John Dekker's Day

9:27AM - Was Jesus ever married?

And, does it matter?

Reading The Da Vinci Code has made me think about this issue. Certainly, there are a couple of pretty good arguments against the theory. For one thing, Scripture is completely silent on the issue - one would think that Jesus having a wife would be important enough for the gospel writers to tell us. Another objection might be that having a wife would not have been compatible with Jesus' singlemindedness about his mission: "A married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided," (1 Cor 7:33).

Yet both of these objections would not apply to Jesus being widowed. Scripture is silent regarding his life from twelve to thirty, and that may well have included a period of marriage. Indeed, most Jewish men were married, so why couldn't Jesus have been married before the period of his public ministry?

There are, however, other issues at stake here - Jesus' humanity and our view of marriage. I'm concerned that as Christians we react in horror to the idea of Jesus being married because we view of marriage as a lesser state of being. Or we fail to consider Jesus as being totally human, complete with sexual desire. These things do not constitute proof that Jesus married, but perhaps ought to make us rethink our reasons for believing he was not.

I don't believe Jesus was ever married - there is not a shred of historical evidence to suggest that he was. But I don't think it's theologically impossible.