Jesus did have a bride!

You might have heard the news….Jesus had a wife!  Well, that is not really news, as many over the last 2000 years have tried to make the case of Jesus and Mary Magdalene for example, as well as other versions of this kind of story.  What IS news,  is the discovery of a piece of papyrus, smaller than a typical business card, where the following phrase is noted “Jesus said to them,  ‘my wife’ “.

Even though the actual historian, Dr. Karen King, has noted not to take this as proof of anything, this news was circulated by the media as proof positive that Jesus was married.

A news article I read this morning points to this discovery as a challenge to the ongoing debate of Catholic Church on the issues of religious celibacy. As though this finding could actually be the linchpin that will  unravel the theological understanding of whether a woman could be a priest.  Very naïve!

But here’s where the author of this article and many other news media have failed in their “reporting” –most have fallen short of telling the whole story.  Here it is: Jesus DID have a wife!  Catholics and most Christian churches understand this phrase to mean the wife, or the spouse, as God’s people! 

Ancient depiction of the Royal Couple:
Jesus and his Church, as his Bride

So, let’s not get carried away. Let’s learn to study our faith. Let’s read our scriptures, starting with Song of Solomon (Song of Songs). As Pope B16 noted in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est (2006), this ancient Hebraic book can be interpreted and understood literally and allegorically, pointing out the two halves of true love: The agape love which is a self-giving love and the eros love which receives. In  Song of Songs, we understand Christ, the Messiah, whom God will send, as the lover.  What a beautiful and human way in which God can express his love for us.  Here is one of my favorite verses:

“Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee. Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.  Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck.”

The Church, from the very beginning has understood the references Jesus made to his Church, as being his bride. Jesus used many parables to illustrate. Check out:  John 3:29, Matthew 25: 1-13, Mark 2:19, Luke 5:34, and finally we read in Revelation 21: 9……

“And there came one of the seven angels, who had the vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying: Come, and I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

This little discovery, in my mind only affirms what I understand from Holy Scriptures: an integral teaching in Catholic understanding; as us the Church, as the true spouse of Jesus.  Yes, he did have a wife and it is us!