And Jesus said, “Take my wife, please”

My fellow bibliobloggers have done an exceptional job of covering the “Jesus’ wife papyrus.” It has taken a few weeks but the true import of Karen King’s revelatory Coptic papyrus fragment of slowly coming to light. Jesus has not simply been revealed as having been married, but as comedian of the highest Adirondack order. King’s translation of line 4 reads

4 ]……” Jesus said to them, “My wife . .[

While others have been debating the veracity of the fragment, I have accepted it as legitimate and spent my time attempting to reconstruct the end of the line. Possible reconstructions:

  • Jesus said to them, “My wife [is so perfect.” And the disciples said, “How perfect is she?” And Jesus said, “She’s so perfect only the Son of God would do!”]
  • Jesus said to them, “My wife [is such a nag! Yesterday she said, ‘You can turn water into wine, but you can’t take out the trash?'”]
  • Jesus said to them, “My wife [got a mudpack and looked great for two days. Then the mud fell off.”] 1A classic from Henny Youngman.
I am little uncertain of these readings, so I would be grateful for suggestions.

 

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