Sodom and Gomorrah: A Story of Queer Liberation
Genesis 18:20-32
What actually happened to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? Do you know?
Do you know why?
Just the names of the towns, Sodom and Gomorrah, are used in our culture in a warning or threatening manner. But I wonder how many people have read this story and interpreted it independently from its cultural baggage.
Even the Revised Common Lectionary does not ask us to contend with the fullness of what happens in Sodom and Gomorrah. The lectionary only includes the section of Genesis 18 that we heard today. Everything seems like it is going to go well. We are left in a place that makes us assume, of course, there would be at least 10 righteous people.
Certainly, God will spare them. Nope.
The lectionary does not offer us the rest of the story which includes Lot’s family being told to flee, questionable sexual ethics on the part of the Sodomites and Lot himself, the destruction of the towns, and the incest that follows. It’s a troubling story to be sure and I can understand why the writers of the Lectionary decided to skip these parts. If they are in the lectionary, either a preacher is forced to make sense of them or the congregation is left wondering how in the world this could all happen.
These texts have significant cultural and religious baggage for many Christians and particularly for the LGBTQ community and our allies. So, I want us to take a closer look today and see where the Good News is and how God is calling us through these stories.
That’s right! Your gay priest is going to tackle Sodom and Gomorrah.
Let’s start by saying that there is no clear textual evidence of homosexual activity and there certainly isn’t evidence that that activity is the reason for their destruction. In fact, Ezekiel 16, verse 49 states, “this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy.”
The guilt of Sodom is related to their unwillingness to serve the poor and needy, their inability to share from their excess, and their lack of hospitality. The short pericope that is often sighted as an indication of the Sodomites’ sexuality is just beyond our lectionary reading for today. It includes the men of Sodom going to Lot’s house and asking to know the visitors he has welcomed. That is to “Know” in the biblical sense. To have sexual relations. The problem here is with their lack of hospitality, their lack of concern for the visitors, and their perceived entitlement to the bodies of others. Lot offers his daughters as an alternative that is both problematic and rooted in a patriarchal culture.
The point here is that the Sodomites' sexuality is not the reason for their demise. It is their unwillingness to welcome the stranger and care for the poor that creates problems. Might we Christians be more concerned with their actual faults? Might we be more concerned with the ways their actions are counter to the call we receive in Jesus Christ?
With this knowledge in mind, let us return to the lectionary passage for today. We hear Abraham bargaining with God. Abraham, who knows God’s goodness and mercy, questions God’s willingness to destroy these sinful towns and wonders about those few righteous people who might be there. God agrees with Abraham and says that He will spare the people should there be just ten guiltless people among them.
I imagine these 50, or 20, or 10 people that Abraham is concerned about not just being righteous but also being the people who are victims of the unjust structures that have ruled Sodom and Gomorrah. The people Abraham is concerned about might be the hungry, the impoverished, and the people in need. Even those 10 cannot be found. Perhaps they have been run off or have left in search of a better life. Perhaps the people of Sodom and Gomorrah have become so insular and exclusive that people who do not have similar excess, pride, and prosperity don’t even enter.
The towns of Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed. There is certainly a tragic dimension here. It is hard to hear of our fellow humans being destroyed. Embedded in these challenging stories, I hear God’s primary concern for the people who are mistreated and in need. God has a particular closeness with the disenfranchised, marginalized, and oppressed.
This might be summarized in the Catholic social teaching of the Preferential Option for the Poor. This teaching originally stems from Latino liberation theology. The Preferential Option for the Poor notes the biblical theme of the centrality of poor people. It notes that Jesus spends a lot of time with, caring for, and talking about people experiencing poverty and isolation from society.
When we look at the arch of scripture, we see a caring God who covenants with his people, who seeks to create a just world for and with us, and who loves us enough to take on our messy human form. We see a God who is in close proximity to those that society has left out and forgotten. We see a God who would be present with the victims of Sodom and Gomorrah’s injustice.
God and Abraham’s bargaining shows a Preferential Option for the Poor, for even ten righteous people among them, for ten people who are helping those in poverty, for ten people who share of their excess, for ten people who are living humble and holy lives.
Considering the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in this way, it is both a liberating story and a call to action.
If God is with the few, with the marginalized, with the oppressed, then stories we have heard about Sodom and Gomorrah may not make sense. In particular, this story is used against LGBTQ people. It seems like God would love and protect this community that is often pushed away and scorned. It seems God would look for those who share authentic love and God would protect them. This is a story that reminds us that God does indeed look out for us and seek to protect us in a world that causes pain and harm.
It is possible to read this story as one of queer liberation, rather than one that causes harm and shame. God is with the LGBTQ community. God is with the people who have not received necessary support and care, who have been pushed out, who have been demonized. God is with the people who share kindness and love freely, who live into their God created selves, who relish in chosen in family and in community.
This liberating read of course extends to those experiencing poverty, to people of color, to indigenous people, to people who experience abuse, and on and on. God is near to and protects all those who are hurting in this broken world.
God delights in Her creation and protects Her people.
When the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are wiped out, their harmful behavior ceases. They do not have further opportunities to abuse the people who are in need or who come to the town. In destroying these cities, their selfish and prideful systems of being are destroyed as well. I don’t imagine that God takes this sort of destruction lightly.
And this is in no to way suggest that we need revenge or retribution. It does show that God desires places where flourishing, mutual care and concern, and generosity are made possible.
The call embedded in this story is to care for people in need. While I do, of course, believe in God’s forgiving and loving nature, our relationship with God and with God’s people ought to motivate us to care for our fellow human. Just as we have the saints to offer positive examples of living a faithful life, sadly we have examples of lives we would not want to emulate. To be clear, their negative behavior had nothing to do with their sexuality. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah show us a society where greed, pride, and selfishness rule. We certainly don’t want that for ourselves, though at times it sounds all too familiar.
We can learn from the faults of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. We can follow our call from God to do exactly those things that the people in Sodom and Gomorrah neglected to do. Our call is to release our pride and to give of our excess, and when we do live in ease, to aid people who are in need.
Re-reading Sodom and Gomorrah gives us the opportunity to see that God’s ways follow a different logic than our world seems to. God will protect the few. God will seek out those in need of care and protection. God will look for the minority and keep them safe. Jesus reminds us to look for the single lost sheep. Jesus offers his individual body for the salvation of all. Just a few people make all the difference for our God.
God desires that we love one another. The concern is not with the gender dynamics of that love, but rather than love is a guiding force. We are to share, to help, and to care. We are to experience true joy and flourishing that comes through God. We are to respect the bodies and dignity of the people around us.
If God is willing to spare full cities for the ten, then God is certainly with you as an individual. God is guiding you, calling you, and protecting you.
Amen.
© 2022 The Rev. Adelyn Tyler-Williams
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Fayetteville, Arkansas