ALL IN THE FAMILY
And now for our most recent blog post titled “All in the Family.”
Jesus’ family is of massive importance to the gospel story.
Starting with Genealogy
The first verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew clearly states the author’s purpose to write: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”
Luke also feels Jesus’ family lineage is important, so he provides his version of Jesus’ genealogy. Matthew and Luke’s versions agree 100% on the Jewish lineage extending from Abraham, to King David.
However, Matthew and Luke have very different versions of the lineage from David up to Jesus’ birth. The most common view is that one gospel – Matthew –provides the legal lineage through Joseph as adoptive father. Luke may be the gospel that shows a genealogy through Mary as the biological mother.
Putting this on-going mystery aside, there are two things that important about these genealogies:
1) Jesus is the rightful heir to the throne of David — the case that the gospels of Matthew and Luke clearly want to make.
2) There are four women specifically mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy — in addition to Jesus’ mother mother Mary.
Tamar - the daughter-in-law of Jacob’s son Judah
Rahab – the inn-keeper at Jericho who harbored Israelite spies
Ruth – the Moabite woman who came went from gleaning fields to becoming the wife of Boaz and great-grandmother of David
Bathsheba – the wife that King David stole, who then gave birth to Solomon
Why are these four women so important to Matthew’s genealogy? They all came from questionable circumstances. Three of the four were not even Jewish but from nations that often opposed the Israelites. For Matthew, the lesson is that even outcasts have a seat at the table. They are all worthy to be counted as ancestors to the human Christ.
The Family Connection Goes Beyond Genealogy
Blood ties are not just a matter of history but also of what happens in the here and now. From the Bible and other historical sources, it is clear that, for Jesus, family ties are important not just during his ministry but in the life of the early church after his resurrection. Here are a few of the family ties to consider:
JESUS’ RELATIONSHIP AND DEPENDENCE ON JOHN THE BAPTIST
John was Jesus’ 2nd cousin – since Mary and Elizabeth were most likely first cousins. John the Baptist – the 2nd cousin – was the messenger, the one who came to prepare the way.
THE FAMILY TIES OF HIS MOTHER MARY – A JEWISH ARISTOCRAT?
It’s not in the Bible but tradition and an account from the apocryphal Gospel of James places the house of her parents, Anne and Joachim, close to the Temple area, by what was then known as the Sheep Gate. When Martin Luther made his vow to become a priest if saved from a storm, his prayer was to St. Anne, Mary’s mother. Today the place is also home to the Church of St. Anne, built by the Crusaders in the 12th century.
There is another tradition that says the Garden of Gethsemane may have been owned by Mary’s family. And Eastern Orthodox tradition is that Mary was buried perhaps just a couple of hundred feet away. (Church of the Sepulcher of Saint Mary)
THE ROLE OF JESUS’ BROTHER JAMES — LEADER OF THE POST-RESURRECTION CHURCH.
James would write the book of James - the point of which was to say that “faith without works is dead.” And Jesus’ other brother Jude also wrote an epistle – one of the shortest books of the New Testament.
Jesus’ family didn’t always think highly of him. There is a passage in Mark (3: 21) where Jesus comes home and a crowd gathers around. His family hears about it and goes out to seize him, for they were saying “He is out of his mind.” (ESV) Yet by the time of the resurrection church, Jesus brother James has come around. By the time of the first recorded Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15, it is James who is in charge – and who sets the rules for Paul’s mission to the Gentiles.
Years later, the late first century patriarch Clement of Rome said that James: “used to enter the (Temple) Sanctuary alone, and was often found on his knees beseeching forgiveness for the people, so that his knees grew hard like a camel’s from continually bending them in worship of God and beseeching forgiveness for the people. Because of his unsurpassable righteousness he was called the Righteous and Oblias – in our own language ‘Bulwark of the People, and Righteousness’”.
And the first century Jewish historian Josephus makes it clear that James was an important political and religious leader. The Roman governor named Festus who handled Paul’s case died. And before the new governor could arrive in Judea, the Sanhedrin was illegally called, and condemned James – who was thrown from the parapet of the Temple and then stoned and clubbed to death.
As told by Josephus, the execution of James in 62 AD created political havoc in Jerusalem. The new high priest had taken advantage of lack of Roman oversight to make a show of force, eliminating this competing local figure of some repute by the name of James – leader of the Jewish followers of Christ.
The illegal nature of this act was so blatantly apparent that other citizens of the city loudly complained both to the Jewish king (Agrippa) and the new Roman governor (Albinus). The offense was deemed serious enough that the high priest named Ananus was removed from office (after only a three-month term). Even more noteworthy is that the death of James set in motion a series of events eventually leading to the Jewish insurrection and subsequent Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
TRANSITION OF CHURCH LEADERSHIP FROM JESUS’ BROTHER JAMES — TO COUSIN SYMEON.
Symeon was the son of Clopas who according to John’s gospel (19:25) was married to another Mary (and who was reputed to be Jesus’ uncle).
Writing in the 4th century, here is what a person named Eusebius who wrote an early History of the Church had to say about Symeon:
After the martyrdom of James (the brother of Jesus) and the conquest of Jerusalem which immediately followed, it is said that those of the apostles and disciples of the Lord that were still living came together from all directions with those that were related to the Lord according to the flesh (for the majority of them also were still alive) to take counsel as to who was worthy to succeed James. They all with one consent pronounced Symeon, the son of Clopas, of whom the Gospel also makes mention; to be worthy of the episcopal throne of that parish. He was a cousin, as they say, of the Saviour. For Hegesippus (a 2nd century church historian) records that Clopas was a brother of Joseph (the father of Jesus).
- Eusebius, History of the Church
So Symeon was the 2nd leader of the Jerusalem church after his other uncle, James was killed. He reportedly led the church to Pella across the Jordan before Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 AD. And by all accounts he lived to a ripe old age – leading the Jewish church for about 45 years until 107 AD, and crucified in the reign of Roman Emperor Trajan.
FINALLY, THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT JESUS WAS ALSO RELATED TO THE BELOVED DISCIPLE JOHN AND HIS BROTHER JAMES.
Consider the following New Testament passages:
And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him. (Notice: Zebedee wasn’t just some poor fisherman; he had hired servants.)
- Mark 1:20
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
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
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!”
- John 19: 25-27
Here’s the mathematical logic:
Mother of Zebedee’s Sons = Salome = Jesus’ Mother’s Sister
Zebedees’ Sons = James & John
Therefore: James & John = Jesus’ Cousins