The phrase “Jesus loved prostitutes”, alongside the similar “Jesus was friends with prostitutes” shows up a lot when people are discussing sex work. Many Christian groups use this as a part of broader messaging on their intent to supposedly rescue sex workers, with the suggestion that we must accept Jesus as a part of that “rescue”.
The following passage is Matthew 21:28-32 (NRSV).
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
An alternate translation from the KJV:
28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. 29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.
From both these translations, it’s apparent that Jesus is arguing that sex workers (people selling sex, which is what both the translations “harlots” and “prostitutes” refer to) are more likely to get into heaven than the well-respected religious elders he is speaking with. Depending on the translation you use, it may be more or less clear what Jesus is saying about repenting here.
The reason this passage is complicated is that while it is true that Jesus is defending sex workers to a degree, by asserting they can in fact get into heaven, he is doing so via a parable that directly suggests they must change their ways to do so. His claim is that sex workers must either “repent” (KJV translation) or “change [their] minds” (NRSV) and cease to be sex workers and accept God to be permitted into heaven. This is contrasted with the supposedly holy elders who are saying the right things and profess to believe but are not committed in the manner that the sinners who “repent” are.
So, while Jesus is noted to have had dinner with sex workers and to have defended them in some ways, it’s clear that he’s applying the common Christian mindset of “hate the sin, love the sinner”. He supports them in the sense that he sees them as sinners and wants them to repent. Since he thinks that for many of them that it is likely they will, he defends them against the elders who profess to love God but don’t truly follow his word or agree with God’s message deep down.
This is stated even more clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NRSV): (Alternate translation KJV which does not use the word “prostitute” and instead uses “effeminate” though the term it is translated from is, in fact, the term for male prostitutes).
9 Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
We can see from “and this is what some of you used to be” that the message is clear: it is acceptable to have been an “adulterer” or “male prostitute” or “sodomite”, all terms that would apply to sex workers, as long as one then accepts Jesus and God and converts to Christianity.
This is a position held by many Christian organisations and “anti-trafficking” groups which offer certain types of help to sex workers. They offer help to sex workers in a manner they believe aligns with these passages, which is that they offer support to sex workers only as long as they intend to convert to Christianity and stop selling sex (aka sinning, in their eyes).
Throughout the Bible, euphemisms are used for sex workers, like a term which roughly translates as “sinner” in common usage in modern English. Jesus, the couple of times he mentions sex work, is unusually blunt in actually directly using a term that clearly means prostitute. Selling sex is considered a sin, alongside other types of sexual relationships like adultery.
To say that Jesus loved sex workers would be misleading at best. According to scripture, he ate with them and spoke with them and treated them with respect – but ultimately regarded them as people who were sinning who he sought to convert. Only once they converted and walked away from sex work as a profession did he profess that they would go to heaven. I don’t know about anyone else, but I wouldn’t say that someone who believes I cannot go to heaven until I stop working to earn money to live (or who would deem me a sinner for that) “loves” me.
What is interesting about this, however, is that even if one believes this attitude can still be loving… Jesus is not shown to withhold his respect until after the prostitutes he knows stop selling sex. He eats with them, offering them food, without a requirement that they stop being sex workers first. This is in complete contrast to many Christian organisations which profess they want to help sex workers. Requiring that sex workers attend Christian services or join in group prayer before they can access help is common.
Exodus Cry, for example, offered “restoration programs” in the past as part of their outreach. According to their 2017 Annual report, these were phased out and they began referring sex workers to other groups and now only offer advice and prayer and gifts which consist of toiletries and Christian texts/pamphlets.
Groups like Restoration House in Kansas are faith-based organisations that run programs housing very small numbers of exited sex workers they find, most of whom meet the definition of being sex trafficked. They list Exodus Cry on their website as an organisation they’re associated with. Part of their program includes prayer and faith-based activities and literature. They only offer services to people who have “exited” or whom the organisation has removed from a sex working environment and do not offer these kinds of services to people who are still selling sex.
Pushing people towards faith, only offering services to those who’ve already left sex work or who intend to do so but simply need somewhere to go to do so, is not in line with the passages that many Christians claim are the inspiration for this kind of work. Jesus’ words in passages where he discusses sex workers suggest that he expects them to make the choice to find faith for themselves.
I’m an atheist and I won’t pretend otherwise for the purpose of convincing Christians that I am arguing from a Christian perspective. I am not. What I am noting is that this kind of narrative regarding sex workers, combined with the withholding of services from those who do not want to “exit” even when they often need resources more, is not even in line with the teaching from the scripture.
I reject that selling sex is sinful or wrong in the first place. Even if you see it as such, expecting people to stop engaging in these behaviours before you help them is of no use when providing them with help may well be what could allow them to stop.
If someone says “Jesus loves sex workers” to me, I may assume they agree with the words of Matthew 21:28-32. I assume they believe that what I am doing is sinful and that they want me to convert into a good Christian who follows their rules and that their love is conditional on that being the outcome. For me, it never will be. The alternative is that they do not agree with the idea of that passage, and therefore disagree with Jesus that it is sin at all – in which case it’s not really “Jesus loves sex workers” and more “I like to imagine Jesus as loving sex workers”.
Calling it “love” to have a view of me as someone who is sinning, in a way they see as fixable and requires me to change to access the support that comes with that “love”, is useless to me. Sex workers need material support now.
Instead of talking about Jesus loving or supporting sex workers as a justification for sex workers deserving basic rights, try any of the other arguments that don’t rely on interpreting scripture. Sex workers should be supported because we’re people, many of us uniquely vulnerable, and in most countries we don’t have the same rights as other workers.
We do not need some sort of Christ-like “hate the sin, love the sinner” attitude, we need the decriminalization of our work and the abolition of poverty so that we can decide what we want to do for ourselves without coercive forces acting on us.
Jack Talks About Sex Work 