By The Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman
Ah, the famous papyrus fragment has popped up again [“Jesus’ ‘Wife’ Papyrus is Likely Ancient,” published April 11, 2013 in the StarTribune]. Did Jesus have a wife or didn’t he? Could she be a disciple? After all, on the tiny, ink-splotched scrap of paper, dauntlessly unveiled in 2012 by Harvard Divinity School Prof. Karen King, the words are [more or less] clear: “My wife” and “She will be able to be a disciple.” Now, other Ivy League universities such as Brown, Columbia, and MIT, are weighing in—No. Yes. Maybe. Yet, instead of debating which [Biblical]women might have been real, let’s consider those whom Christians across the world know to be real.
Real Women of the Bible
Take Mary and Martha of Bethany, described in the [Gospel of John]. They were among Jesus’ closest friends, the ones he returned to often. There, in their little Bethany home some two miles from Jerusalem, Mary poured expensive oil of spikenard (then worth about a year’s salary) over his feet, drying them with her hair — infuriating the disciples, but offering Jesus extraordinary spiritual companionship.
It was there, too, that busy Martha was chastised by Jesus for being “distracted with many things.” Yet one wonders if Jesus would have felt so welcome if the windows weren’t clean, the food not plentiful, the bedding not fresh and the hearth not warm. After all, with no cellphones or mail, notice would not have preceded a visit from Jesus and 12 of his male friends. Surely, Martha needed a little help in the kitchen, and Peter, James, and John were probably not going to don aprons.
Connected to Jesus
Then there was Mary Magdalene, she of the tortured press over the years, described as a prostitute for centuries in popular history — yet not in scripture. Instead, she was “cured of seven demons” by Jesus, and she was the first person — male or female — to see Jesus after His resurrection, when the disciples were in hiding.
The first word from the angel at the tomb: “Woman.” The first word Jesus said after the resurrection: “Woman.”
The Big Question
Was Jesus married? [I really] Don’t think so. Scripture doesn’t mention it. What if he was? Scandalous? [There were many more scandalous] things Jesus did in his time. The issue of marriage is not a deal breaker, at least for many of us. He was human and divine, after all, not just divine.
Here’s what was really scandalous: calling us [women] friends, conversing with us (ie, the longest recorded conversation Jesus had with anyone was with a woman*, healing us, and our loved ones, driving out our demons, saving us from being stoned on charges of adultery, and—oh yes—overcoming evil and making eternal life possible. {That’s] Scandalous enough—at least for me, and about two billion Christians around the world. †
The Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman is a Minnesota-based Episcopal priest who writes extensively on women of the Bible. She is the author of four books, including “The Scarlet Cord: Conversations With God’s Chosen Women.” She is currently working on a new book on women of the Bible, which will be released in September 2014.
This article has been adapted from one that originally appeared in the Commentaries section of the StarTribune, on April 17, 2014. It can be accessed at http://www.startribune.com/)