Jesus as Bastard

Rev. John W. Sweeley, D.D.
d513adrian@hotmail.com

There is evidence in the Gospels that there was a cloud over Jesus' birth. The idea of supernatural impregnation by the Holy Spirit of Mary makes a good myth, but for the rational person it is only myth when confronted with the reality of the biology of conception. Even with the best efforts of the church to impose this belief on the faithful, a Renaissance artist expressed his disbelief by painting the Annunciation with a large funnel in the clouds, its long tapered end reaching earth and disappearing under Mary's dress.

The Gospel of Matthew states that Joseph was preparing to divorce a pregnant Mary, to whom he was betrothed but with whom he had not consummated the marriage (Matthew 1: 18-25). It is to be noted that at this time in Judaism a betrothed couple was considered married even though they lived in their own parents' houses, had no sexual contact, and no marriage ceremony had been performed. Thus, if Joseph believed Mary was pregnant by another man the only way he could end the betrothal was to divorce her. It is quite clear in Matthew that Joseph had no doubt that Mary was pregnant by another man, the child within her was not his, and that under Jewish law the child to be born was a bastard.

One may ask, if Joseph truly loved Mary, why didn't he just marry her and claim the child to be his? The answer to that question is the real reason for Joseph's intended divorce. A "mamzer," or bastard, and any descendants of that bastard to the tenth generation would be prohibited from becoming part of the Jewish community (Deuteronomy 23:2). This meant that a bastard, male or female, and all of that bastard's progeny for ten generations could never marry a Jew or become a part of the Jewish community.

In the Gospel of John the Pharisees ask Jesus, "Where is your father?" (John 8:19). Many scholars believe that this is a question regarding Jesus' paternity. If Jesus were a bastard, anything he said or did could easily be discredited and would not be believed because he would not have been a part of the Jewish community. Not only he but his very words and deeds would be illegitimate. However, other scholars caution that not too much attention be placed on this verse or its presumed historicity. This is because John often uses the literary technique of making a theological proclamation in which he creates situations and statements rather than reports them.

Almost from its very beginning Christianity placed emphasis upon the miraculous impregnation of Mary and little attention was given to his paternity. It was assumed by Christians, despite the belief at that time that many important men were the offspring of supernatural impregnation, that Jesus' case was different because of the Immaculate Conception; that is, Mary had been conceived without sin so that she could give birth not only to a man but to God. Does this sound like science fiction? It does to liberal scholars, who believe that if the statement in Matthew has any credibility, Jesus was a bastard.

To put this into perspective, prior to Christianity bastardy was considered to be "de rigueur" in all cultures of the Ancient Near East except for the Hebrews. In fact, Strabo writes of Amazon-like cultures where females were dominant, men played the traditional female role and were restricted from owning property or going to war, and children were raised communally without regard to paternity. Thus the pejorative designation ascribed to bastards crept into Christianity via its Jewish roots.

The theological advent of the supernatural impregnation of Mary made it absolutely necessary for Christianity to make a distinction between the conception of Jesus as bastard from that of common bastards. The ability of Christianity to define and regulate all aspects of society as it spread across Europe over the centuries mandated and legitimized the treatment of bastards as people to be avoided, scorned, shamed, and disenfranchised by all social and legal institutions.

It is interesting to speculate what the place and role of bastards would have been in the history of the Western world had Christianity acknowledged and celebrated Jesus' bastardy. Perhaps not only would bastardy have become the preferred and time-honored model of creating families, but bastards would have been the leaders and benefactors of Western culture.

John W. Sweeley is a member of the clergy of the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch-Malabar Rite and an adoptee rights activist. He is currently working on a book titled "Adoption: The Case for Open Records" to be published by University Press of America in Fall 2001. His web site is http://communities.msn.com/sweeleysjesusmanormyth

Blurb: Discover the historical Jesus as you walk with him through the Gospels. This book utilizes the tools of modern biblical criticism to strip away much of the mythology and misunderstanding about the nature of the historical Jesus. Gain new insight into the theology of the Lord's Prayer, whether the betrayal by Judas was his own sin or the will of God, the Confession of Peter and his place in the early church, the birth of Christianity, and the development of the Trinity. Internet Orders: http://www.univpress.com Type SWEELEY in the Quick Search window.
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