Matt. 12 v 46-49

[BamaRider]

I’m sorry for asking this kind of question again, but one of my resolves when I retired was to *read *the Bible, as a cradle Catholic for 52 years I admit to not actually sitting down and doing that.

This passage has me confused, so I’m going to bring it to those smarter than me. Jesus is speaking to a crowd when someone calls out to him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and wish to speak with you.”

Exactly who are the brothers in this context? I have heard it was possible Joseph was a widower and much older than Mary, and could have had chlidren prior.

 

[NDfan]

I’m sorry for asking this kind of question again, but one of my resolves when I retired was to *read *the Bible, as a cradle Catholic for 52 years I admit to not actually sitting down and doing that.

This passage has me confused, so I’m going to bring it to those smarter than me. Jesus is speaking to a crowd when someone calls out to him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and wish to speak with you.”

Exactly who are the brothers in this context? I have heard it was possible Joseph was a widower and much older than Mary, and could have had chlidren prior.

Bama you will see this answered in many ways depending on who answers it. Joseph being a widower comes from the infancy gospel of James which was not accepted in the early church as being legitimate. But somehow the RCC uses it now to teach from. It was written in the second century and has many conflicting details compared to Matthew which is canonical.

As far as who the brothers are, they were Jesus half brothers, or cousins, or step brothers again depending on who you talk to. The same verse appears in Mark.

PEACE

 

[NotWorthy]

Bama you will see this answered in many ways depending on who answers it. Joseph being a widower comes from the infancy gospel of James which was not accepted in the early church as being legitimate. But somehow the RCC uses it now to teach from. It was written in the second century and has many conflicting details compared to Matthew which is canonical.

As far as who the brothers are, they were Jesus half brothers, or cousins, or step brothers again depending on who you talk to. The same verse appears in Mark.

PEACE

The reason the infancy Gospel of James (The Protoevangelium of James) is used is that it reflected early Christian tradition. It didn’t invent this theory, it simply repeated an already commonly held belief among Christians.

BTW, the Protoevangelium is not considered “illegitimate”. It was simply determined that it wasn’t inspired. To put it another way, I know of no falsehoods in the Protoevangelium, but that doesn’t mean it has to be canonical, just that it wasn’t inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Regarding the brothers and sisters, they were either children of Josephs or cousins of Jesus. We know that they were NOT children of Mary, for nowhere is Mary referred to as the mother of anyone other than Jesus. She is called “Mary, the Mother of Jesus”, but never “Mary, the Mother of Jesus, James, Joses, Simon, Larry, Moe, Curly, and Shemp…”