Brothers Of Jesus

[siebersusi]

Did Jesus have brothers?

[dUSt]

He might have had brothers, but they weren't biological, because Mary remained a virgin her entire life.

[Cure of Ars]

There are objection from some Protestants on Mary’s perpetual virginity. In Mt. 13:55-56 it says that Jesus had brothers named James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude. From a superficial understanding of scripture this may look like a slam-dunk on the Catholic doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity. But it is not. There are a couple of theories about this and other passages that say Jesus had brothers.

St Jerome believed that Joseph was married before he was betrothed to Mary and had children. Joseph then became a widow and married Mary. This is a possibility that is not considered.

This stepbrother hypothesis is, in fact, the earliest one on record. It is endorsed by a document known as the Protoevangelium of James, which dates to the year 120, within sixty years of James' death (James died in A.D. 62). According to the Protoevangelium, Joseph was an elderly widower at the time he was betrothed to Mary. He already had a family and thus was willing to become the guardian of a virgin consecrated to God. The stepbrother hypothesis was the most common explanation of the brethren of the Lord until St. Jerome popularized the cousin hypothesis just before the year 400.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Burial_Box...James_Found.asp

Another consideration that is not made is that in the Aramaic and also in Hebrew there is not a word for cousin so they use brother instead. An example of this is between Lot and Abram, “And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.” (Gen 13:8 King James vision)

Another consideration is that that in Matthew 23:8 Jesus tell us that we are all brothers.

There is also evidence that James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude had different fathers than Joseph. This argument is long so I will not include it here. If you would like to see this argument you can read it at this web site.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02767a.htm

Another argument is in Luke 1:34. Mary when the angel Gabriel said that she was about to have a son she said, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”. This is a weird statement. I was married three years ago. If an angel told me that I was going to have a son it would not be a big shock. Babies usually come after you get married. But Mary said, “How can this be”. The only way to make sense of this is if Mary had a vow of virginity. Which Catholic Tradition attests to. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, which was more than an engagement. Joseph even was going to get a divorce from Mary when he found that she was with child.

Another argument is that in Jn 19:26 when Jesus was on the cross he did not give his mother over to his younger brothers. Instead he entrusted Mary to John and John to Mary. In the Jewish culture the responsibility to take care of parents went to the oldest living and able son. This shows that Mary did not have any other children.

A Protestant argument is that in Mt 1:25 it said that Joseph knew her not until she had her first born. They say that because it says “until” that this means that after Jesus was born that Joseph had sex with Mary. But this is not necessarily so. I can say to you God be with you until we meet again. Does this mean that when we meet again that I want God to not be with you? It doesn’t. A Biblical example is Mt.22-42-46 "The Lord said to my [David's] Lord: 'Sit at my

right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'" So does this mean that Jesus will stop sitting at the Father’s right hand when his enemies are made into his footstool. Of course not.

Protestants also say that because it says “first born” that this means that there must be second. But this is a title that meant that Jesus would inherit everything. It does not necessarily mean that there was a second born. This was a title.

You also have to remember that because she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit that she is technically the spouse of the Holy Spirit. This would mean that no one should touch Mary in this way. She is dedicated to God. Even lesser saints than Joseph would have figured this out.

Even though Mary was always a virgin she does have a lot of sons and daughters. In fact all true Christians who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus have Mary as their mother. I can even prove this from the Bible. In Revelations 12 it says, “A great sign appeared in the sky, a women clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.” This is talking about Mary. It also means the church but Mary is the primary figure. This is because the Church did not give birth to Jesus but Mary did. It goes on to talk about Jesus, Satan, and St. Michael the archangel. At the end of the paragraph it say, “Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bare witness to Jesus”. God bless

[siebersusi]

Thank You... that's what I was needing....

[dUSt]

Bye mom.

[cmotherofpirl]

:D :D :D

[Anna]

What? Is seibersusi your mom, dUSt???????

Or, in other words, seibersusi, are you dUSt's mom?????

If we're all brothers and sisters here, then seibersusi is Mom to us all!!!

oohhhhhhhh, it's late. time for bed... -_-

gettin silly...

Pax Christi. <><

[Tony]

sure Jesus has brothers... sisters too! Christ and Us both have the same heavenly Father, right?