Friday 11/22/14

This week’s LifeTeen Question of the Week comes from Joe Parry. Joe asks:

There has been recent news that Jesus might have had a wife. What impact would that have on our faith?


The idea that Jesus may have had a wife is nothing new. People have been speculating about the life of our Lord for a very long time.

The truth is, there is a lot about Jesus’ life on earth that we just do not really know. If we consider the four canonical Gospels as our sole source of information about the life of Christ, we have some pretty serious gaps. We know that he was born at Bethlehem and that he was visited by the Magi. We know that when he was a young boy he was brought to the Temple and praised by Simeon. He went back when he was twelve and was temporarily forgotten and left behind. After that, we have no details of his life until he is in his early thirties. That leaves two big gaps, one of about ten years, and another of about twenty years. These are not just throwaway years, either. Somewhere between infancy and being left at the Temple at twelve, Jesus realized that he was the Son of God. That is a pretty big thing to have happen. Twelve to thirty would be big years for an ancient Hebrew man as well, since that is when most men would have taken up a trade, bought or built a house, got married, and had a family.
There are a number of non-canonical gospels which “shed light” on these times in Jesus’ life. These non-canonical books are not part of the Bible, nor are they considered sacred or inspired. They tend to contain some pretty strange stories. Some of them tell of a young boy Jesus cursing other children so that they drop dead on the spot, and later reviving them when Mary scolds him. Others tell of Jesus having a wife and children. Despite being named after different apostles, these books are all too new to have actually been written by anyone who would have first-hand knowledge of Jesus’ childhood. Each of these non-canonical “gospels” was excluded from the Bible because it did not fit the criteria for canonicity; typically because what they said was inconsistent with the teaching of the apostles, or because of dubious authorship.

When people think of Jesus possibly having a wife and children, they often think of Dan Brown and The Da Vinci Code. The idea is hardly his own, though. In fact, the main theory of The Da Vinci Code was lifted (or stolen, if you prefer) from the 1983 book Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln. The Da Vinci Code took a relatively boring book about a scholarly theory and turned it into a decently written thriller.

Let’s get one thing perfectly clear: Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, and Brown do not have any solid evidence that indicates that Jesus was married or had any children. What they do have is a set of “What ifs” that fit together. While they do form a cohesive theory, there is no real evidence that any of it is actually true.

It is true that it was very unusual for men in ancient Israel to stay single, but it was not unheard of. There was a group of men in Israel at the time of Jesus’ life who were celibate. They were called the Essenes, and while the Bible never explicitly mentions that Jesus was involved with their group, there is strong Biblical evidence that he associated with them. One such piece of evidence is from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus tells the apostles that as soon as they enter Jerusalem they will see a man carrying a jar of water. They are told to follow him to his house, where they will eat supper. At first, it may seem like a small miracle that Jesus knew that they would encounter a man carrying a jar of water, but it is actually an indicator that Jesus was well known by and friendly with the community of Essenes living in Jerusalem. There was a very specific division of labor in the ancient Jewish community. Women were responsible for fetching water. If a man were carrying his own jar of water, it would most likely mean that he was unmarried. By telling his disciples to follow a man carrying a jar of water, he was leading them to the community of Essenes. He knew that they would take him in because he was likely friends with them.

Now that that’s out of the way, it is time to answer Joe’s question, which I will repeat in case you’ve forgotten it. I know I have.
There has been recent news that Jesus might have had a wife. What impact would that have on our faith?

Very little. The teachings of Christ did not forbid marriage, and the theology of sacramental marriage would not really be affected. The only real change it might cause is a re-examining of the celibate priesthood. One of the main theological reasons (there are a myriad of pragmatic reasons) for the celibate priesthood is that Christ was the model for priests. If there were any real strong evidence that Christ had a wife, the Church would likely have to consider allowing married men to become priests.

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