Jesus's family

[B-A-C]

Now of course we are all brothers and sisters in Christ... but I'm speaking about Jesus's earthly family here. His half-brothers and sisters here.

Matt 12:46; While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him.
Matt 12:47; Someone said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You."
Matt 12:48; But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"
Matt 12:49; And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold My mother and My brothers!
Matt 12:50; "For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."

Jesus is addressing both His spiritual family and His natural family here, but He considered His spiritual family more of a family than His natural family. ( Also see Mark 3:31-35; and Luke 8:19-21; )

Matt 13:54; He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?
Matt 13:55; "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Matt 13:56; "And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"
Matt 13:57; And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."

The carpenter's son. This would be Joseph, but of course Joseph wasn't Jesus's biological father, still he was the father that God chose to be His earthly father.
Four of His brothers are mentioned by name here. We find out later that two of His brothers were also disciples. ( James and Judas )
It mentions that He has sisters (not "a" sister, but sister"s", as in more than one).

John 2:12; After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days.

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

I suspect Jesus's brothers may have been a little jealous of Him. Can you imagine being Jesus's sibling? I can hear Mary now... "Why can't you be more like your brother, Jesus!" It says in verse 5 below, not even Jesus's brothers believed in Him.

John 7:3; Therefore His brothers said to Him, "Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing.
John 7:4; "For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."
John 7:5; For not even His brothers were believing in Him.
John 7:6; So Jesus *said to them, "My time is not yet here, but your time is always opportune.
John 7:7; "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.
John 7:8; "Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come."
John 7:9; Having said these things to them, He stayed in Galilee.
John 7:10; But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as if, in secret.

But by the time Pentecost came around it seems they believed.

Acts 1:14; These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

.... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

Paul calls James Jesus's brother.

Gal 1:19; But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother.

Jude (Judas) says he is Jame's brother.

Jude 1:1; Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:

This can be a little confusing because there were two disciples named James, and also two disciples named Judas.

Mark 6:3; "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.
Mark 15:40; There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses, and Salome.
Mark 15:47; Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.

There was of course Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus, but there was a second Judas also known as Jude. There was also James one of the "sons of thunder"... the sons of Zebedee. That James was the brother of John the apostle.
But the brother of Jesus was called "James the less". Most likely because he was younger than the other James. Jesus would have been the oldest brother because we know Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.
Depending on how you read Mark 15:40; Jesus may have had a sister named Salome.

So far we have James (the less) , Judas, Simon (not Simon Peter), and Joses, (probably short for Joseph)... and possibly a sister is named Salome.

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

Matt 13:55; "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Matt 27:56; Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Mark 6:3; says "Joses" but the two verses above say "Joseph" but most scholars believe this is the same person.

James the less is a problem for some... He is also called the son of Alphaeus.

Matt 10:3; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
Luke 6:15; and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot;

Wouldn't Jesus's brother be the son of Joseph? Not necessarily, one explanation is that Mary re-married. This wouldn't be a sin if Joseph had died.

... to be continued ..

 

[B-A-C]

Now it seems Mary had a relative named Elizabeth. The King James version says "cousin". But the actual word here may not be cousin exactly.

συγγενής
suggenēs
soong-ghen-ace'
From G4862 and G1085; a relative (by blood); by extension a fellow countryman: - cousin, kin (-sfolk, -sman).
Total KJV occurrences: 12

Luke 1:36; "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
Luke 1:37; "For nothing will be impossible with God."

It is unknown exactly what the relationship was. Likely Elizabeth may have been a cousin. Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist.
So it's likely that John the Baptist and Jesus may have been second cousins or something similar. John the Baptist would have been about 6 months older than Jesus (in His earthly body).

Luke 1:57; Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.
Luke 1:58; Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.
Luke 1:59; And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.
Luke 1:60; But his mother answered and said, "No indeed; but he shall be called John."

Luke 1:80; And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

It seems Mary had a sister also. Depending on how you read the verse below, her name may have been Mary also. (two sisters named Mary?)

John 19:25; Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
John 19:26; When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"
John 19:27; Then He *said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

When Jesus was on the cross, it seems He gave His mother into the care of John (the son of Zebedee). I have wondered why one of Jesus's brothers did not care for her.

 

[B-A-C]

Many times in the New Testament Jesus is called "son of David". This doesn't mean David was His father, only that He was a descendant of David.
( Matt 9:27; Matt 12:23; Matt 15:22; Matt 20:30; ) So you could say David was Jesus's great, great, great... (14 generations) ... great grandfather.

The lineage of Jesus on Mary's side is in Luke 3:23-38; Family trees were normally done through the male side of the family, but if the woman was
of some Biblical importance, it went through her. If you read through this list of names, you will see some familiar ones.. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Abraham. Isaac, Jacob,
Boaz, Jesse, David, Judah, etc...

When Jesus was put on the cross, they placed a sign above His head, it said "King of the Jews". It was meant to be a mockery, but actually Jesus did have royal
blood being of the line of David.

The lineage of Jesus on Joseph's side is in Matthew 1:1-16; This lineage doesn't start with Adam, it starts with Abraham.

If you read through Luke 3, it was say so and so was the son of so and so. It says this until we get to Joseph.. then it says "the supposed son of Eli".
Why supposed? Some Bibles say "as was the custom, the son of Eli". Custom? What custom? In Matt 1:16; it says Joseph was the son of Jacob.
Is this a typo in the Bible? No.... It was "the custom" to list the genealogy through the male side of the family. Virtually all Jewish documents
of this time followed this practice. Eli wasn't Joseph's father, he was Mary's father. (Some Bibles say Heli)

(Yes I know the Roman Catholic church says Joaquim and Anna, but... they aren't listed in the Bible).