Open Season for Mockery Against Christians

On a recent episode of the “Michael Steele Podcast,” former CNN host Don Lemon suggested that Jesus’s earthly father Joseph used his marriage to the virgin Mary as a perfect cover for being gay. Steele, who chaired the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011, chortled right along with Lemon, as the alleged sexual deviancy of Joseph was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

The obvious purpose of this fictious libel is to score some cheap laughs at the expense of Christians. But Christians needn’t take the bait.

For starters, Lemon’s theory cherry-picks some details out of the scriptural accounts of Jesus’s birth while ignoring others. Specifically, Lemon overlooks Mary’s virginity (Luke:1:34Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
See All...), Joseph’s righteous character (Matthew:1:19Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
See All...), the angel’s appearance to Mary (Luke:1:26-33 [26] And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, [27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. [28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. [29] And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. [30] And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. [31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: [33] And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
See All...), the angel’s appearance to Joseph (Matthew:1:20But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
See All...), and the reason given for their travel to Bethlehem (Luke:2:1-5 [1] And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. [2] (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) [3] And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. [4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) [5] To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
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If put to a contest of reliability, the gospels will trump Lemon every time. The testimony of Scripture, which is “breathed out by God” (2 Timothy:3:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
See All...), is obviously more credible than Lemon’s speculations. God’s words are true even if everyone else is a liar (Romans:3:4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
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Furthermore, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are the only original sources describing the events leading up to Jesus’s birth. If Lemon rejects these accounts as untrustworthy, then there are no other sources — no other facts — upon which to base his irreverent revision.

In terms of plausibility, Lemon’s story creates more problems than it solves. First, by alleging that Joseph was gay, Lemon implies that he and Mary never consummated their marriage, contrary to Matthew’s narrative, in which Joseph “he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son” (Matthew:1:24-25 [24] Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: [25] And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
See All...). Yet Jesus had four named brothers and multiple unnamed sisters, according to hostile testimony from residents of his hometown (Matthew:13:55-56 [55] Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? [56] And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
See All...). Two of his brothers, James and Jude, went on to write letters included in the New Testament, and even non-Christian sources record James as a brother of Jesus. If Joseph was gay and never consummated his marriage to Mary, where did all of Jesus’s siblings come from?

Second, Lemon suggests that Joseph and Mary fled from judgmental religious zealots by fleeing from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The problem with this is that Bethlehem lay close by Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious zeal, whereas Galilee was considered a backwater province (John:7:52They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
See All...). Nazareth, in particular, was despised by religious Jews who lived elsewhere (John:1:46And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
See All...). In neither place could Jews legally execute someone (John:18:31Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
See All...), and in neither place could Joseph and Mary have melded into the crowd. But travelling from Nazareth to Bethlehem certainly wasn’t the way to avoid the scrutiny of religious zealots. Lemon’s fantasy — and Steele’s interjections — also fail to account for the fact that Joseph and Mary later returned to Nazareth and settled there for decades (Matthew:2:23And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
See All..., Luke:2:39And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
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Lemon does not suggest that Joseph was gay because it best fits the evidence, or even that it plausibly fits the evidence. He simply spun this yarn because he finds it funny to mock and offend Christians — the kind of Christians who take the Bible seriously and object when people abuse it. Not only did Lemon, an avowed left-wing commentator, find this funny, but so too did Steele, a former leader in the Republican Party. At root, Lemon and Steele are mocking and offending Jesus Christ, who identifies with his followers when they are persecuted (Acts:9:4And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
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Those who scoff at God and his Word usually do so because they don’t believe in Judgment Day (Isaiah:28:14-15 [14] Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. [15] Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
See All...), but eventually they will have to do business with God, and their only hope is to repent and turn to him before that day arrives. Thus, mockery like Lemon’s should not provoke us to angry indignation. It should provoke us to plead with him — and with all who live in rebellion against God — to turn from their sins and ask the only true and gracious God for forgiveness.

https://afn.net/opinion/joshua-arnold/2024/10/14/open-season-for-mockery-against-christians/