As the Da Vinci Code movie approaches, Catholics will be asked what seems a difficult question to answer: why couldn't Jesus have been married?
I've heard many answers to this question, but none are close enough to a sound-bite to work very well. Perhaps this might serve:
Jesus told the Sadducees, "At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). Where God is, there is heaven. Jesus, both God and man, would not marry any individual human person in the human sense precisely because such an act would mean the person He married had, indeed, be given in marriage in heaven.
Thus, affirming that Jesus could marry in the human sense indicates He lied when He spoke to the Sadducees. Worse, such an affirmation denies His divinity.
Note how many Protestant preachers have no particular problem with Jesus marrying...
4 comments:
"Where God is, there is heaven." Interesting point which leads to the question - so, that means there must be births in heaven as well? I would use the stronger argument that seems to be more "...if you can avoid it, it is better" arguments against marriage than you can find directly for marriage in the New Testament.
Birth is a condition extrinsic to the person - it is simply a geographical movement.
Marriage, on the other hand, inextricably binds the person in a covenant oath. It is a condition which affects the intrinsic being of the person.
His disciples left behind their families to follow Him, so wouldn't it be a wee bit hypocritical to be toting around Mary Magdalen as a spouse? I think the apostles would have been a bit skeptical if this were the case.
st. jimbob, you make an excellent point. Which is undoubtedly why you are sanctus and I'm just me... :)
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