Friday, September 21, 2012

And now in a scene right out of Sixteen Candles...

Jake Ryan knocks on the door, only to be told (by Long Duck Dong), that she got married.
The unforgettable Jake Ryan (married?)

Married?
Married.
Married?
Married!
Good Stuff. You can watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGJfruLLiyk

But I digress.  The other day, the news reported that an historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School had identified a scrap of papyrus on which is written, in Coptic (a fourth century greek language), “Jesus said to them, `My wife ...’ ” 

Is it so incredible to think that Jesus might have been married?  Was he not a man?  Did he not live among us? Breathe, eat, sleep, God forbid... poop, like the rest of us?   And why should we think he didn't also fall in love, get married even?  

I realize that every religion picks and chooses portions of scripture around which to build their business model (yes, that's what it is, it's a business with a model, just like anything else.  That doesn't make it bad, or good, by the way.  It just is).  What is the travesty in considering that Jesus may have had female disciples?  


That maybe there was something to that theory in "The Divinci Code" - that right there in the painting of The Last Supper, was a woman, seated at the table, among the 12 Disciples chosen by Jesus.  Well, surely, he was born of Mary, right?  She's pretty spectacular, no?  And if there is a God, and He is, in fact, Man, as we understand that term to mean, well then, he came from somewhere, did he not?  And let me tell you folks, he sure as heck didn't come from another man.  I guess you could argue that if Jesus can be born of a virgin, then God can be born of... what? Nothing?  
It's a crap shoot, I'm telling ya, because we just don't know.  We can all proselytize till we're blue in the face, but: We. Just. Don't. Know.  Ya know? 

Ah, but what we do have is Faith.  Can't see it.  Can't smell it, touch it, hear it even.  But, it's there, man.  Because if there is one sense we can engage to find faith, it's touch... because we can feel it.  

Faith that what?  What's important here?  Do you need the knowledge that God is a man to have faith? Do you need to know for a fact that no way, no how, did Jesus allow women at that table? Is that what you need to believe?  Or is it the idea that something much greater than you - God - as we call Him - is out there...somewhere.  That He holds you in his palm.  That He loves you as you love your own children. That in times of great sorrow, great need, great joy even, you can call out to Him, pray to Him, talk with Him?  

Does it matter, really, whether or not the people around him that last night of his life on earth could pee standing up?  Does it?  

Do you think in your heart that if Jesus promised to devote all he had to God, that he couldn't possibly love someone here on earth, too?  'Cause I don't.  Not for a minute.  It's part of what really gets me about the Catholic church.  And I can say that because I was raised Catholic.  Baptized into the faith, received all the necessary sacraments, the whole ball of wax.  And it's how I raise my own kids, too.  Not because I need them to have some organized religion making rules for them.  But because I believe they need a foundation from which to someday be able to make their own decisions re: religion.  And, more importantly, I want them to have Faith.  That illusive creature, that helps them through the bad times, picks them up off the floor, crying, bleeding, broken, and helps them get on with the business of living.  I want them to know that there is something greater out there than themselves.  That they are loved.  That there is good in the world.  

But I digress (again).  I suppose the knowledge that Jesus really did have a wife would change the whole foundation on which the Catholic church was built.  Why, they might even have to allow priests to get married and let women become priests. 

I don't know a whole lot about the business of religion, but I do know that I can sit in church and listen to a man (the priest) speak eloquently about our God, about Jesus and his disciples and feel that faith.  But I'll tell ya what, I could just as easily sit in that pew and listen to a female speak to me about my God.  What difference does it make?  Didn't God create EACH OF US in his OWN LIKENESS?  Well, then, I ask you, does it matter?  

We were having this discussion at dinner last night, my kids and I.  And my oldest was telling me about how they discussed this news of Jesus possibly having a wife in his religion class.  Connor was adamant that it does not matter.  But he also struggles with the idea of faith.  "How do you know He's real," he was saying, "if you can't see Him, talk to Him..." As he was saying this, my daughter (age 7) piped up, saying in her sweet voice, "But you can talk to God, Connor.  Like when you're feeling sad, or you need help with something..."

Leave it to the little ones, right? Truer words, my friends... God love her ; )

But I'm very curious, what's your take on this bit of news? 

3 comments:

  1. Hi Beth,
    Jesus being married doesn't affect my faith mechanism. No matter how much scripture we find that points to him being married, we will never actually know for sure. Even the idea that he came back from the dead, or that he was born of a virgin isn't essential to my faith. I think what is important to take away from Jesus' life are his teachings and his example. The example of how he was persecuted and suffered for his beliefs. He was the most innocent victim. He showed us our greatest weakness, and we didn't even realize it. Most of us still don't. Jesus dying on the cross wasn't a magical act that instantly saved and redeemed humanity. The wrong in WHY he died was what he was trying to convey. God's plan, in my opinion. Victimization is what is wrong with humanity. If jesus was married... then he was married. He also probably wasn't the good looking, white guy we see in pictures. But that's just my opinion. This is still an important discovery. Important for women in traditional christianity... like catholicism. Priests being celibate would seem ridiculous. And if a woman, or women were disciples... Then hell yes, catholicism can't say shit to women wanting to be priests. If anything, Jesus being married and having women disciples will make him look BETTER, and more attractive to the ever more liberal world of tomorrow.

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  2. Oh...I could write a million words here...but I won't. You know what I believe. I have a deep faith that no one can shake, but as for the Catholic Church...that's another story. Someday, all of those men will "get it" and give up trying to make women feel like second class citizens. Some day all of those men will understand that power was not the message of Jesus. Someday those men will see that women are not to be feared, but treated as true equals. Some day...not in my life time, but some day. I believe that I was made in the image and likeness of God, and that God holds me in the palm of Her hand...always.

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  3. I think that that far back in history, we are interpreting other people's interpretation, which is an interpretation from another group/culture, and so on.

    You should check out John Prine's song "Jesus: The Missing Years." It might give you some insight. Or at least a chuckle.

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