Did you hear that Jesus had a wife?

They have been reporting that they have found a manuscript that talks a bit about the wife of Jesus. As far as they can tell it is real.
I had a pastor many years ago and we would talk about that for hours. It always seemed strange to me that a Jew who would live to about 40 years old didn't have a wife at the age of 33.
I know there are many people who will say this manuscript can't be right, but I don't see why not.

The "wife of Jesus" claim is often associated with Mary Magdalene. There is no support for this in the canon of scripture.

The claim appears to originate with the Gospel of Thomas, an apocryphal text dating from the 8th century AD. The claim is based on a translation of a fragment of Jesus' speech that begins "My wife," and then becomes unrecoverable. The particular claim being popularized at the moment is made by Karen King in an article she wrote for the Harvard Theological Review. A decent article on the incident may be found here:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/deepening-mystery-jesus-wife-papyrus_787462.html?page=1

This particular claim is bad research at best, and agenda-beating at worst.

While it is unusual for first-century adults to remain unmarried into their thirties, it was not exactly uncommon. Jesus was a traveling teacher, a profession not conducive to home life. Jesus' own remarks in Matthew 19:12 indicate that he was likely a celibate Rabbi, also not uncommon among Rabbinical tradition. The duty of marriage took second place to the duty of teaching scripture.