Catholics Worldwide PLEASE READ AND SHARE Catholic teaching regarding the brothers of Jesus! DID JESUS HAVE BIOLOGICAL BROTHERS AS SOME NON-CATHOLICS CLAIM? First of all, I will explain to you the Biblical meaning of the brothers of Jesus. In todays society, as it was in the days of Jesus, the word brother had another meaning other than being a biological brother. The native of North America call each other brother although they are not related. When watching television, we notice how the black people call each other brothers although they are not related. To count the long story short! It was the same in the Jewish culture. The Jewish people, not belonging to the gentile nations, made reference to each other as brothers and sisters when something was written about the jewish people, they were referred to as brothers. to complicate the matter, the Hebrew language did not contain a word that meant cousin. Instead, the word brother was used for both, instance where a reference might be made to a cousin of Jesus, the word brother was applied. While this person may have been a blood relative, he was not a biological brother. Now, let us review the claim that James was the brother of Jesus. In Mk 15:40, we read, there were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. It is clear from this verse that Mary, the mother of James and Joses was not Mary, the Mother of Jesus. The Bible makes reference to more than one Mary . If Jesus had brothers and sisters, does common sense not state that the descendants from Jesuss Mother would be proud of it? And accordingly, would these descendants not be claiming their rightful place as descendants of Mary? Yet, this has never happened! If Mary would have had other children, Jesus would not have been as popular as He was. Jesus was popular because He was recognized as the promised Messiah, the the fulfillment of prophecies found in the Gospel of Matthew where it states, all this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: look, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and they shall name him Emmanuel; which means, God is with us. Matt1:22-23 if Mary would have had other children, the prophecy regarding the Virginity of Mary in the Gospel of Mattew would not have been fulfilled. And Jesus would not have been recognized as been the Messiah. When Jesus saw His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing beside her, He said to His Mother, woman, here is your son. Then he said to the disciple, here is your mother. And the disciple took her into his own home Jn 19:26-27. In Mk 6:3, we read is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offense at Him. Notice here that there is only one reference to the Son of Mary, that being Jesus. The others are not called the Sons of Mary but rather the brothers of Jesus, if they would have been the brothers of Jesus, logically, they too would have been referred to as the Sons of Mary. May the Lord give us the knowledge to understand the Scripture through Christ our Lord. Amen. PLEASE SHARE
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:09:44 +0000
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