Joseph and Mary were, as everybody knows, Jesus' earthly parents. We hear of Joseph only in the narratives of Jesus' early life, suggesting that he died early but not before giving Jesus at least four brothers and some sisters. Lk 2:41ff speaks of Jesus's "parents" in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover when he was twelve (v42). Joseph must, therefor, have passed away when Jesus was in his teens at the earliest. When Jesus began his ministry, causing amazement in those who heard him teach in the synagogue, we hear them say, "Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" (Mk 6:3), and "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" (Jn 6:42). The absence of Joseph's name on their lips suggests that he had been dead a while by this time.
Joseph is described as a "righteous man" who did not want to expose his bethrothed to public disgrace by divorcing her when he discovered her with child. But he was also, clearly, a spiritually sensitive person who would listen to the voice of the angel and do the hard thing in obedience, not once, but repeatedly; first, by keeping true to Mary (Matt 1:24), then to leave for Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod (Matt 2:13), then again to return when Herod was dead (Matt 2:19-21), and finally, to withdraw to Galilee instead of settling down in Judea (Matt 2:22). Luke, similarly, portray him as a man who did "everything required by the Law of the Lord" (Lk 2:22-24, 39).
We know little about Mary's family background. An apocryphal work called the Protoevangelium Jacobi (the "First Gospel of James the Lesser), written by an unknown author in the middle of the 1st Cent AD, claims that Mary was the daughter of an aging couple named Joachim and Anne. The names, however, seemed to have been whisped up out of thin air. This tradition, however, is widely accepted as truth still by the Roman Catholic Church.
At his crucifixion, Jesus commanded John, "the disciple whome he loved," to take his mother into his care (Jn 19:16). She seemed to have remained part of the company of the early apostles (Acts 1:14). That is the last we hear of her in New Testament.
Of Jesus' extended family we hear of two of them. The more well-known is, of course, Zechariah and Elizabeth, though the precise nature of their relationship Mary and Joseph is uncertain. It is only mentioned in Luke and the word used, where Mary was told by the angel, "Even Elizabeth your syngenis is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month" (1:36). Syngenis is only a general term for a female relative.
A less well-known relative is Mary, wife of Clopas, whom John notes was "his [Jesus'] mother's sister" (Jn 19:25); this would make her Jesus' aunt on her mother's side. Some commentators believe that Clopas may be the same disciple, but spelled Cleopas, who asked Jesus "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" while walking incognizant of him as the risen Christ (Lk 24:18) but this is not certain.
Jesus had four earthly brothers mentioned in the NT: James, Joseph (spelled Jose in some translations), Simon and Judas, as well as a number of sisters (Matt 13:55; Mk 6:3). On the basis of Luke's assertion that Jesus was Mary's "firstborn" (Lk2:7) and Matthew's notice that Joseph "had no union with her until she gave birth to a son" (Matt 1:25) when he discovered she was pregnant and being assured by the angel that "what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit," these men and women would have been younger children of Joseph and Mary.
Apart from James, we know nothing of the rest of them because they were mentioned only incidentally in the course of the amazement of the people at Jesus' wisdom; "'Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?' they asked. 'Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?'" Neither the names nor the number of his sisters are mentioned.
It is clear from what is said about them that none of them believed in Jesus during the three years of his earthly ministry. In fact, what little is said suggests that they did not view him with high regard; "Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind'" (Mk 3:20-21). John is even more explicit; "When the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus' brothers said to him, 'You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.' For even his own brothers did not believe in him." (Jn 7:2-5).
Of the brothers we know with certainty only that James and with some probability, Judas, became believers after Jesus' death and resurrection, though Acts 1:3-14 speaks of the apostles meeting together post-ascension in prayers "with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." Our curiosity burns to know how more about them, but, alas, it is not to be satisfied. If the identification of James referred to by Paul in 1 Cor 15:7 ("Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles") with the brother of Jesus is correct, then we catch a glimpse into the reason for his change of attitude towards Jesus. He became a leader in the church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 21:18), played a major role in the proceedings of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:13-21) and was largely responsible for reconciling and encouraging the ministry and apostleship of Paul and Barnabas among the leaders in the Jerusalem church (Gal 1:19; 2:9 & 12).
Most scholars believe that the author of the epistle of James is to be identified with James the brother of Jesus. Taking advantage of the uncertain circumstances between the death of Felix in 61 AD and the arrival of the new procurator Festus Ananus the high priest had James put to death. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 20.9) tells us:
Festus was now dead . . . so he [Ananus] assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.
Eusebius reports traditions that claim James was called 'James the Just,' and that he was also appointed the first bishop of Jerusalem by Jesus himself. Of these, howewer, little of certain can be said.
While we have no direct statement in the NT regarding Judas becoming a believer, many scholars argue on the basis of the greeting in the epistle of Jude—"Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James"—that the author of the epistle is none other than Judas. Jude was a common variation in the spelling of the name, and there is no other person in the early church who could be recognized simply as "James the brother of Jesus." To address oneself as "a brother of James," it is surmised, would have immediately allowed the audience to make the connection, i.e., "Jude a brother of James, the brother of Jesus." Eusebius reports a tradition that Judas' two grandsons were examined by Emperor Domition (emperor 81-96), and dismissed, as belonging to the house of David.
The above consideration, however, would be rejected by Roman Catholics because of their concept of "the perpetual virginity of Mary," i.e., the idea that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus and remained one all her life. Jerome proposed that the "brothers and sisters of Jesus" noted in the gospels are rather to be understood as "cousins" of Jesus. His exegesis of the texts on which he based his proposal is highly unconvincing. Additionally, there is no credible defense of the concept of Mary's perpetual virginity on the basis of Scripture, nor is there any reason from Scriptures to make the proposal necessary in the first place.
The Eastern Orthodox Church has a different take on the matter, holding on a view developed during the 3rd-4th Cent AD. This view holds that these "brothers" were Joseph's children by a former marriage; it was jealousy of their younger step-brother that provoked their opposition to Jesus during his earthly ministry. This view is, again, unnecessary and difficult to defend on the basis of Scripture.
It would have been comforting to be able to think that Jesus was so wonderful and amazing in all that he did that even all his family members came to faith in him and did great things to further his cause. Alas, if they did, it is not told us. It would, however, be simplistic to expect that they should. God works in different ways with different people. Only God in His infinite wisdom knows how each one of us will respond to His grace. We do not know why some people do come to faith, and others do not, even when confronted by the same facts and evidences. It remains a mystery that, at a personal level, should take us captive in humble awe and deep thankfulness. At a communal level, it should trim our expectations so that—should the children of our godly leaders fail to live up to their parents' level of faith and spirituality—we do not add to the pain of our leaders by unkind criticism and gossips; let it rather drive us more passionately to our knees on their behalf.
Low Chai Hok, ©Alberith, 2014