I can't believe I didn't find this thread before. This is one of my special interests, so...
@Panda Yes, as a Hebrew man it would have been expected that Jesus be married, and have a family. If you did not do this by the time you were in your early twenties, you could be condemned (turned on basically/cold shoulder, but not stoned). Also, it very well might have been counterproductive for Jesus to be married, because there is evidence that suggests his true mission was not to be The Christ(os), but instead a military leader.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. At that time, to be baptized by someone was to become their follower. This is not supposition. That was the accepted form of acknowledging them as your teacher, and that you were their follower. John's followers believed that he was The Christ, and he continually questioned Jesus about this in the NT. Jesus does not come out and say he is The Christ, which only leads to further unrest in John. Eventually, Salome wants John's head on a platter, because she is granted a wish at the infamous dinner party, and that's what her mother tells her to ask for. Jesus had already become well established in John's fold, and a certain partisan aspect had sprung up. John is thrown into prison, and Jesus never rescues him. For that matter, Herod was only too happy to imprison John and have him killed, because he continually addresses his issue with being "fearful" of John, something he Never says about Jesus. So, with John dead, Jesus can take over. There is also speculation that John's head was a source of actual power, but that's for a discussion about the Knight's Templar if you want to get into it that deeply.
The feast of the loaves and fishes...only men partook of that, and well outside the city, so it is acknowledged by scholars that the purpose might have been to discuss a military coup against the Romans.
It is never clearly stated that Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene on the lips. Some of the text is missing, and that has been the leading supposition on what was once written in that section. He does kiss Judas. Some gnostics believed he did spend the night with the young man, but for reasons including preference. Magdalene could have been the same Mary that annointed his feet with oil, because of a turn of phrase at his death, where it is mentioned the names of the women with whom he always traveled. Annointing with oil was The way a queen bestowed her favor on a chosen male to become her consort (not king). So Jesus is a consort, but doesn't have true power--until John dies. It is supposed that the evening spent with the young man might have been for bisexual interest, but...
I'll throw my own wrench into it. What if it was to complete the cycle followed by pagans? The dying youth/maiden/mother/crone idea, and what if the youth was actually his son by Magdalene, for the sake of the Christian concepts?
Now, this all assumes he was an actual person to begin with, but there are only two historical references to him that were anywhere close to his point of life/death. One is from a man that liked to make up things to sound important, so...(I don't give Josephus much credit). Funny that Pilot supposedly determined if Jesus should die on the cross, after asking the Jews, when so many other women were claiming to be Kings of the Jews at the time, it wouldn't have made sense with the way the Roman judicial system worked at the time, and the meticulous records of the Romans never mention anything about Jesus living or dying.
18 Sep 2012, 11:03 pm
