Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary by Brant James Pitre

Author:Brant James Pitre
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2018-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25–27)

This account of Jesus’ death provides us three more significant insights into the relationship between Jesus, Mary, and his “brothers.”

First, notice that John identifies the second woman at the cross as “his mother’s sister, Mary” (John 19:25).39 Although it’s easy to miss the point, this verse provides important support for the word “sister” (Greek adelphē) being used to refer to someone other than a blood sister. It seems extremely unlikely that Mary’s parents would have given both her and her sister the name Mary. However, the text makes perfect sense if John is using the word “sister” to refer to a close relative of Jesus’ mother.

Second, and even more important, when John refers to this woman as “Mary the wife of Clopas” (John 19:25), he gives us an important clue to the identity of “the other Mary” referred to by Matthew and Mark. If John is referring to the same Mary that Matthew and Mark say was present at the crucifixion and burial of Jesus—Mary the mother of James and Joses—then we have further evidence that James and Joses are not the sons of Jesus’ mother. Nor are they the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage.40 Instead, they would be the sons of another man—a man named Clopas.41

Third and finally, but by no means least important, in John’s account, Jesus gives his mother, Mary, to the Beloved Disciple to have as “his own” mother (John 19:26–27). I cannot stress the point enough: If Mary would have had any other children at the time of the crucifixion, it would have been unheard of for Jesus to give his mother to one of his disciples. In an ancient Jewish context, to fail to care for one’s aging parents was a grave sin—one that Jesus himself describes as a capital offense (see Mark 7:9–13).42 Thus, the most plausible explanation for why Jesus takes such pains in the midst of dying to make sure his mother is cared for by the Beloved Disciple is that Mary has no other children. He is her only son.

Once again, we could just stop here. If we only had the evidence of the New Testament we’ve just surveyed, it would be enough to confidently conclude that the so-called brothers of Jesus are in fact his close relatives, the children of Mary and Clopas, relatives of Jesus’ family. However, the New Testament is not the only relevant historical evidence we possess. We also have evidence for the identity of Jesus’ brothers from ancient church history—evidence that is often mysteriously ignored.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.