This poem arose out of a lunch discussion I had with two of my former History professors regarding the recent publications of Margaret Starbird, and others, asserting---without a shred of documentation---that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, and produced a daughter by the name of Sarah. When the professors asked me, unexpectedly, what I thought about the Starbird theory, and others, I blurted out, without really considering my answer, that the Temple authorites (led by Caiphas, the high priest) would have been very thorough in their elimination of the "problem" of Jesus. Given that their culture, history, and politics tended to think in terms of dynastic succession, they must have logically considered the possibility, however remote, that Jesus (whose Christologic claims they sobordinated, as John's Gospel shows, beneath the political aspects of His claims) might have fathered a child. In hindsight, this is absurd, because it was not part of His mission. But, to the Temple authorities, it may have been a very real contingency that must have been researched. (One remembers that they also wanted to crucify Lazarus, with Christ, simply because he had been raised from the dead; see John's Gospel. If Lazarus was such a threat, the possibility of a wife and child would have represented even more of a threat.) Jesus was condemned alone; no other disciple, follower, or family member was included in the charge brought before the High Priest, or Herod, or Pontius Pilate. In my opinion, the thoroughness of the plot would have uncovered a wife or child, if such persons existed; and yet, neither was produced---in any of the three trials, or in subsequent developments. Had Jesus had a wife and child, the Temple authorities would have produced them, and had them stoned if not crucified. In my opinion, the priests' inability to include a wife and child in the plot defeats and invalidates the theories of Margaret Starbird and others.
