What Would Jesus Do?

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What Would Jesus Do?

By Joanna Dorcas Webster

What if Jesus had met a transwoman as he walked the earth?



What Would Jesus Do?

The One

An Allegory by Joanna Dorcas Webster

This is an allegory. NO disrespect is intended to the Bible, from where this is drawn. What if Jesus had met a transwoman in His travels as He walked the earth? Not everything that Jesus did was written down. As the little boy in “Angels in the Outfield” said, “It could happen!”



Walking down the street, Jesus saw a woman with a problem. Her mind and spirit were that of a woman but her body looked like a man’s. She prettied and clothed herself as best she could but no one wanted her. Her parents had finally come to their senses after many years and accepted her as their daughter. She was thankful for that but hoped for a better life.

His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this woman or her parents, causing her to be born with this problem?" Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light."

He said this and said to the woman with the problem, "Go, wash at the Pool of Siloam"  The woman went and washed—and she was made whole. She was now beautiful and possessed all those attributes that she had lacked before. The special undergarments were no longer necessary because she was whole.

Soon the town was buzzing. Her relatives and those who year after year had seen her as a woman with a problem, that no one wanted, were saying, "Why, isn't this the woman we knew, who had the problem?"

Others said, "It's her all right!"

But others objected, "It's not the same woman at all. It just looks like her."

She said, "It's me, the very one."

They said, "How did you become whole?"

"A man named Jesus told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' I did what he said. When I washed, I was whole."

"So where is he?"

"I don't know."

They marched the woman to the Pharisees. This day when Jesus made the woman whole was the Sabbath. The Pharisees grilled her again on how she had come to be made whole. She said, "I washed, and now I am whole."

Some of the Pharisees said, "Obviously, this man can't be from God. He doesn't keep the Sabbath."

Others countered, "How can a bad man do miraculous, God-revealing things like this?" There was a split in their ranks.
They came back at the whole woman, "You're the expert. He made you whole. What do you say about him?"

She said, "He is a prophet."

The Jews didn't believe it, didn't believe the woman had a problem to begin with. So they called the parents of the woman now glowing in her femininity. They asked them, "Is this your daughter, the one you say was born with a problem? So how is it that she now is whole?"

His parents said, "We know she is our daughter, and we know she was born with a problem. But we don't know how she came to be made whole—haven't a clue about who made her whole. Why don't you ask her? She's a grown woman and can speak for herself." (Her parents were talking like this because they were intimidated by the Jewish leaders, who had already decided that anyone who took a stand that this was the Messiah would be kicked out of the meeting place. That's why her parents said, "Ask her. She's a grown woman.")

They called the woman back a second time—the woman who had been born with a problem— and told her, "Give credit to God. We know this man is an impostor."

She replied, "I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I had a problem . . . Now I am whole."

They said, "What did he do to you? How did he make you whole?"

"I've told you over and over and you haven't listened. Why do you want to hear it again? Are you so eager to become his disciples?"

With that they jumped all over her. "You might be a disciple of that man, but we're disciples of Moses. We know for sure that God spoke to Moses, but we have no idea where this man even comes from."

The woman replied, "This is amazing! You claim to know nothing about him, but the fact is, he made me whole! It's well known that God isn't at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does his will. That someone made whole a woman born with a problem has never been heard of—ever. If this man didn't come from God, he wouldn't be able to do anything."

They said, "You're nothing but dirt! How dare you take that tone with us!" Then they threw her out in the street.

Jesus heard that they had thrown her out, and went and found her. He asked her, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

The woman said, "Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him."

Jesus said, "You're looking right at him. Don't you recognize me?"

"Master, I believe," the woman said, and worshiped him.


“Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.”

The Gospel According to John, Chapter 20, Verses 30 and 31, The Message

 




The allegory "What Would Jesus Do?" is a recasting of the transwoman (woman with a problem) for the blind man of The Message, John 9. In both cases they are born with congenital problems and both have to deal with the consequnces of recieving a miracle. Although the Bible remanis silent on Harry Benjamin Syndrome there are parallels which can be drawn to tell the story of the transwoman as an allegory in "What Would Jesus Do?"


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dorothycolleen: I loved this

dorothycolleen: I loved this story, and i think its very respectful of the bible.

Dorothycolleen, member of Bailey's Angels

What would Jesus do if he encountered a transwoman?

I'm glad that you enjoyed this story. My intention was two fold in writing it in this manner. By sticking very closely to the Bible account in John chapter 9, it is easy to see how much in common the blind man who was written about has in common with the transwoman which the bible is silent on. I took my inspiration from the verse in John 21:30 that "Jesus did many other miraculous signs which are not recorded in this book."
The blind person had a congenial condition which is what a transwoman has as well. What Jesus said about the person with the congenital condition is especially uplifting in that he told his disciples that the person with the congenital condition did not get it through sinning or from the sin of parents.

The second reason for writing so close to John 9 is to point those who are transgendered to scripture which affirms that our condition is not attributable to sin as some in the religious community who do not live up to the name 'Christian' in their treatment of us in that they do not follow the example of Christ in their treatment of us. Even when there is a medical test to confirm 'gender dysforia' as a medical disorder instead of detecting the symptoms of the mental disharmony, these people may not be convinced of the truth since it conflicts with their agenda in condemning us. But the truth that we already have since we don't need proof makes us free to ignore them as either genuinely mistaken or intentionally oppressive.

Again my thanks for discovering this story and commenting on it.

All my hopes,
Joanna Dorcas, a pen name of Ariel Montine

I am the only human that knows ...

The absolute sincerity of my trying to be pleasing to God, to have him heal me from what I believed at the time to be daemon posession. I can attest to the depth of my remorse; of trying to do what was expected of me; of the meanness of those around me; of my failure to present as the male I was supposed to be. I even did really dangerous things in my job to prove to others that I measured up; working on high voltage; at astonishing heights; almost getting killed several times, only to be sorry it did not happen.

When I finally gave up, it was with the sense of being carried off, against my own will to see the fires of Hell.

So, now I know with finality that IF there is a God in the heavens, he either created me to fuel the fires of Hell, or very astonishingly, perhaps I was never broken by his definition. And, the horendous and painful rejection of those that I loved and trusted was simply about them, their lack of trust and failure to believe that I loved God absolutely and wholely.

So, I believe that when I stand before the creator, I will be judged by my love for him, my attempts to show that by my love for others, and not judgement of them.

Many blessings

Khadijah

Andrea Lena DiMaggio's picture

What a beautiful rendition...

"...She replied, I know nothing about that one way or the other. But I know one thing for sure: I had a problem . . . Now I am whole." Like the blind man in the original text, she seems to be the only one apart from Jesus who is quiet about her own condition.

"Jesus heard that they had thrown her out, and went and found her. He asked her, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

The woman said, "Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him."

Jesus said, "You're looking right at him. Don't you recognize me?"

"Master, I believe," the woman said, and worshiped him.

This story is new to me, since it is an older posting, but I am glad that someone else commented, or I would not have been led here today. It is doubly meaningful since I am dealing with grief documented elsewhere. My sister's name was Joann and my mother's middle name was Dorcas, so today, at least, it feels like you wrote this just for me.You lifted my spirit, and I am thankful. God bless!

She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Possa Dio riccamente vi benedica, tutto il mio amore, Andrea

Crying is all right in its own way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later,
and then you still have to decide what to do. ― C.S. Lewis
Love, Andrea Lena
Ariel's picture

Faithvine gone

I'm not sure what happened to Faithvine, the Christian Website, which I posted 'What Would Jesus Do?' and initiated the pen name Joanna Dorcas for that posting as well. Faithvine is gone now. I want to seek out another venue like that to post this story so that perhaps a little light shines in the world at large where needed most.
All my hopes,
Ariel Montine aka Joanna Dorcas

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