Marriage equality advocates celebrating the ''yes'' vote mark past St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney on Wednesday. Credit:Anna Kucera And a triumph for the grassroots, those in the pews who – as polls repeatedly showed – quietly tolerated but did not share the views of their church leaders, and for those who continually asked why the unelected Australian Christian Lobby is viewed as the voice of Christianity in this country when its membership is so small (and, as researcher Stephanie Judd found, is dominated by Baptists and Pentecostals). The scenes were galvanic: visceral roars of relief, visible slumping, uncontrolled tears of joy, unabashed dancing, volcanic eruptions of hope and decency and fairness. Is it really possible to say God was not part of that? That God was sitting cranky on the sidelines, lamenting that more people will now formally vow to spend their lives caring for each other? We have never entirely understood the full diversity of Christianity in this country; we tend to see it as narrow and controlling. But we're not stupid; we know Jesus – the great disruptor – was on about something the Pharisees were not. This was evident on Gogglebox recently when the families were watching Magda Szubanski – in a powerfully contained, lacerating and vulnerable moment – speak to the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Dr Glenn Davies on Q&A, about her belief that the church should not impose its views on a secular society. She said: "I accept that the church will never marry me – that grieves me in ways you will never know."

Scenes of jubilation break out on Oxford Street in Sydney after the result was announced. Credit:Anna Kucera The cameras then cut to the three Silbery women. Kerrie said: "But Jesus was all about love. What would Jesus say? He would say vote 'yes'." Grandma Emily piped up – "He loved prostitutes, he loved everyone" – and they all chortled. Senators Dean Smith and Penny Wong hug after speaking on the Marriage Amendment Bill on Thursday. Credit:Andrew Meares The Reverend Dr Peter Catt, Dean of St John's Cathedral in Brisbane, put the case bluntly for Christians for Marriage Equality: "Since the beginning of this survey, we have had a clear and simple message: all people are equally loved by God and deserve to be treated equally under the law."

The tension between those who see Christianity as a tool of liberation, and those who see it as a tool of preservation, has long roots. In 1963, when Martin Luther King wrote an open letter to his country from a jail in Birmingham, Alabama, he asked: "Is organised religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?" Magda Szubanski's powerful exchange with Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies on Q&A. Credit:ABC King, who had been arrested for participating in a non-violent protest, was disappointed with the silences and the implicit condoning of racism among his fellow churchmen. He wrote, scorchingly, "So often the contemporary church ... is an arch defender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent – and often even vocal – sanction of things as they are. "If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the 21st century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust." Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies spoke out against same-sex marriage. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

He mused: "Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world". "My faith is not a platform," said Dean Smith, this week, "but a refuge." Which is a potent reminder of what most people seek from faith, and the faithful. Christian podcast host Shane Blackshear tweeted: "I have a strong conviction that the kingdom will be ushered in not by demanding religious rights/freedom, or rejecting them, but by Christians putting their heads down & quietly, consistently, and unrelentingly loving their neighbours." So now, while conservative Christians are lobbying for protection of their conscientious objection against same-sex marriage, many progressive Christians are wondering if their own churches will allow for conscientious objection for same-sex marriage in their own ranks – if priests would be excommunicated, defrocked or stood down for marrying gay and lesbian couples, or for ordaining or promoting anyone from the LGBTQI community.

In several major denominations, those who believe homosexuality is not a sin have been punished for holding those views, disciplined for expressing them, and have not been accepted as priests or employed as workers. Will the churches allow for internal dissent at last? Loading And for those confused about the place of Christianity in the public square now this vote has passed, it might be time to get back to that old thing, what is it again, that book…. the Bible, in which there are more than 2000 references to poverty and a scant handful to sexuality. It might be time to closely examine the true preoccupations of Jesus (who reserved his harshest words for Pharisees and publicly pious Church leaders) – greed, selfishness, lack of love. It all boils down to love, he said. Funny that. Julia Baird hosts the Drum on ABCTV