The hooking (up) of Jesus

What is it with folks always trying to hook up Jesus? This week brought us yet another discussion on the matrimonial status of the man widely believed to also have been the Son of God and Savior of the world. [See statistics compiled by the Pew Forum]

Itty bitty ancient Post-it note?

This is not the first time that purported evidence has been put forth to marry off The Christ. Most famously - outside of academia anyway - is Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. I recall when Brown's book first appeared on the scene (2003) and have enjoyed watching the resultant film several times. I also have a book that dismantles the fictional foundation of The Da Vinci Code. Can people really hold up a work of fiction as proof that Jesus was married?

What is bloviatingly referred to as The Gospel of Jesus' Wife is an ancient fragment of papyrus containing text that has been translated to read:


"'... not [to] me. My mother gave to me li[fe] ...'"
"The disciples said to Jesus, '..."
"deny. Mary is worthy of it" (Or: "deny. Mary is n[ot] worthy of it")
"...' Jesus said to them, 'My wife...'"
"... she will be able to be my disciple ..."
"Let wicked people swell up ..."
"As for me, I dwell with her in order to ..."
"an image"
"my moth[er]"
"three"
"forth which ..."

Not much to go on there. And certainly nowhere near enough to say, "See, Jesus was married!"

Christianity is based on some pretty fundamental principles. One of those is why Jesus was here. What was Jesus' mission statement? Luke 19:10 quotes Jesus:

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

By all accounts, that includes Mary Magdalene. Which, in fact, could be another possible meaning of the papyrus' translated phrase, "deny. Mary is worthy of it" (Or: "deny. Mary is n[ot] worthy of it"), speaking of whether Mary - or by extension any of us - was worthy of salvation.

Jesus was also pretty clear in some statements he made about family - both through is actions and his words.

Earlier in the Gospel of Luke, a twelve-year-old Jesus ditched his parents, not to experience all the fun the big city (Jerusalem) had to offer, but to dialog with scholars at the Temple. Not finding Jesus in their caravan, Mary and Joseph returned to Jerusalem and confronted young Jesus about this seemingly disrespectful act, "And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?""

Definitely not your ordinary boy...

In another example that seems to minimize the importance of earthly relationships, Jesus is talking to a crowd of people and someone interrupts to say that His mother and brothers are outside [Mark 3:32-35] and wish to see him. Jesus' reply?


And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."

At the root of the issue, why is it important that Jesus be married, or not? Back in the day, it was pretty much unheard of for a young Jewish man to not be married. But that doesn't mean it was completely unheard of; the Essenes and others were well known to be celibate.

Following this link will take you to an interesting article that delves into some of the previous extra-biblical assertions of Jesus' wedlock.

The fact is, we don't know for sure that Jesus was - or wasn't - married. Biblical scholarship supports Jesus' bachelorhood. He was here for much more important things than marriage and, I believe, to continually chip away at the subject lessens the importance of what we should be studying regarding His time on earth.

Still, have at it folks. If spirited, scholarly discussion regarding our Savior's marital status floats your boat, no one is going to stop you. And on the other side of the fence are all those who think Jesus and the whole Savior thing are an unnecessary myth and will eventually be proved wrong.

For their sake, I hope that Christ includes them in the ultimate wedding party.

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NT, OT or no T?

Have you ever noticed how people in the public square are often offended when someone walks up and wants to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them, or even just talk about Jesus. And how they are even more offended if someone walks up to them and explains how if they do not repent (turn away from) their sins they will go to Hell?

OT: All those who reject Jesus are in for a hot time...

I've had people quote the Bible back to me, "Judge not lest ye be judged," [Matthew 7:1] or "Your prayers should be in private," [Matthew 6:5-6] as rebuttals for me sharing my faith with them or trying to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Both of the verses above are from what we call The Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus was teaching a large group of people. The Pharisees were likely the target for both of these particular verses. Jesus frequently held up some of their practices as examples of what not to do when worshiping God. However it's a stretch to use this one passage in Matthew 6 to tell Christians, "You can never pray in public." I believe that Jesus was cautioning people instead to not pray 'over the top' - as the Pharisees were well known for going on and on with their prayers, loudly and with lots of flowery church language in an effort to demonstrate their righteousness. He (Jesus) had similar issues with the professional mourners while en route to Lazarus' tomb.

If you read the Bible and think about the events and the context in which Jesus was teaching, He was concerned that our righteousness was being measured by what was on the outside - not what was on the inside; which to me is different than Jesus just preaching a bunch of instructions that people two thousand years later could use as a list of do's and don'ts.

NT: Jesus is the way

Of course, if you've ever had discussions with friends or strangers about their eternal destiny, you've likely come across the sentiment that the Old Testament (OT) is too harsh and that the New Testament (NT) is all about God's Love - not about you having a frank discussion that might result in changed hearts and lives. Maybe we all need to wear little name tags that have OT, NT or No T on them so that everyone knows where everyone else stands...

I'm no Bible scholar. I don't think of myself as some kind of a Holy Roller. I don't stand on street corners shouting at cars as they drive by and I don't handle snakes [Mark 16:18] or other things that mainstream folks might categorize as extreme. That's between God and me. But make no mistake, the Bible is very clear that believers need to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone.

Some of you may be rolling your eyes and sighing, or even getting offended anew that Christians must be so...so...pushy.

No T: Everyone's a winner!

I guess that means that it's okay for me to roll up on you and tell you about the furniture sale at that place that's been going out of business for the last three years - but not tell you about something that could bring you true joy? It's acceptable to spam you with invites to Tupperware parties and fantasy football leagues or corner you at work to donate to little Suzy's fund raiser for 5th grade graduation - but it's against the rules to forward an invite to a Christian music concert or church block party?

There's not some secret building where we all wear hooded robes and chant unintelligible words and sign our names in blood, swearing that we will do our best to aggravate anyone on the planet with our belief systems.

I'll agree that there are some OT folks out there who believe that the time for quiet chit-chat is past. To them it's obvious that the world is headed to Hell in a hand basket and IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP PEOPLE!! In modern terms, they are rocking it Old School - or more accurately Old Testament.

I've been reading Ezekiel lately and I have to tell you, I would not have wanted to be that guy. Ezekiel was an OT prophet starting around 593 BC and was selected by God to bring the bad news to Jerusalem, Judea, Egypt and just about everyone else in the neighborhood. But spare a thought for poor Ezekiel; here's what God told him in Ezekiel 33:7-9 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul."

In other words, if Ezekiel didn't give the people God's 411 - it was going to be on his head, or more accurately his soul.

This is about where the God is a big meany folks will be chiming in. Go ahead...I'll wait.

In my eleven or so years as a Christian, it seems like we're broken down into three categories:

1. OT: Old Testament, fire and brimstone, turn before you burn communicators
2. NT: New Testament, free gift of salvation, Jesus is the Way, He loves you communicators
3. No T: No Testament, it doesn't matter how, or even if, you seek God - everyone gets to Heaven communicators

At the end of the day, there really isn't a big difference between OT and NT. Just like we have difference parenting strategies for our kids, God has always had different parenting strategies for His. We can moan and groan about how God does things - just like we moaned and groaned when we were spanked, grounded, had toys taken away, made to do chores, etc. by our parents. 


You can be OT or you can be NT as you feel God's leading; but No T walks a dangerous line which basically says, "I know more about God's plans that God does. If God is love I just know He wouldn't punish good people like that."


Even The Artist Once Again Known as Prince admits forever is a mighty long time.

But hey, I'm not here to judge you for being OT, NT, No T or none of the above. But as Christians, just don't hate us for doing what our Father has asked us to do. My personal prayer is that when I do talk to others about Jesus, share my personal testimony, or try and pass along what God has spoken to me through His Word, I'll be sensitive to others while I'm doing it. By the same token, I'm not going to say the OT folks are wrong in the way they represent - after all, if God has told them to do it at peril of their souls, I'm not going to get in the way of their obedience.

What do you think?

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