Exactly - why is the thought that Jesus may have been married - which was Jewish Law for a rabbi - and which, I believe, the prime directive of God "go forth..." and the reason for our existence - why is this idea so repugnant? Is marriage repugnant?
Jesus came to teach us "The Way" to live according to The Father's Plan...
For me, instead of being "shocked" at such an idea, it makes Jesus even more precious to me...
For any of you that think the whole idea is sacrilegious, WARNING: do not read my post # 102
That's not the main problem with the book. The main problem with the book is the lie that the doctrine of the divinity of Christ was invented in the 4th Century as a political power play.
Indeed. Marriage is a mitzvah (commandment) to all Jewish men, not just kohein, Levites, and rabbis. Gen 2:18 "It is not good for man to be alone," provides the basis for that even before the "be fruitful and multiply" .
A unmarried man can be a rabbi (a person learned in Jewish law and tradition). But at 29-30 years of age, it would be considered unusual, if not unnatural for Jesus to be without a wife.
Then there's the reading of haftarah in Luke.
On the Sabbath in Orthodox synagogues, only married men are called to read from the book of Prophets, -- the Haftarah. A adolescent boy might read (whisper along with) from the Torah on their bar mitzvah, but that's aliyah, not haftarah.
The possibilities are:
1. Jesus was married or at least betrothed (In biblical times, the distinction was when the husband took the wife into his home).
2. Luke made up the story in Luke 4:16-20
3. Jesus was in the first ever Jewish-Reformed synagogue.