Written in the 4th century AD, 150 years after the crucifixion, Jesus’ little secret may be out. Or not? (reuters)

Sacre Bleu!  Has this little piece of papyrus ripped a page out of the 2000-year-old Catholic story of misogyny?

Has the Vatican been wrong all along? Did Jesus embrace the marriage of priests and the ordination of women? Well, some women think so and they are devote Christian scholars who are more interested in yanking the Catholic Church out of the dark ages then being subjugated to stifling church dogma.

Recently, Karen King a professor at the Harvard Divinity School revealed a Coptic papyrus fragment that quotes Jesus as saying “my wife.” Wow! That’s news. But it didn’t have a lot of “legs” in the 24/7 news cycle and yet, it has the potential to open up new horizons – at least discussions – about women and the Catholic Church. And wherever men lord it over women. This certainly has been a good day for women and a not-so-good day for the Pope and his misogynist cabal. If Jesus had a wife – maybe Mary Magdalene – and she was also one of his disciples … well, it sure raises a few eyebrows and questions:

  • Did Jesus believe women were as important as Peter and the rest of the apostolic gang?
  • Is that why Mary Magdalene is sitting next to Jesus in Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Last Supper?
  • Does this bring down the Catholic Church’s wall of ignorance that forbids women from the priesthood and demands that priests are celibate?
  • Will this stop the Vatican from pursuing its archaic denigration of women?
  • Does this mean that the Bible – or at least many parts of it – is as fictional as Dan Brown’s bestselling novel, The Da Vinci Code?
  • Will this discovery lead to releasing priests into the world of women, wives and their own children? And perhaps mitigate much of the unnatural predatory practices toward other people’s children?
  • See more questions.

What’s a banquet without your wife at your side? Maybe Leonardo Da Vinci read the papryus before creating the painting? Now, the Last Supper becomes even more seminal.

Shake the faith?

What’s wrong with Jesus dining out with his wife and friends? It doesn’t have to shake a person’s faith. Because if you have faith, then you have it and no amount of scholarly findings should matter. But if you’re more of a church-going, Bible-thumping, blowing-in-the-wind type of follower (e.g., Rick Santorum, Ralph Reed Jr., Robert Jeffress, Pat Robertson, et al.), than this might be the time to start screaming out anti-blasphemous curses and sticking pins in facsimiles of the female Catholic scholars who interpreted the papryus. How dare they question the very essence of the platform on which you have built your career and made your fortune. Quick, to the ramparts, Rome is under siege.

Relax, keep the faith

Don’t lose faith; find insight in knowledge. It’s up lifting. Obviously, Jesus sleeping with the “enemy” is not a given – yet. Of course, it will never be accepted by the Holy See because it would cost too much to financially support all those wives and children that priests would welcome into their lives. But just the same, what a “Sermon on the Mount,” “Easter Morning,” “Lazarus from the Dead,” moment this could be. Not a miracle, just an intellectual breakthrough – an anathema in the Catholic Church but still quite refreshing. Watch this 2 1/2 minute video and keep the faith. Or not.