Basic Questions on Catholicism

  • Thread starter Thread starter Valke2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
V

Valke2

Guest
Does the Bible say what happens to Joseph after the birth of Jesus?

Second Question: I seem to remember someone arguing that Mary remained a virgin, but I’ve also read about Jesus having a brother. Does Mary remain a virgin after the birth of Jesus? Is James’ mother someone else?

Thanks.
 
The Bible doesn’t say what happened to Joeseph. Whether or not it’s official Catholic teaching I don’t know but everyone I’ve ever heard talk about it says it’s a common belief that Joespeh had died before Jesus began his ministry.

As to the second question:

catholic.com/library/Mary_Ever_Virgin.asp

That’ll explain it but yes, Mary is still a virgin. Hope that helps!
 
There is mention of Joseph in the Gospels three times more after the birth of Jesus.

The first is that he and Mary went to the Temple in Jerusalem for Mary’s purification and the presentation of the Child to God - where they were given numerous prophecies about the child’s and Mary’s future life

The second mention of Joseph is that he fled with Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt for some years because Herod, worried by prophecies about a new King of the Jews, ordered all the male children of Bethlehem to be killed.

The third is that when Jesus was 12, he went with Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem at Passover and was accidentally left behind for some days :bigyikes: He was found again in the Temple, apparently arguing with the teachers there and flooring them with his knowledge 👍

But tradition is indeed that Joseph died before Jesus began his ministry - evidence being that at his own death Jesus gives Mary into the care of his follower John.

And yes, it is an article of the Catholic faith (though not for all Christians) that Mary had no further children after Jesus - and in fact remained a virgin all her life, since even his conception was miraculous rather than occuring in the normal manner.
 
Valke2 said:
Does the Bible say what happens to Joseph after the birth of Jesus?

Second Question: I seem to remember someone arguing that Mary remained a virgin, but I’ve also read about Jesus having a brother. Does Mary remain a virgin after the birth of Jesus? Is James’ mother someone else?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Mary has always been and always will be a virgin…
In regards to James…
  • Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus.157 The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, " brothers of Jesus", are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls “the other Mary”.158 They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression CCC 500*
 
Rawb said:
The Bible doesn’t say what happened to Joeseph. Whether or not it’s official Catholic teaching I don’t know but everyone I’ve ever heard talk about it says it’s a common belief that Joespeh had died before Jesus began his ministry.

As to the second question:

catholic.com/library/Mary_Ever_Virgin.asp

That’ll explain it but yes, Mary is still a virgin. Hope that helps!
Click to expand...
Thank you. The link was very helpful. So Jesus’ siblings were not blood relatives.

It occurs to me that the Christian Bible differs from the Hebrew Bible in that there is no competition between brothers, which is a recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible. Don’t know if it means anything. Just occured to me. Thanks again.
 
Valke2 said:
Thank you. The link was very helpful. So Jesus’ siblings were not blood relatives.

It occurs to me that the Christian Bible differs from the Hebrew Bible in that there is no competition between brothers, which is a recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible. Don’t know if it means anything. Just occured to me. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Well the OT part of our Bible does have sibling comptetions:) …
and correct Jesus’s brothers where not blood relatives
 
There’s a kind of sibling rivalry among Jesus’ followers in a way - they argue among themselves who is the greatest, and the others become jealous of James and John when Jesus indicates that they will share in his glory in heaven.
 
LilyM said:
The third is that when Jesus was 12, he went with Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem at Passover and was accidentally left behind for some days :bigyikes: He was found again in the Temple, apparently arguing with the teachers there and flooring them with his knowledge 👍
Click to expand...
This sounds like the first precursor to the “modern mall” syndrom!

So, if the marriage between Mary and Joseph was never consummated, is it viewed as “annulled?”.

Was Joseph considered a scholar type?
 
The marriage between Joseph and Mary is rather a special case - it was focused on protecting and raising Jesus rather than on the husband-wife relationship between the two of them.

As for Joseph - he was a carpenter, by all accounts a humble man, so not really scholarly.
 
LilyM said:
The marriage between Joseph and Mary is rather a special case - it was focused on protecting and raising Jesus rather than on the husband-wife relationship between the two of them.

As for Joseph - he was a carpenter, by all accounts a humble man, so not really scholarly.
Click to expand...
I asked because of the story of him arguing with the priests. Is Joseph the model of celebicy that the priesthood is based on? Or is it Jesus? Or both?
 
I asked because of the story of him arguing with the priests. Is Joseph the model of celebicy that the priesthood is based on? Or is it Jesus? Or both?
Click to expand...
Joesph wasn’t arguing with the priests. Jesus was the one talking with the priests and if I remember right he wasn’t arguing, he was asking questions. (Sorry if this sounds argumentative, it’s not supposed to. Tone and such can’t be reflected online).

As for priestly celibicy, I’m not sure that’s based on either, more of a matter of practicality (this is not a dogma by the way, priests being celibate is a church discipline, the church could change this if it wanted to). Priests jobs can be quite demanding and so keeping a family is a bit difficult. Priests are married to the church.
 
The “brothers” of Jesus are His cousins, since the word for cousin in Hebrew is the same as brother, this was used in scriptures instead.
 
Rawb said:
Joesph wasn’t arguing with the priests. Jesus was the one talking with the priests and if I remember right he wasn’t arguing, he was asking questions. (Sorry if this sounds argumentative, it’s not supposed to. Tone and such can’t be reflected online).

As for priestly celibicy, I’m not sure that’s based on either, more of a matter of practicality (this is not a dogma by the way, priests being celibate is a church discipline, the church could change this if it wanted to). Priests jobs can be quite demanding and so keeping a family is a bit difficult. Priests are married to the church.
Click to expand...
My mistake. I thought that Joseph was accidnetly left behind. I misread the post. But jeez (pun intended), Joseph and Mary have one job, to watch after Jesus, and they leave him at the Temple? I guess no harm, no foul.
 
My mistake. I thought that Joseph was accidnetly left behind. I misread the post. But jeez (pun intended), Joseph and Mary have one job, to watch after Jesus, and they leave him at the Temple? I guess no harm, no foul.
Click to expand...
LOL, I had never thought of that before. That is sort of funny. If I recall correctly (again…I really do need to start remembering the verses for all of this) it was a large group leaving the temple, Joesph and Mary were trying to get everything in order, the caravaan and everything. So it was probably pretty busy. But still.

How much worse would it have been if Joesph had been left behind? He was an adult!
 
Well, if I remember rightly Joseph and Mary each thought he was with the other (looks like the men and women travelled separately and the young ones could go with either Mum or Dad). It did take them a day to realise, though … makes you wonder 😃

But then I guess Jesus’ time in the Temple did help in preparing him for his future mission, so it was probably meant to happen :yup:
 
Joseph and Mary were traveling in a big caravan. As was the custom, the women and children traveled together and the men traveled together. Now, that would make it seem that Jesus SHOULD have been with Mary, however, he was “at that age” where he was technically old enough to travel with the men. When the caravan met up for dinner the men, women, and children all would come together. This would be the classic moment when Joseph would have said, “Honey, where is Jesus?” Mary, “Isn’t he with you?” Joseph, “No! I thought he was with you!” Both together, “OY!!!”

Sorry, just had to put that last part in there! he he!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top