Rockland Jewish Family Service

On a blog I visit someone posted this from a different website:

"…John in the second chapter of his book speaks of a wedding at which not only Jesus was present, but also his mother, who would have had to have traveled all the way from Nazareth especially to be there. At this event Jesus was in charge of the wine, a duty usually set aside for the groom, and if this does not make it obvious enough that it was his own wedding he was present at, we have in the sacred record that he was referred to as the bridegroom on this occasion (John 2:1-10).
"The association Jesus had with certain women would have been wholly inappropriate for a single man, but perfectly normal and accepted for a husband (Matt. 27:55, Mark 15:40-41, Luke 23:27-28). In the Greek language there is little distinction between the word woman and wife, and so therefore any (if not all) of those females who accompanied him quite possibly could have been married to him. Martha called him "Master", a title a wife would use to address her husband, and when Mary her sister was in mourning over the death of their brother, Lazarus, she sat in her home until Jesus called her out, just as was the custom that only a husband could call a woman out of her home at such a time (John 11:28). Not only did Christ fulfill the traditions and duties of a typical Jewish husband, but so did his wives, when they anointed him prior to his burial (Luke 24:1,10)"

So I’m wondering, does this really, accurately explain things from Jesus’ time? Was there a specific age by which men had to be married or else? Would Mary really not have gone to the wedding ceremony if it wasn’t to marry off Jesus? Did women really call their husbands "Master"? Were husbands really the only ones who would call women out of their houses like Jesus did to Martha after Lazarus died?

Thanks for indulging my curiosity.

Oh, the website the excerpt is taken from is:

http://gcje.net/married.htm

Thanks for these points. I’m asking because I don’t know, so I was curious. I’m always curious to get cultural background when someone makes claims about a culture that I have no understanding of. Were the Essenes Rabbis too? Because the claim I’ve seen is that a Rabbi should especially be married.

Thanks again.
Jim, thanks for that link — very interesting reading that clarifies a few things.
Thank you, Michelle, a very informative answer. Can you tell me about the Essenes? And was there an expectation that a man be married by a certain age?

I am not too familiar with the Christian Bible, so I can only go from what you wrote and my knowledge of judaism. All Jewish men are obligated to fulfill the commandment of "pru urvu" – be fruitful and multiply. So while all jewish men do not get married – not all are lucky enough to find a wife – all are obligated to try, and not allowed to remain single if they are able to get married. It would be practically unheard-of for a rabbi to be unmarried. Not only because they would be flaunting one of the commandments, but because the role of a rabbi is to adjudicate in matters of Jewish law, and many of those matters can involve family relations. An unmarried man would not be considered qualified to judge in those situations.

Having said all that, there were no rabbis in the time of the Temples. It was a job/role that did not come about until many years later, after the Temple was destroyed. So anyone who claims that Jesus – or anyone else alive during his time – was a rabbi, is misinformed. The word "rabbi" means teacher, and perhaps that’s what the Christian account means. But it would not be the same role performed by rabbis today – and wouldn’t let Jesus off the hook if he actively chose to be a bachelor, which would be going directly against Jewish law.

As far as women calling their husbands "master," that’s a cultural thing and I don’t think we have enough information to know whether that blanket statement is true. There just aren’t that many surviving texts from the time period, and those we have rarely quote the words of women.

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