Da Vinci Code Revisited, Part 2: The Espouse of Jesus

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For Dan Brown, who caused the millions of those who read his novel Da Vinci Code, to raise eyebrows or chuckle, or pull the book closer for a better view, Jesus' espouse was Mary Magdalene.

For me, Jesus having a espouse was a potential possibility - He couldn't marry and He didn't marry. However, had He been given a chance to live longer beyond his age of 33, He could have married and had children.

For most traditional Christians, the mere thought of a espouse for Jesus is a heresy. How great it is that we don't live in Joan of Arc's bygone era of inquisitions anymore, where they used to burn heretics at stake.

That was in a certain past.

Could Jesus have married?

Well, you can raise some more eyebrows, chuckle, or better still, lean forward and perk up reading.

Today's generation is more open to possibilities.

Let's examine Jesus' Marriage, or, more correctly, the potential for it.

Jesus spoke of it in the Parable of the Marriage Feast: Everyone from the Master's choice of guests was invited, but refused to come; They were too busy. Somebody just bought a cow and somebody's getting married, too. Then, out of the master's frustration, he invited even the poor, the blind and the lame...they came, but those who came improperly dressed for the occasion were thrown out to the darkness outside - where there were gnashing of teeth.

Of course, you are very much familiar with this parable.

You're right about whom Jesus referred to as the Master who was getting married - Himself.

That's the Master getting married - Jesus getting married in his own story.

Yes, of course, a parable...

Here's another marriage instance in the scriptures where we can find the Lamb getting married, and who it is obviously referred to: "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. (Rev 19:7)

Well meaning Christians know what or who the Lamb refers to. Behold the lamb who takes away the sins of the world - Jesus.

Sounds familiar?

It was spoken from the mouth of John the Baptist, referring to Jesus. For Catholics, it is part of a hymn, "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on your people..."

We don't know to whom the "wife of the Lamb who has made herself ready" refers to - could be anyone's guess, hypothetically.

If one is after the moral lesson, which is what the parables are supposed to teach us so as to be practically meaningful, you're right again - we'd better be prepared for the coming of the Lord for He comes when it's least expected... a good point to understand. But if we just focus on this point, we neglect another important one - the Lamb of God is getting married upon His Return.

Are there other instances in the Gospel that Jesus referred to Himself as the Bridegroom?

Check these out.... Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. (Matt. 9:15, Mark 2:19, Luke 5:34)

In The Parable of the Ten Virgins, (Matt 51-10) Jesus is the most awaited Bridegroom.

There are more than enough scriptural references for us to relax our raised eyebrows, and understand that the term "Bridegroom" as used in the Bible - is in reference to Jesus.

I don't agree with the idea in the novel that Jesus had an offspring - more so of one that survives today; but that there was that potential had the Lamb had the chance to marry.

Er Nuylan
http://www.thefirstchristmas.info/

Er Nuylan is a teacher with varied interests - from simply walking a dog to History and Literature, Sciences, Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality, but claims expertise to none - the average Joe in the average neighborhood.

The Brothers Karamazov

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Fyodor Dostoevsky was a Russian novelist often acknowledged by critics as one of the greatest and most prominent psychologists in World Literature. Dostoyevsky's literary works explored human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual context of 19th-century Russian society. Considered by many as a founder or precursor of 20th-century existentialism Dostoyevsky wrote, with the embittered voice of the anonymous "underground man", Notes from Underground (1864), which was called the "best overture for existentialism ever written" by Walter Kaufmann. He is known for his other novels like Crime and Punishment, The idiot and the novellas The Gambler and Poor Folk. This review however shall focus on his last and and in my view the most ambitious of all works - The Brothers Karamazov; a work to which he devoted his life and soul but was nevertheless destined to die before its completion.

The Brothers Karamazov is a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, and an exploitation of erotic rivalry in a series of triangular love affairs involving Karamazov and his three sons- the impulsive and sensual Dmitri; the coldly rational Ivan; and the healthy young novice Aloysha. Through the gripping events of their story, Dostoevsky portrays the social and spiritual strivings in what was both a golden age and a tragic turning point in Russian culture.

The Brothers Karamazov is a joyful book. Readers who know what is "about" may find this an intolerably whimsical statement. It does have moments of joy, but they are only moments; the rest is greed, lust, squalor, unredeemed suffering, and a sometimes terrifying darkness. But the book is joyful in another sense: in its energy and curiosity, in its formal inventiveness, in the mystery of its writing. And therefore finally, in its vision.This paradox is not peculiar to The Brothers Karamazov. The manner of the Brothers Karamazov is essentially comic, as opposed to its matter and its humor erupts at the most unexpected moments. It is a comedy of style which, again paradoxically, in no way detracts from the realism "in the highest sense" that Dostoevsky claimed as the principle of his art. The seriousness of the art is not the same as the seriousness of philosophy, or the seriousness of injustice.

This acclaimed last and magnificent level does justice to all its levels of artistry and invention: as murder mystery, black comedy, pioneering work of psychological realism, and enduring statement about freedom, sin and suffering.

It is perhaps apt to end this brief exploration with the words of Dostoevsky himself

"The underground, the underground, the poet of the underground- the feuilletonists keep repeating it as though there were something demeaning in it for me. The little fools. The is my glory, because truth is here." -- Fyodor Dostoevsky in Notes from Underground

About Me

A final year graduate student at Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi India. Broad interests include- Thinking on international policy issues, physics and random philosophizing. Voracious reader and blogger. Check out my website- http://www.arbiit.wordpress.com/.