Archaeologists have discovered, it is believed, a fragment
of an ancient text which suggests that Jesus was married. It is being called
the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, and it contains, among other things, the line:
“Jesus said to them, my wife…”
Pretty ambiguous… but there are a lot of things we assume
about the life of Jesus that come from far smaller clues.
The Vatican, of course, says this is a fake; that someone
took ancient papyrus and wrote ancient Coptic script, in ancient ink and; well,
maybe it is; but what is interesting is the discussion that this debate has
caused. If Jesus did have a wife, so what?
The truth is that the Bible as we know it was stitched
together by committee during the reign of the Emperor Constantine about 300
years after Jesus lived. There were hundreds of Gospels and manuscripts from
the early church, and they chose which ones they liked best. Scholars have
known for some time, for example, that there was an entire popular gospel, the
Gospel of Thomas, that got left out. So it is possible that this is real.
There are other things to the marriage if you read between
the lines as well. For example, Jesus turns water into wine at a marriage feast
after his mother tells him they are running out of wine. Why is this Jesus job?
Why should he care about running out of wine? Maybe it is his wedding.
Then there is the whole Mary, Martha and Lazarus saga which
comes up over and over. Lazarus’ death is the only thing in the Bible that
causes Jesus to cry; perhaps because he was like a brother, or a brother in
law? Perhaps Mary or Martha was Jesus’ wife?
Or how about the fact that Jesus is called “Rabbi” a lot.
Did you know that you cannot be a Rabbi unless you are married? Or the fact
that no matter where the disciples go there is also an entourage of women
following them; would that not be unseemly unless they were their spouses?
I mean, okay, none of this is proof. But the thing is, why
does it matter? What difference does it make one way or another?
I can see that if the Roman Catholic church is using the
bachelor lifestyle of Jesus as the sole reason to keep its priests unmarried
that this may be a bit of an issue for them; but for the rest of us, and let’s
face it, there are not many religious people that say being single is better
than being married; why would it matter?
There is a positive side. Our lives are supposed to be
modelled after the life of Jesus. We are called to follow in his footsteps as
disciples of Jesus. If being in a relationship and being as loving and open and
hopeful and faithful as Jesus is not only possible, but also the norm, that is
good news indeed.
The second thing it might do is to show us that the church,
over 2,000 years of history, just might have got some things wrong. You know
how if you ask 10 people what happened at the scene of an accident you might
just get 10 different versions? Well, there are four Gospels in the Bible which
talk about Jesus life and even those four do not agree. There are at least a
dozen that did not make it in the Bible which muddy the waters even more. Then
there are all of the scholars and Biblical critics, and preachers who over the
years have added their own flourish and twists…
Maybe we need more discussion. Maybe we need more
investigation. Perhaps we need to be less serious in our claims to know
absolute truth. What if we took the time to look at how religious people have
tried over the years to live life the best way possible and tried to do the
same?
I hope he was married. It makes little difference to me if
truth be known, but I like the idea that he fell in love, had arguments about
the way the fish was cooked, and maybe even raised a family.
That is a Jesus who I could understand better. That is a
Jesus who I could try to be more like. And after all, is that not the point?
