According to the gospel of Mark, (see Mark 6:3), Jesus of Nazareth had four brothers and at least two sisters. That raises the question of how, exactly, these siblings were related to Jesus. Over the centuries, people have suggested three theories: They were children of Mary and Joseph. They were children of Joseph by a previous wife. They were cousins of Jesus. I discussed all this in a previous blog post, Mother’s Day With Jesus, so I won’t go over that ground again. My own opinion is that the four “brothers of Jesus” were biological sons of both Mary and …
brothers of jesus
Where Was James at the Crucifixion?
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 …
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 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 …