Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Jesus Wife Disciple

Jesus Wife Disciple

If you Google search the key words in the title you will see a flood of controversy regarding a scrap of papyrus that dares use the words “Jesus” and “Wife” in close context. The Vatican calls it a forgery and many indignant biblical scholars go to great length to debunk the fragment of Coptic writing. The professor who announced the finding is a scholar from a prestigious University, and well respected in her field. Two leading subject matter experts confirm the authenticity of the scrap-sized shred.

Now it might be a forgery. It is certainly taken out of a missing context, which credible sources believe derives from a manuscript written several hundred years after Christ’s death. Until proven to be a fake it is a piece of physical evidence. The problem it represents is that it reopens the controversy, made sensational by Dan Brown’s The Di Vinci Code… That Christ was married, purportedly to Mary Magdalene.

My belief in Christianity is not tied to a Virgin Birth, Resurrection from death, Miracles or other claims that run contrary to a healthy skepticism and basic common sense. Rather it is based upon the Good News of Christ’s message. In my view the case for Christianity should be made upon its message and not a selective number of sanitized manuscripts arbitrarily chosen for inclusion in the New Testament. The most amazing thing about Christianity is what Christ had to say. If Jesus was married or had a girlfriend, it doesn’t matter to me. Further I accept he was, “The Son of God.” This is not much of a stretch because I believe that the spirit of our creator resides in all living things.

So even if a big chunk of God was hardwired into Jesus there is still no escaping the fact that he was a man born of woman. It follows then that he had a human’s desires and appetites. Since all men are not the same he realized that some would be better able than others to resist the desire to fornicate so he left the door open on marriage. Celibacy encouraged a disciple to concentrate on spreading the gospel rather than concurrently taking on the distractions of a wife and family. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, it was a challenge he offered to his disciples, a laudable goal that stopped short of being a mandate.

The Catholic Church made it a requirement and we can see what often happens when someone tries to suppress the sex drive. Simply stated there are side effects. Unsatisfied they find outlet through other avenues offered by the flesh. Since Jesus was a man, what would Christians prefer to believe? That he was a man with a man’s appetite, that he was a homosexual or perhaps that he was compelled by a darker perversity? Take your pick. We have two thousand years of evidence showing that the priesthood can’t handle celibacy. Those who try simply can’t suppress the urgency that drives men and women to a sexual outlet.

Personally, I think Jesus kept Mary Magdalene around for reasons other than her incisive mind. It is known that she helped finance his ministry, was a devoted follower, who stuck with him through thick and thin. She was extremely “Loved” by our Savior and on occasion the two were seen kissing. Further that the other disciples were jealous of her influence. For two thousand years the Catholic Church has used the threat of heresy and tried to suppress everything that deviated from the party line and despite all this there are still bits and pieces that keep cropping up, suggesting that Jesus might have had a normal attraction for women. When this happens those who would dare suggest such blaspheme are attacked for implying that the dogma of Christianity is not as airtight as the Vatican would have us believe. Why is Jesus humanity so hard to understand and deal with?