It seems possible, however, that he prefers the role of martyr: "This scandal is putting us, the clergy and the church, where we belong — with the excluded ones; Jesus was painted with the same brush as the two thieves crucified with him".
But was it actually the will of Jesus to exclude women?
There is no special sin unique to people of gender or sexual minorities that ever caused Jesus to exclude anyone from God's Kingdom, from his Church, or from following him, at least not that is recorded in canonical Christian scriptures.
Jesus did not exclude anyone from this meal neither should the Church if she wishes to follow the examples of Jesus.
The types of groups and individuals excluded from protection include Jesus, the mass murderer Charles Manson, Osama bin Laden, rapists and domestic abusers, any political and religious leaders before 1900 and people who violate hate speech rules.
Thus, the corona represents the crown of thorns; the styles represent the nails used in the Crucifixion; the stamens represent the five wounds; and the five sepals and five petals represent 10 of the apostles, excluding Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and Peter, who denied him three times on the night of his trial.
This Jewish community's central confession, that God is one, would have excluded the possibility that Jesus was God's only son, who was both in the beginning with God and who was God (John 1 1).
Jesus is the ultimate advocate for those whom the world concedes no value and no importance, for those the country clubs and mansions of the world exclude.
"The Church's One Foundation" for excluding women from the clergy is not "Jesus Christ her Lord"; it is the hoary manmade argument that Jesus' apostles were all men.
Jesus-fish stickers are also excluded because they depict something from "the water under the earth".
Exploring Jesus' concern for the poor and excluded reminds us of the close connections among wealth, health and social acceptability.
