Kim Davis, a Christian clerk in a Kentucky courthouse, recently refused to issue a marriage license for a gay couple. She lawfully exercised her right to disobey the law on grounds that her conscience was violated. It was an act of civil disobedience. Her civil disobedience as a citizen of the United States is certainly her protected liberty. Her disobedience is also expressive of her allegiance to Jesus Christ the Lord. Scripture, from Daniel in Babylon to the Apostle Peter in Acts 4 describes believers disobeying the law in order to honor a higher allegiance.
The question for Kim Davis has to do with this: Did her actions bring glory to the risen Christ? Did her actions credibly witness to the Christ of the Gospels? It appears by her own admission that she had previously issued hundreds of marriage licenses to divorced persons without ever raising any questions or moral concern whatsoever. Then when presented with her first application for a marriage license from a gay couple she became outraged and refused to issue the license according to Kentucky law. Are those actions consistent with Jesus’ teaching regarding marriage in Matthew 19:1-12 or Mark 10?
Clearly her behavior is defensible on “sincerely held beliefs ” grounds, but very questionable on biblical grounds. Any biblically knowledgeable person could easily demonstrate her biblical inconsistency and then accuse her of homophobia or bigotry or suchlike and not be too far from the truth. More importantly, was this action a witness to the real Jesus of the Gospels or was it more about making a point about her convictions regarding homosexual marriage? Some of us in the church evidently think heterosexual divorce simply is not a big deal but homosexual marriage is a big deal! Does that attitude bring glory to King Jesus? What is at stake here is the credibility of her witness to Jesus! Her sincerity is not questioned. Her witness is!
We do need to “take a stand,” but first we need to “stand with Jesus, ” the scandalous friend of sinners and rediscover who he is and where he stands. We need a long silence with Jesus , our Savior and Lord. Then we go to the public square chastened by his judgments on our sins and grateful for the grace he pours out on all of us “crooked straights.”