The Truth behind the DaVinci Code with Martyn Percy and Ian Markham

Seminary Events & Happenings

Was Jesus married?

A key theme in The Da Vinci Code is the claim that Jesus got married to Mary Magdalene and had children. So let us start this course by exploring the claim that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene.

The Historical Jesus
Access to the past is always limited by the sources available to us. It would be great if were able to take a time machine and observe precisely what happened. However, sadly the past comes to us in texts. And we will have many questions about the past that the texts cannot answer decisively. We have to get use to answers that talk about the ‘balance of probabilities suggests the following….

So what are the arguments for and against the marriage of Jesus? Given the consensus of the tradition believes that Jesus was not married, let us start with the arguments against. The first argument is simply that there is no explicit mention that Jesus was married. There is no mention of a marriage in either the canonical gospels or in the so-called Gnostic gospels (more about them later in this article). Second, some scholars argue that Matthew 19:10-12 is a response to criticisms that he was unmarried. Jesus says ‘there are others who have themselves renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven. Let those accept it who can.’ (New English Bible). Carl Olson and Sandra Miesel remark, ‘Although it was uncommon for men not to marry in Jesus’ day, it was not unheard of. Celibacy was not forbidden and condemned, as Langdon claims.’ (See Olson and Miesel in The Da Vinci Hoax p.97. Langdon is a reference to the novel p.245.) It is of course true that Paul recommends celibacy (especially given the imminent end of the world) in 1 Corinthians 7.

What are the arguments in favor? The first is that we shouldn’t be too surprised by the silence of the New Testament. We only know about the wife of the disciple Peter because in Mark 1 there is a reference to his mother-in-law. (See Mark 1:30) The second argument is that it is highly likely that a rabbi would have been married. The third argument is that some of the Gnostic gospels seem to imply that Jesus was married. The crucial passage is found in the Gospel of Philip. It reads:

The Lord went into the dye works of Levi. He took seventy-two different colors and threw them into the vat. He took them out all white. And he said, "Even so has the Son of Man come as a dyer."

As for the Wisdom who is called "the barren," she is the mother of the angels. And the companion of the [...] Mary Magdalene. [...] loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples [...]. They said to him "Why do you love her more than all of us?" The Savior answered and said to them, “Why do I not love you like her? When a blind man and one who sees are both together in darkness, they are no different from one another. When the light comes, then he who sees will see the light, and he who is blind will remain in darkness."
The Lord said, "Blessed is he who is before he came into being. For he who is, has been and shall be." (Taken from the translation from Wesley Isenberg as reproduced at http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gop.html)

The suggestion that Teabing makes in the novel is that, based on this passage, Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Although the Gospel of Philip was written in the late 2nd century, perhaps early third, it nevertheless captures a closeness between Jesus and Mary Magdalene that justifies the claim that they were married. Much of the debate hinges on the meaning of the word ‘companion’ (in greek koinonos). Margaret Starbird in Goddess in the Gospels: Reclaiming the Sacred Feminine believes it has overt ‘conjugal overtones’. Meanwhile opponents claim that the word is used to describe a variety of relationships from the sexual (e.g. marriage partner) to the non-sexual (e.g. co-worker.)

Standing back
These then are the main arguments for and against. Some make the argument more complex. In Holy Blood, Holy Grail, a key text for Dan Brown’s research, the authors suggest that the wedding in Cana (John 2) was in fact the wedding of Jesus. The problem with these arguments is that it is not an obvious reading of the text.

However, there are perhaps three conclusions we can reach.

First, it is possible that Jesus was married. Indeed given how little we know about the life with any certainty, it is perhaps likely.
Second, it is good that Dan Brown has presented in a very popular way the growing literature on Mary Magdalene. It is amazing how many Christians continue to assume that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Pope Gregory the Great (c.540-604) is responsible for the unjustified link. If you go back to the text, there is no reason for such an association. In Luke 7: 36ff, we have the story of the woman who was living an immoral life brought oil of myrrh to Jesus and washed his feet with her tears. The woman is unnamed. In John 11: 2, it reads:
‘There was a man named Lazarus who had fallen ill. His home was at Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus had fallen ill, was the woman who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.’ (NEB)
So we have an unnamed women and the author of John’s Gospel making a link with Mary of Bethany. When Mary Magdalene is introduced, Luke writes:
‘Mary, known as Mary of Magdala, from whom seven devils had come out’ (Luke 8:2 NEB).
Pope Gregory was responsible for merging three (or at two) characters into one. There is no reason to link Mary Magdalene with Luke 7. So the novel is right to suggest that the Christian tradition had distorted the memory of Mary Magdalene. It is also true that the witness of the Gospels is very positive about Mary Magdalene; it is clear that she was a major witness of the resurrection (one of the first instructed to tell others) and she was a close disciple of Jesus. However, the question is: do we think that there is a reason for this suppression? Did the Church want to suppress the true role of Mary Magdalene?
Third, most Christians would agree that there is no overt theological reason why Jesus could not have been married. Orthodox Christians want to claim that Jesus was completely human and completely divine.

The doctrine of the Incarnation requires sinlessness, but not disconnectedness from the human condition. We should presume therefore that Jesus cried as a baby, felt hungry, needed sleep, and presumably recognized the value of intimacy between two humans. None of this is heretical. The evangelical Ben Witherington III (who does not believe that Jesus was married) does concede that ‘there is no reason why Jesus couldn’t have been married.’ (The Gospel Code p.69) For most orthodox Christians, therefore, if Jesus was married, then this would not be a problem for the doctrine of the Incarnation.

Ian Markham

Ian Markham is Dean of Hartford Seminary and Professor of
Theology and Ethics. He has spoken extensively on “The Da Vinci Code” and conspiracy theory.

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