Was Jesus Married?

WAS JESUS MARRIED?

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” 1 Timothy 4:7

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations.

Have you seen the commercials for the new Sherlock Holmes series? After signing himself out of a mental hospital, he becomes a consultant for the NY police. What he cannot learn by deduction, he learns from google. He bears only a superficial similarity to the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes from the movies in the 1940s and 50s. The woman who plays Dr. Watson in the new series reminds me even less of the man who played Dr. Watson in the movies. Unlike the Arthur Conan Doyle character, created in the 1880s, the movie Sherlock rode in cars instead of carriages and used a telephone more often than messenger boys.

Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations.

Hawaii 5-0 was a popular TV series in the 70s. The biggest member of the team was Kono. I seem to remember one episode where he was knocking on the door to a small trailer. When no one answered, he began banging on door. The whole trailer shook as he did. When commercials for the new series began a couple of years ago, I was surprised to see that the new Kono was a dainty little wisp of a girl.

Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations. It happens with both fictional and historical figures.

Have you seen the commercial of the man dressed as an aristocrat from the 1500s standing in a speed boat? He is laughing joyfully and waving his crew onward. The advertisers say that people who use their product are happier than Christopher Columbus with speed boats.

In the 1950s and 60s, popular TV shows included the adventures of Kit Carson, Wyatt Earp, and Daniel Boone. Only some of those stories were based on history. The rest were complete fiction. Wyatt Earp, in particular, was modified to make him a better role model, something which seems to be irrelevant to TV people today.

Popular characters tend to be used, reused, and changed for generations. It happens with both fictional and historical figures. It is not a new phenomenon.

In recent days, entirely too much has been made of highly selective quotes from a presentation asking, “Was Jesus Married?” Reports declared the news was “apt to send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship - and beyond.” Professor Karen King of Harvard Divinity School said a scrap of papyrus has been translated to have the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’”

This sensationalism is nothing more than another example of the fact that Popular characters tend to be used and reused for generations. This sensationalism sounds like laying the ground-work for a TV documentary or another fictional novel (and subsequent movie) about Jesus' secret life.