The gospel of Mark tells us that a few women stood by Jesus when he was crucified: Mary Magdalene Mary the mother of James the Less and Joses Salome Most biblical scholars think that the second Mary on this list, the mother of “James the Less and Joses” was the mother of Jesus. The gospel of Matthew gives a similar list or women, and so does the gospel of Luke. But we know that Jesus had four brothers—James, Joses, Simon, and Judas. (See my earlier post, The Mysterious Brothers of Jesus.) The oldest of these, James, eventually became the leader …
Jesus of Nazareth
On the Road With Jesus
According to the gospels, Jesus did a lot of walking. For starters, he walked “all through Galilee.” That sounds like an exaggeration. Galilee was a big area, right? How could anyone walk all through Galilee? How long would that take? Where would you stay? It turns out we can make some good guesses on that. Over the last few years, while working on my Crown of Thorns series of novels, I’ve spent quite a bit of time thinking about what it was like to go on the road with Jesus. The answers might surprise you. How Far Across Galilee? In …
James, the Brother of Jesus, Part I
According to the gospels of Mark and Matthew, Jesus had four brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas. James was apparently the oldest of these brothers. We don’t know a lot about James, or any of the brothers. The New Testament only mentions them a few times, mostly in passing. It has been debated whether they were brothers, half-brothers, or cousins. (See my earlier post, The Mysterious Brothers of Jesus.) But these brothers, whoever they were, must have been important. They grew up with Jesus. If they were older than him, they took care of him. If he was older than …
The Synagogue at Nazareth
Homecomings don’t always work out the way you expect. Three of the gospels tell accounts of Jesus returning to his hometown, Nazareth, where he got a rather rude welcome. The earliest account appears in Mark 6:1-6. Jesus teaches in the synagogue on Shabbat, and his friends and neighbors are, to say the least, unimpressed. Jesus responds by saying that a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country. The townspeople take offense at him. The end result is that, aside from healing a few sick people, Jesus doesn’t make much of a splash. The next-oldest account comes …
Jesus and the Zealots
One of the most surprising verses in the New Testament is Luke 6:15, where we read that one of the twelve disciples of Jesus was a Zealot. His name was Simon, and Luke refers to him as “Simon who was called the Zealot.” The passage in Luke has two parallel passages in Mark 3:18 and Matthew 10:4. Newer translations of these passages typically also call this disciple “Simon the Zealot.” Older translations usually call him “Simon the Cananaean.” (“Cananaean” is just the Aramaic word “qanay” transliterated into the Greek word “kananiten” and then transliterated into the English word “Cananaean.” …
The Amazing Herod Family
If you’ve read through the New Testament, you might be rather surprised at how often “King Herod” keeps popping up in the story. The book of Matthew tells a story of how the evil King Herod killed all the babies in Bethlehem in an attempt to get rid of the infant Jesus. In the story, Joseph and Mary escape with their son to Egypt, and only return a few years later when they learn that Herod is dead. Thirty years later, Jesus is an adult preaching in Galilee, but then he gets in trouble with … King Herod again! …
The Mysterious Brothers of Jesus
The mysterious “brothers of Jesus” are mentioned several times in the New Testament. Were they really his brothers? Or something else? That’s a much more complicated question than it looks. I think a good starting point is with the gospel of Mark. Most New Testament scholars believe that the gospel of Mark was the first of the four gospels to be written, sometime around the year AD 70. There’s an interesting story in Mark chapter 6, verses 1 to 6, about Jesus going to his hometown after he’d gotten somewhat famous in the rest of Galilee. You can read it …
What Did Jesus Wear?
We’ve all seen paintings of Jesus. He always looks pretty much the same—long hair that hangs to his shoulders, parted in the middle, with a neatly trimmed beard. He normally gets a bleached white flowing robe that reaches his ankles, although sometimes it’s blue and sometimes it’s red. Often, he also gets some sort of mantle or whatever that hangs over one shoulder or drapes over his head. There are a lot of minor variations, but there’s one basic theme. If you went to a costume shop and asked for a Jesus costume, you’d be pretty sure what you were …