See Cat 2357 & 2359). The passage we are dealing with, the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah, is often used to condemn homosexuality. I do not want to get into that quagmire but offer some additional information that might help us better understand the story.

It has always struck me strange that the whole town of Sodom was populated by homosexuals. I may be sheltered but I have not met that many homosexuals in my lifetime let alone a whole town of them. How, in that time and culture would so many homosexuals gather? Furthermore, how could it be a homosexual town if there were boys among the men gathered outside Lot’s house? The presence of “young” implies procreation and that requires heterosexual intercourse. Were the men of Sodom bi-sexual? It is something that has always caused me to wonder. Without getting too gross here maybe understanding the historical context of male to male anal sex might be helpful.

Throughout history, including examples in our own time, when men want to humiliate another man they perform anal sex on him. Particularly, in the period of history that Lot’s story takes place in, when an army defeated an enemy (we will see too many examples of this as we read the Old Testament) they would rape, murder and enslave the women and children, but the ultimate sign of defeat and humiliation was the practice of the conquering army sodomizing the men of the defeated army.

The idea was to insult the men by treating them like women. So part and parcel of the practice of male-male anal sex was the notion that men should be "macho" and the women are inferior, pieces of property at the service of men. Ladies I know you do not like reading this, to be sure I am not endorsing this, it’s just an historical fact. Women were considered to be of the same value as livestock. Part of Salvation History is God teaching us the value and dignity of women unfortunately that lesson does not come in this story.

However, at this time and place in history, God was still at the beginning of forming a people and giving them the understanding that we have today – it makes you wonder what we have yet to learn from God.

Back then if you wanted to utterly humiliate your foe you would treat him like a woman. In fact, throughout Western history, a main reason for opposition to male-male sex was that it supposedly makes a man act like a woman. Saint John Chrysostom in the East and Saint Augustine in the West in the Fifth Century and Peter Cantor in the 12th, outspoken Christian opponents of homogenitality, both raised that argument. Saint Augustine wrote, "The Body of a man is as superior to that of a woman as the soul is to the body."

So there may have been a few true homosexuals around Lot’s home who found the travelers attractive but I think it more likely that any stranger was a potential foe who may be there to spy for a future invasion. Potential foes had to be put in their place so the men of the town wanted to make sure these visitors left humiliated – effeminized - as a sign to any others strangers who might be interested in scoping out their territory. To be sure their actions were evil but not necessarily motivated by homosexual lust. They were doing what seemed acceptable for their time and culture. Lot’s resistance is a counter sign. Lot’s objection to such practices represents God’s view. Lot rises above the common standard – both by welcoming the stranger and resisting the town’s desire to violate and humiliate his guests – thereby creating a standard closer to God’s heart.

Homosexuality is something that has, does and most likely will always grab our attention and stir deep feelings one way or the other. It is hard not to just focus on the fact that this story involves homosexual acts but the story is really more about how God calls us to hospitality and away from any practice that humiliates or belittles another.

Biblical Reflections from Fr. Maletta

I hardly read the next installment of the Read Through the Bible (RTB) before I was once again stopped in my tracks.

The story of Lot and the angels in Sodom and Lot’s offer to exchange his daughters for his two guests. Then a few verses further on, the incest between Lot and his daughters. YUCK!

This whole installment is like increasing layers of disgust.

Studying the Bible is not just reading and knowing the stories but trying to make sense in our own hearts of what the stories are about. Often it requires some reconciling of historic accounts with our own morals and values. I don’t know about you but Lot’s actions offend me, yet, St. Peter describes him a “righteous man” (2Pt 2:7-8) how is this possible?

Well, first we need to remember that our whole lives have taken place in the context of 2,000 years of developing Christian morality. I don’t think we can remind ourselves of this fact too often when reading the Old Testament.

We are not reading a newspaper account of something that happened in a different culture in our time – we are reading about a primitive people whose culture is so vastly different and whose self-awareness as child of God is in its embryonic stage. In other words, we must do our best not to judge characters like Lot too harshly and look past what bothers our sensitivities and search out the lesson God has placed for all peoples of all times and places. In my next blog I will get into the story and try to break it down.

Biblical Reflections from Fr. Maletta

January 15, 2010

Last year as I read through the Scriptures there were a few things that bothered me, or at least things that I did not understand.

As I begin "Read Through the Bible" in 2010, I am going to try to share with you my questions and some of the answers that I have come up with. I welcome your comments and questions too.

Okay - one of the first things that bugged me last year and again this year is how so many of the Old Testament characters lived to be so old. Adam lived 930 years and many of his descendants lived incredibly long lives as well (Gen 5:1-32). Is this true?

In Fr. Lawrence Boadt's book Reading the Old Testament, he writes: "What has always interested readers is the long lifespan that has been credited to the patriarchs. This was not intended as proof that humans lived to such ripe old ages in the first days of the world, but a device to show just how vast a distance separates our own world of experience from that of the story itself.

The 'myth' of enormous life spans was commonly used in the ancient world to show the superiority of the beginning times. The Sumerian king list, only one of many such that we know from the Near East, lists the names and ages of the kings who lived before the flood. They range in age from 18,600 year to over 43,000 years. Hindu traditions also make exaggerated claims. One myth speaks of humans who lived 8,400,000 years."

Another weird age thing is the age of Abraham and Sarah at the time of Isaac's birth. He was reported to be 100 and she was 90. Again the exaggerated ages serves a theological purpose. God's promise does not happen in our time frame but His. God promised them a son but they had to wait with faith long beyond what would seem reasonable. That is a big part of faith - believing even though reason and common sense seem to mock our belief. Our faith stands as a bridge in the tension between promise and fulfillment. This serves to highlight how great God's gift to them was. When all hope is gone, God can bring hope.

To be honest with you, what I find even more remarkable is that following the birth of Isaac, Sarah and Abraham pack up and move. At this point, Sarah is taken into the palace of Abimelech. God warns him in a dream not to do anything to Sarah since she is married. Abimelech is righteously upset with Abraham because he led him to believe that Sarah was his sister. A few chapters earlier it appears that the Pharaoh did take Sarah as a bed companion. Does anyone have problems thinking this 90+ year old woman is so "hot" that a king can't wait to get his hands on her? There is obviously an irony here.

Again, this is a literary device that signifies the importance of the birth and the fulfillment of God's promise. To draw attention to Sarah at this point implies that when God fulfills his promises it has the effect of renewing or regenerating us. This is symbolized by Sarah apparently being totally regenerated from the physical appearance of an old woman to someone so hot that she caught the eye and fancy of the most important man in the world. Before we rush in to discount this, let us not underestimate just how truly extravagant God's promises can be!!! For in reality, there is nothing too hard for God (see Genesis 17:1-19; 20:1-18).

Catholics Come Home

Catholics Come Home: "Coming home has never been easier. We are family. Welcome home."