Did Jesus really marry Magdalene?

On September 29 The Sun published a story with an implication Jesus Christ had a wife who is believed to be Mary Magdalene.

A previously unknown 1,700-year-old fragment of papyrus is said to quote Jesus referring to a ‘wife’.

The excerpt, written in ancient Egyptian Coptic, reads: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife — she will be able to be my disciple’.” It appears to add: “I dwell with her.”

The subject of Jesus marriage to Magdalene has remained a question that evokes different emotions and opinions among theologians. The subject, associated with non-canonical gospels, remains a contentious academic debate. However, to me, the biggest question would be ‘did Jesus had an intimate relationship with Magdalene, basing on biblical evidence or other sources?’

In Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code novel, he alleges Jesus was married to Magdalene and they had a child together. A truth which according to him was covered by the Church for self-serving purposes.

A recent research carried on ‘belief net’ showed 19 per cent of the respondents believed Jesus was married. This means there is a percentage which buys the idea.

According a Christian theologian, Dr Mark Roberts, those who claim the earliest Christians conspired to hide information because it confirmed the fact Jesus wasn’t divine forget the supposed conspirators often gave their lives because they believed Jesus to have been divine. Would they have died for something they knew was a lie?

Jesus and his culture

The New Testament appears to be silent on Jesus marital status. It does not at any point state whether He was married or not. However it speaks of Jesus relatives. For instance, it speaks of His father, mother and siblings. Jesus is spoken as a son, brother but not a husband or a father.

William E Phipps’ Was Jesus Married? The Distortion of Sexuality in the Christian Tradition claims the silence on Jesus marital status suggests He was married. Phipps adds that every Jewish man in Jesus’ times did marry, especially rabbis (teachers).

Jesus the son of Joseph grew up in a culture that He acknowledged and respected. This raises the question, what happened when he came of age, where the culture demanded he marries? Did he obey it?

According to first century Jewish writers Josephus and Philo, some men in the time of Jesus remained celibate by choice. Essences were a group of apocalyptic Jews who eagerly waited for God’s intervention in history and did not marry, by choice. Both Philo and Josephus didn’t completely accept the Essence’s perspective of women but agree they, and Jesus, shared the apocalyptic view of anticipating the coming of God’s kingdom.

The Essences rejected pleasure as evil and neglected wedlock.

The Essences thought that women had negative impact on men.

Unusual relationship

Unlike other Jewish teachers, Jesus had a good close relationship with women, many of whom were his followers (Luke 8:2-3). Among them was Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna, who together helped to support Jesus and his disciples financially. But there is no New Testament Scripture which suggest Jesus was married to any of these.

Magdalene is first mentioned in Luke 8:1-3 and throughout there is no mention of any unusual relationship between Jesus and her. She is again mentioned among women who observed the crucifixion of Jesus in Mark 15:40. On the Easter morning, Magdalene, with a couple of female companions, go to the tomb of Jesus only to find it empty. She, according to John 20, encounters Jesus near the tomb and goes to announce His resurrection to the disciples.

Magdalene is associated with a prostitute who bathed and anointed Jesus feet in Luke 7: 36-50, but there is no connection in Scripture that links the two as man and wife.

If Jesus and Magdalene had been married, then we should have expected Him who have entrusted her into the care of the beloved disciples at the cross, just as He did with His mother (John 19:27). The absence of Jesus sense of responsibility strongly suggests He and Magdalene were not married.

According to Dr Muzammil Saddiqi, an Islamic Scholar, even the Qur’an does not indicate Jesus to have been married.

I therefore agree with theologians’ believe that the authenticity of the fragments which talk of Jesus marriage is questionable.

{Rev Dr Martin Olando, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Bishop Hannington and Kenya Methodist University, Mombasa}

Saitoti copter crash theories confusing

Justice Kalpana Rawal-led commission of inquiry into the chopper crash that ended the lives of two ministers and four police officers has had its fair share of conflicting theories on what might have caused the crash.

Among the theories brought forward are that the pilots were not qualified, the chopper was not serviced by qualified personnel and now that a noxious gas may have poisoned the pilot, but, amazingly, the others were not affected by the same gas.

All these just confuse Kenyans the more on what actually caused the crash. If this trend goes on, then everyone can guess the final findings of the tribunal.

It is sad that, every witness who appears before it seems to have own version of direction of events that we are expected to believe. I fear this may just be yet another waste of public resources on commissions that never give results.

{Motari David, Nairobi}

Mudavadi claims on chaos insincere

Political seasons come with queer claims, but it turns weird when politicians want to ride on perceived citizens’ ignorance for selfish political turnover.

Deputy Premier and presidential aspirant Musalia Mudavadi returned home from abroad with interesting claims: loading on Kenyans’ shoulders the responsibility of the post-election violence of 2008.

He wants us to own up responsibility over the chaos!

I compare Mudavadi’s sentiments to those of US Republican presidential candidate Romney on taxes.

Even if we knowingly or unknowingly took part in the mayhem and we deserve a date with the courts as he claimed, it is wrong for him to suggest the return of the four prominent Kenyans facing ICC trials at The Hague as suspected sponsors of the chaos.

Mudavadi should get more serious on this one.

{Robert Amalemba, Kakamega}

Yes, let’s be on alert

Kenyans should take terror alerts serious. The public should be ready to report any suspicious characters in any part of the country to authorities for action. The key aspect in our success in fight against terrorism is cooperation between us, the citizens, and police officers.

Hotels and lodge management, public service vehicles’ drivers, social hall operators and church leaders should introduce means of screening and identifying the people they attend to everyday.

{Festus Kipkenei, Maseno University}

The roadblocks to women leadership

Inadequate voter education, cultural beliefs and political patronage are to blame over low numbers of  women seeking elective leadership.

Following a deadlock on the one-third gender rule, many opinions have emerged about women’s capacity to help avert the looming constitutional crisis. The Parliament is deeply divided on constitutional amendment Bill which is supposed to unlock the gender rule deadlock.

It is reported women have shown little interest in solving the stalemate — they are reluctant to vie for some elective positions. They are just on the waiting bench to be nominated. The question is: what hampers women’s pursuit to political leadership?

As mentioned earlier, inadequate voter education, political patronage and cultural beliefs are major bottlenecks that hinder women’s quest for leadership positions. Since the Constitution provides for the post of women representatives in each county, may women have shown interest in these posts and given other elective seats a wide berth.

This has resulted into so many misconceptions on the meaning and functions of women representatives. Many believe women representatives are going to be elected to represent specifically women matters hence the notion women representatives will be elected by women because it is a ‘women seat’.

Party and tribal euphoria also scare away women from aspiring elective seats, especially when influential, violent and rich men ­­— who are also tribal chiefs — have interest in them.

Patriarchal tendencies in our society are also to blame. Many people still hold on to the archaic belief women cannot lead. The public is seemingly not ready to elect women to crucial positions.

The Government, NGOs and civil society groups should step up civic education on the importance of inclusion of women in the next government. The electorate should de-colonise the mind and shun judging the ability of political aspirants based on gender.

{Vivere Nandiemo, Ikerege}

Feedback

Address learning hiccups in public school pupils

I agree with studies and The Standard education writer Wachira Kigotho (October 3 edition) that it is shameful that some primary school pupils still graduate without basic learning skills.

As Unesco puts it, pupils should acquire the basic language, numeracy and writing skills within the first two to three years of primary learning. Therefore, there is no reason why some should get to Class Eight without these skills.

Something is terribly wrong and Education minister Mutula Kilonzo and other stakeholders should be worried and embark on a mission to find out why it is so and how we can come out of the situation.

Again, the ministry must ‘harmonise’ learning among pupils in private and public schools.

Fidelis Kavinya, Thika

Recent studies have shown that 20 per cent of children complete primary school without having learned how to read and write or count, skills that should be obtained in the first two years of schooling.

How do you explain that a child spends eight years in primary without acquiring basic learning skills despite increased investments in the education sector?

This is especially evident in public schools where a class contains more than 62 pupils with one teacher required to attend to all of them. This is the more reason why the Government should employ more teachers and pay them well.

How do we expect to improve economy when, in the past decade, we may have produced about 1.5 million illiterates?

Mutula should not to rest until the quality of education in public schools is improved. Let the gap between learners from rich and poor social backgrounds be bridged.

Anjeo Cynthia, Kericho