The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Son of Mary. What was His mission, His purpose? Theoretically, a simple question. He is God incarnate in human flesh for the salvation of mankind. A simple answer. He supposedly contains everything, but is that really so? Do we truly consider everything in our approach to Him today?
There can be only one answer to this question – absolutely not. We are looking at a detached and idealized man, who was, of course, also God and wanted to save us. However, the biblical accounts do not contain everything. The historical and social context, as well as other ancient accounts about Him, are also important. Why should we limit our knowledge of Him to the messages we hear in church, from the pulpit, or from religious education classes?
Let’s consider this: in ancient times, only Jews, and very specific ones at that, could enter the temple. Depending on which part of the temple someone entered, they had to meet certain conditions; for example, they had to be a priest. Who could be a priest, high priest, or hold other positions back then? Of course, only a man (women couldn’t even read the Torah themselves—I wonder why). Furthermore, very often, this man had to be married, of good conduct, have well-behaved children, and have a good reputation. I recently read that to teach or read the Word of God in the temple, a man had to be married.
So, did the Jews allow Jesus to read, discuss the Torah, or teach in the temple, and did they listen to Him even if He didn’t meet these conditions? He was a Jew, he followed the law given by God, and very often maintained customs, though he condemned the bad ones. If he broke this law, it was to demonstrate that the locality was evil, that it was being changed by His coming into the world. However, first, they had to let Him in (even if only to the temple), listen to Him, or be willing to talk to Him. After all, Jews to this day haven’t accepted that He was the Messiah, so why should they treat Him in any special way or grant Him rights that other Jews didn’t have?
Drawing conclusions from this, we would have to say that Jesus had a wife, and possibly children, because why wouldn’t he have known these aspects of humanity as well? He called upon us in his teachings to become fully Anthropos. For such a call to be powerful, it must come from example. Otherwise, people would not follow Him. Besides, how could He save a person? They would not be fully Anthropos without experiencing every dimension of being that person.
The term Anthropos is a very rich term. It means a person in full. One must recognize all the elements of humanity within oneself and then integrate them to be fully Anthropos. These elements include: psyche, soul, corporeality, sexuality… „As one with the creative Intelligence (I and the Father are one), he cannot desire the mutilation or castration of his creatures”—that is, he cannot desire the mutilation or castration of what he created, and he created us (humans) in his own image and likeness. This leads to the conclusion that a person cannot transcend what he has not consciously accepted. „It’s about accepting one’s sexuality; only then can one claim to 'rise above it.’ Before one can talk about the Androgen, one must first be truly male or truly female. To truly save humanity, Christ first had to be the true Androgen. Otherwise, how would He have saved man—in an incomplete way? One can often get the impression that this is precisely how it is presented to us. I mean, Christ saved us, but let’s leave sexuality aside, he was pure—he had no wife, no children, he was a virgin. Very often, we hear this very message. But if it is true, then did Christ save only what he liked in man and leave the rest? No, He wants us to be saved in our entirety, just as He created us as spiritual-corporeal beings, and fully in every dimension.
In conclusion, to fully save us, He had to know what sex is, to know it in a way that is proper for a Jew and does not violate God’s law, He had to be in a relationship with someone, in today’s world. In the terminology, we’d say he must have had a wife. And these aren’t fabrications; they’re simply logic. You can debate whether he had children; after all, not every couple has them, which doesn’t mean they don’t have sex. Moreover, the Church says that sex is necessary for a valid relationship. So why is the Son of God denied the right to this aspect of humanity? How can he save us in its entirety if he doesn’t know the whole? How can you save something you don’t know? After all, he even had to die (and how) to learn what death is, to descend to Sheol, and to save the dead. But he didn’t have to learn all the dimensions of humanity? Where’s the logic in that?
The quoted passages are from the theologian, Orthodox priest—later Dominican, philosopher, and writer—Mr. Leloup.