Did Mother Mary have other children?

[Kantaram88]

**John 19:
25Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

26When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

27Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.**

According to some posters on other forums, they say Mother mary did have other children. Ok, so if Mother mary had more children, than why did Jesus say the above words when Mother Mary’s other children could very well have taken care of her? Does it also mean that the other children were black sheep and not capable of taking care of their mother, or does it also mean that Mother Mary was not a good mother to them, but only to Jesus?

 

[GrahamAPhone]

It would have disgraced the other children

 

[Teneas]

Well she did love to party it up, so perhaps she was disowned from her “other children”. Or, as Christ was God, perhaps the other kids left simply cause you can’t compete with Christ.

all sarcasm, and 100% agree with the starting post, and hopes that a decent, civil, discussion can occur

 

[Publisher]

I realize Catholics and many Protestants do not believe she had other children. I do believe she dis…I do not believe she and Joseph remained chaste. The idea of her being a “Temple virgin” is a nice theory and belief…I just do not believe it adequately honors the marriage bond and commitment two people who are married share with one another.

She and Joseph were married…I believe from what I read in scripture that Jesus had brothers and sisters. I believe James, the Lord’s brother, was the leader of the Jerusalem church.

Jesus family came to him early on in his ministry to ask him to come home as they believed he “was beside himself”…aka “mad” or suffering delusions. His family came to know him by his words and deeds and were among those who came to believe in him. Mary was part of the upper room group on Pentacost…James served as leader of the church.

Whether Mary had more children has no bearing on what I believe about Christ and his life. It does not effect my “salvation”…for those who feel it is necessary to have Mary continue as a virgin after his birth…I have no problem with your belief…I simply do not share it…my focus is on Christ…not his mother and her status as a wife and mother.

I believe God blessed the marriage of Joseph and Mary fully, with children and sanctified it by incarnating into a family and blessed the world by doing so.

 

[Teneas]

I realize Catholics and many Protestants do not believe she had other children. I do believe she dis…I do not believe she and Joseph remained chaste. The idea of her being a “Temple virgin” is a nice theory and belief…I just do not believe it adequately honors the marriage bond and commitment two people who are married share with one another.

She and Joseph were married…I believe from what I read in scripture that Jesus had brothers and sisters. I believe James, the Lord’s brother, was the leader of the Jerusalem church.

Jesus family came to him early on in his ministry to ask him to come home as they believed he “was beside himself”…aka “mad” or suffering delusions. His family came to know him by his words and deeds and were among those who came to believe in him. Mary was part of the upper room group on Pentacost…James served as leader of the church.

Whether Mary had more children has no bearing on what I believe about Christ and his life. It does not effect my “salvation”…for those who feel it is necessary to have Mary continue as a virgin after his birth…I have no problem with your belief…I simply do not share it…my focus is on Christ…not his mother and her status as a wife and mother.

I believe God blessed the marriage of Joseph and Mary fully, with children and sanctified it by incarnating into a family and blessed the world by doing so.

You could be right, it’s just not the Catholic view point.

 

[TinaG]

Hi!

Please tell me where the verse is that says that Mary was Joseph’s wife, or Joseph was her husband, or that they actually got married.

Thanks

-Tina

 

[jericho777]

They already thought Jesus was crazy and may have abandoned Him at His crucifixion or were afraid because of the seriousness of the charges and the religious leaders. All the apostles except John had abandoned Him also. Just a thought.

 

[Teneas]

Hi!

Please tell me where the verse is that says that Mary was Joseph’s wife, or Joseph was her husband, or that they actually got married.

Thanks

-Tina

Matt 1: 16, 19

 

[Teneas]

They already thought Jesus was crazy and may have abandoned Him at His crucifixion or were afraid because of the seriousness of the charges and the religious leaders. All the apostles except John had abandoned Him also. Just a thought.

Is a thought for sure. But would Christ, being a good Jewish boy, do dishonor to his brothers and sisters by giving his mother to John?

 

[kristanl]

If you are having doubts on whether or not Mary was a perpetual virgin from support with the bible, read this article:

catholicsource.net/articles/perpetualvirginity.htm

 

[KathleenGee]

Randy Carson gave an excellent post regarding this controversy…I hope I can find it…it was on a few weeks ago and I didn’t get around to recording it.

 

[SingleMomMonica]

The Theotokos never had any other children besides Jesus! How could she? She’s Ever-Virgin!

Besides what God-fearing man would ever dare to enter her after God Himself opened her womb? St. Joseph was not God’s enemy. Plus he was an elderly man anyway with children older than her. He was a Saint, not a creapy old man!

It’s disrespectful on so many levels to ever even suggest that the Theotokos had other children.

 

[KathleenGee]

Kristanl…actually you have the source…it must have been shared by Randy…

Voile, there it is!

Thanks and I must copy it!

 

[Randy_Carson]

Hi!

Please tell me where the verse is that says that Mary was Joseph’s wife, or Joseph was her husband, or that they actually got married.

Thanks

-Tina

Matthew 1:24-25
24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

 

[SingleMomMonica]

Hi!

Please tell me where the verse is that says that Mary was Joseph’s wife, or Joseph was her husband, or that they actually got married.

Thanks

-Tina

The Gospel says that they were Betrothed…this is the first of the two marriage ceremonies.

If you ever attend an Eastern Catholic or an Orthodox Wedding you will see both ceremonies preformed - in the US, it’s common that both are preformed at the same day/time period. In other countries they can still be seperated by days, weeks, months or even years.

The first part you will recognize as it’s the only ceremony done nowadays by Western Christians…the exchanging of the rings or betrothal.

The second part is the coronation.

When in the New Testament it says that it’s better for a man to keep his virgin is best, but that if he sleeps with her he has not committed a sin…the reason it’s not a sin is because the Gospel writer is refering to those who have been betrothed but have not yet completed the final marriage ceremony…but even so they are already married. Otherwise the Gospel writer could not have said it was not a sin to sleep with her.

And it’s why Joseph would have had to “divorce” her quietly, should he have left her as he’d intended to after finding out about her pregnancy and before he had the dream telling him to keep her.

 

[TinaG]

I’m not sure that the Greek has a separate word for “wife” or “woman”, or for “man” and “husband.” We see in Genesis that Adam knew his wife Eve. Do we see the same concept in the Gospels? My suspicions are that it is not there, because if it was, the Catholic-Orthodox position would be different.

The Theotokos never had any other children besides Jesus! How could she? She’s Ever-Virgin!

Besides what God-fearing man would ever dare to enter her after God Himself opened her womb? St. Joseph was not God’s enemy. Plus he was an elderly man anyway with children older than her. He was a Saint, not a creapy old man!

It’s disrespectful on so many levels to ever even suggest that the Theotokos had other children.

This is getting debated right now over in Apologetics. I am still puzzled by the stress that is placed on this doctrine in the Catholic-Orthodox understanding of Mary. I am aware that the Orthodox have a very high view of Mary, in some ways higher than the Catholic understanding.

I don’t see it as disrespectful to state that she had other children. Why do you think it is? Why would Joseph necessarily be a creepy old man for treating his wife as his wife?

-Tina

 

[adelore]

Your question is, Did Mother Mary have other children?

My answer…drum roll please…

Yes and No.

Back then she didn’t give birth to another child other than Jesus. But then John became her adoptive son, with Jesus Blessing as he said it.

Next on my mind, Of course she has other children…All of us.



Sorry I just couldn’t help myself…

 

[Kantaram88]

Your question is, Did Mother Mary have other children?

My answer…drum roll please…

Yes and No.

Back then she didn’t give birth to another child other than Jesus. But then John became her adoptive son, with Jesus Blessing as he said it.

Next on my mind, Of course she has other children…All of us.



Sorry I just couldn’t help myself…

Hi Adelore,

Ofcourse you have helped.

The last sentence is excellent and that we are all children of Mother Mary. Amen to that.

God Bless.

 

[Justy90]

They already thought Jesus was crazy and may have abandoned Him at His crucifixion or were afraid because of the seriousness of the charges and the religious leaders. All the apostles except John had abandoned Him also. Just a thought.

I believe what you said here to be correct. Scripture also paints a quite clear picture that Mary and Joseph had a normal marriage and also had children besides Jesus. Scripture firstly tells us that Jospeh did not have relations with Mary UNTIL Jesus was born. It also states that Jesus was Mary’s FIRSTBORN, a son. It also goes on to name Jesus’ brothers and also refers to some of them by name later on in the NT. It also speaks of Jesus’ sisters although it doesn’t name them. There is just far too much evidence of Jesus coming from a normal family with other brothers and sisters than to try and refute it.

 

[agent_grey]

Yes! Mary most certainly had other children. Trust me I know. I am one of them. Anybody that doesn’t have Mary as there mother really has no say in this discussion.

Who are you to tell me about my mother!

From what I understand the language of the time had no word for brother in the sence that we use the term brother today. So the texts that say Yeshua had brothers or sisters does not proove anything either way.

The closest thing you get to a proof text is Yeshua giving her to an appostle to be his mother.

All the rest is tradition and logic. And dare I say Old Testament prophecy.