Could Jesus Have Chosen To Be Married?
An interesting question I will ask: Could Jesus have chosen to be married? It's mostly conjecture, but I am in the mood to consider the possibilities, so here goes:
I do not see anywhere in the scriptures that He had a romantic interest in women. Nowhere.
But the understanding of the incarnation is that Jesus of Nazareth was all God and all man. As a man, He was faced with all the challenges of humanity. He thirsted. He tired. He needed sleep and rest. He felt sorrow, and cried. He laughed and enjoyed others. The Bible tells us: “… we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tested in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.” - NIV
Did Jesus recognize an attractive woman? And, did Jesus ever have sexual urges? Remember He had a real physical body, with real physical desires. And we do not believe it is a sin to have an urge, as long as we do not allow that urge to control us or lead us to ungodly behaviour. So I have to think that Jesus may have thought, at some place in His life, that sex would be a pleasurable experience.
And would the desire for loving feminine companionship have ever crossed the heart of Jesus? I would think that every healthy heterosexual would at least consider such. It is true that some have decided to forego romantic love for the sake of a higher purpose, but at least they have considered it. So I believe, at some time and place, Jesus would have thought about how nice it would be to connect with a woman he loves and finds to be attractive, and to have a long-range and exclusive relationship with her.
Let’s consider some interesting asides:
If Jesus did marry, would that make his wife an “assistant goddess” of some sort?
I would say no. The teachings of Christ indicate that in the afterlife we will not have gender and will not be married: “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” – Matt. 22:30 (NIV)
If Jesus married and had children, would the children be divine, or have supernatural characteristics?
I do not think the body of Jesus, pre-resurrection, was supernatural. It was 100% human. Neither His saliva, sweat, or any other bodily fluids contained miracle-working powers. The church talks about the blood of Jesus saving us from our sins, but of course it is figurative language referring to His death. So, I conjecture, if Jesus fathered children then they would have been simply human children, subject to the same foibles and limitations as you and I. And they would have been born with a sinful nature, needing forgiveness and redemption, just like the rest of us.
The Catholic Church teaches the celibacy of the priesthood, modeled after the life of Christ and His disciples.
I’m still waiting for the Pope to call and ask my opinion on this one!
It’s a big reason why there is such a shortage of Priests today. I’ve already quoted I Cor. 9:5, which declares that the apostles, the Lord’s brothers, and particularly Peter had wives. To marry someone is not a sin. My wife is a great help in my ministry, and having a family enables me to better understand the needs of others.
I think Jesus had the personal right to be married. If He wanted to give His heart to a woman, marry her, have sex with her, and propagate children with her- then that was His prerogative. None of these actions are sinful. My understanding of the incarnation (God became flesh) and deity (Jesus is God) of Christ would not be hindered one bit. Of course, all of this would be subject to the Father’s particular will for Jesus, and personal decisions of Jesus about the subject. Jesus blessed the institution of marriage by His presence at the marriage in Cana of Galilee. But, I think He chose a personal mission that, in His understanding, excluded marriage for Himself. He was “married” to His calling as Saviour of the world.
To further pursue this subject, I do not believe there is one iota of arguable historical or religious evidence that Jesus was married.
The popular book and movie by the same title, The Da Vinci Code, points as evidence to the famous painting of The Last Supper. An admittedly rather feminine-looking person is sitting to Christ’s immediate right. According to Dan Brown, this is Mary Magdalene, wife of Jesus. But I count thirteen personages in the portrait. Jesus is in the center, with five to His right and seven to His left. Obviously these are intended to be the twelve disciples of Jesus mentioned in the scriptures. And portraying male figures with feminine appearance was common of Italian Renaissance painters including Boticelli, Cellini, and Michelangelo. If you look closely at the painting, the third individual to the left of Christ also looks feminine.
If Jesus were married, then it would at least be mentioned in the four gospels or the other writings of the early church. Paul writes to give support for wives traveling with the apostles; “Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?” – I Corinthians 9:5. Surely he would have used Jesus as the greatest example of this right.
Jesus was focused upon His mission and He knew His time was short. He discipled men and women. He healed the sick. He taught the multitudes. And He resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem, and on to the cross, to be "the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world". I believe priorities, not human reason or religious insistence , kept Jesus from being married.
