The Da Vinci Con

Theological Issue: Was Jesus married?

As a real man, it was possible for him to enter into a romantic relationship with a real woman.  But there is no evidence for it in the oldest records of his life (the New Testament).  If it was true there would be no reason for his first followers to hide it.  Also, being a Jew did not require being married.  The Jewish sect known as Essenes, like the one at Qumran, which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, were known to be celebate men.  There just is no historical reason to suppose Jesus was married.

Inconclusive: seems to indicate that Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene, but it does not say where, and it does not indicate what special relationship, if any, he had to her.

"The companion of the [gap in manuscript] Mary Magdalene [gap] more than [gap] the disciples [gap] kiss her [gap] on her [gap]."

They said to him, "Why do you lover her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, "Why do I not love you like her?"

Unreliable: AD 250-300 -- It was written at least 200 years after Jesus lived.

"Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her, to sanctify her, cleansing her by a bath of water and the word.

"This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church."

Jesus 'marriage' to the Church is the reason Matrimony is a Catholic Sacrament. Sacraments are basically effective symbols of grace, and as a symbol, the love between husbans and wives in Christian marriage is a sign of Christ's love for the Church.

Jesus could not partake of symbol (marriage to a woman) if He is part of reality being symbolized (His marriage to the Church).

He could not have been married to Mary Magdalene since He is already married to the Church.

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