Did Jesus have
BROTHERS and SISTERS?

Q. Does the Bible teach that Jesus had physical brothers and sisters?

(Submitted by: Linda)

A. The scripture in question can be found in Matthew 12:

"While He (Jesus) was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.  Then one said to Him, 'Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.'

"But He answered and said to the one who told Him,  'Who is My mother and who are My brothers?'  And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said,  'Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.' " (Matthew 12:46-50, NKJV)

There are thirty seven verses containing the name of James in the New Testament. One was the son of Zebedee who had a brother John. These two were apostles but this James was beheaded early in his life by Herod Aggripa. The second James listed is James the Less in the list of disciples of Jesus Christ. This James was the author of the Epistle of James and was the head of the Jerusalem congregations that Peter and John and Paul met with in Acts 15.

The reason that this is important is because to understand who James the Less was and what was his relationship to Jesus will help answer the question of whether Mary and Joseph had other sons and daughters besides Jesus. John 19:25 is the verse we need to analyze to figure out who James' mother is. When we understand whose mother belongs to James the Less then the verses that refer to the family of Jesus as James, Joses, Simon and Judas as well as at least TWO sisters (one named Salome) become a bit clearer.

So the first question that needs answering is: Is Mary's sister the mother of James the Less or is Mary herself the mother of James the Less? In the King James Version of the New Testament the word wife is in italics meaning that it was inserted by the translators. This insertion of words is a common practice but sometimes leads the reader astray in comprehending who is who in this case.

If Alphaeus was the brother of Mary and the son of Heli with the second Mary as his wife who produced James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, then these would be cousins of Jesus and the word brethren or brothers could be used to identify them as close kinsmen of Jesus.

Consider the following from my Online Bible reference software:

(in the spelling of this word _h_ is inserted by mistake from Latin MSS.), rather Cleopas, which is the Greek form of the word, while Clopas is the Aramaic form. In John 19:25 the Authorized (King James Version) Bible reads, "Mary, the wife of Clopas." The word "wife" is conjecturally inserted here. If "wife" is rightly inserted, then Mary was the mother of James the Less, and Clopas is the same as Alphaeus (see Matthew 10:3; 27:56)

Matthew or Levi was also the son of Alphaeus according to Mark 2:14. Was he to be considered part of the family of Jesus too? Or does this sentence mean something entirely different when rendered without the insertions by the translators. It would read "And as he passed by he saw Levi of Alphaeus . . . ". In the other passages that mention the word Alphaeus (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13) it is in relationship to James, and should be rendered "James of Alphaeus" because the words "son of" is in italics (or in brackets) which means they were added by the translators and are not a part of the original text.

The Greek interlinear renders John 19:25 as follows (Numbers between "<" and ">" are Strong's Concordance Number references):

Notice the little word "αυτου" , which is Strong's Concordance #848 in the above Greek. It is where we get the prefix "auto" meaning something that is of itself. It was Jesus' own mother and his aunt who was with these women.

If on the other hand these four men were actually offspring of Mary and her husband Joseph as other passages seem to indicate then yes, Jesus had brothers and sisters. Matthew 13:55 seems to indicate a need to identify who Jesus is. It would not seem totally logical for someone to question the identity of cousins to substantiate Jesus' identification.

When Jesus bestowed upon John the responsibility of caring for his mother could he have been his cousin too? If so, they were a very closely associated family:

"When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, 'Woman, behold your son!' " (John 19:26, NKJV)

Matthew 12:46 (quoted at the top of this page), Mark 3:31 and Luke 8:19 all suggest that Jesus' mother and his physical brethren were all outside waiting to talk to him. If the word for brother or brethren meant the whole kindred of Jesus or his countrymen it would have to include the ones who were appealing to him at the door and the ones who were in the crowd. If the word brother meant just the sons of his aunt Mary the wife of Cleophas / Clopas / Alphaeus then why is not his mother at the door and why would the door man think that he should be wanting to stop what he was doing to speak to them? No, I believe that the person at the door was indeed his own mother because that would be the only person who would be important enough for any man to stop an important lecture to speak with her. Aunts and cousins could wait until he was finished with his lecture or whatever he was doing, but only a mother would be bringing some kind of news he needed to know urgently.

Once we can identify who James the Less truly was and who his father and mother were we can see that the scripture aligns him with Jude or Judas, Simon, and Joses as well as at least one sister Salome. The next two scriptures identify Salome as the child of one of the Mary's who attended to Jesus' burial rites and stood afar off while he was being crucified. She and another brother Joses were with her on the hill overlooking the crucifixion. Could they have been too young at the time to understand the situation?

"There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, . . . " (Mark 15:40, NKJV)

"Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him." (Mark 16:1, NKJV)

If Salome and James were with their mother, and their mother Mary was in fact Mary the aunt of Jesus, they could technically be the sisters and brothers of Jesus. It could technically be so, but why is an aunt of Jesus doing the personal care that is due to a mother of a dead son?

"And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons." (Matthew 27:55-56, NKJV)

"There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome, who also followed Him and ministered to Him when He was in Galilee, and many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem. " (Mark 15:40-41, NKJV)

"Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him." (Mark 16:1, NKJV)

"It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles." (Luke 24:10, NKJV)

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. " (John 19:25, NKJV)

The only scripture verse which includes all three of the Marys into one is the last one and this would indicate that Jesus's mother had a sister or sister in law named Mary whose husband was Cleophas / Clopas, but it does not say that she is the mother of James the Less.

So then we come to a passage in Acts 1:14 which says :

"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." (Acts 1:14, NKJV)

Why would the mother of Jesus be here with the rest of the church if she had not been the same one who cared for the body and watched from afar? Her other two sons Jude and James were also disciples of the first apostolic church and wrote epistles to the brethren that are in the canonized Scripture. In Matthew 12:46-50 Jesus is contrasting his physical brothers and sisters who people knew versus who Jesus considered to be his SPIRITUAL brothers and sisters - those who had been called out of this world by his heavenly Father.

Nowhere does it say that Mary and the men called Simon, James, Judas, and Joses can't be the mother and brothers of Jesus. In fact, one other scripture lists ALL the physical brothers of Jesus by name and lets us know that Jesus had at least TWO sisters.

During his ministry Jesus and the disciples traveled from Capernaum (where Jesus lived during his public ministry) to Nazareth (where he grew up and lived until the age of thirty). When the Sabbath day came Jesus taught in the local synagogue. Those who heard his preaching KNEW Jesus' earthly family and some no doubt actually saw Jesus grow up from a boy to a man! Their responses to his words are both revealing and a bit sad:

"Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.  And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue.

"And many hearing Him were astonished, saying,  'Where did this Man get these things?  And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!  IS THIS NOT THE CARPENTER, THE SON OF MARY, AND BROTHER OF JAMES, JOSES, JUDAS, AND SIMON? AND ARE NOT HIS SISTERS HERE WITH US?'  So they were offended at Him.

"But Jesus said to them,  'A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, AMONG HIS OWN RELATIVES, and in his own house.' " (Mark 6:1-3, emphasis added, see also Matthew 13:54-57)

Those in Nazareth did not accept Jesus' words strictly in the light of scripture. Instead, they reasoned that somebody they lived near and whose family they knew quite well COULD NOT possibly be more special or wiser or closer to God than they were! They rejected Jesus' message because they FIRST found reasons to reject HIM! Though a sad testament to human nature, these verses do show that the MANY locals who heard Jesus teach in Nazareth were quite knowledgeable about the composition of his earthly family.

In conclusion, Jesus DID have physical brothers and sisters --- in fact, several of them! Including Jesus, Mary gave birth to FIVE boys and at least TWO girls, for a family of SEVEN children!