Rae Litting, New South Wales Regional Meeting

The Holy Family.  Anthony van Dyck

Paul also makes references to these brothers, especially James, in his epistles.  In Galatians 1, 19 he records that he did not meet the original followers of Jesus until 3 years after his conversion when:

I went to Jerusalem to obtain information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks.  I did not see any other apostle except James, the Lord’s brother.

In 1 Corinthians, 7 Paul lists those to whom Jesus appeared after his resurrection, ending with:

Then he appeared to James, and afterwards to all the apostles.

And there is a tantalising little complaint in 1 Corinthians 9 3-5:

When people criticise me, this is how I defend myself:  Haven’t I got the right to be given food and drink for my work?  Haven’t I got the right to follow the example of the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Peter, by taking a Christian wife with me on my travels?”

Although there seems to be a whole industry trying to prove that Jesus had a wife and possibly a child, no-one seems to have any interest in his nephews and nieces who must have been numerous.  The Greek historian Eusebius does recount a story of two grandsons of Jude who were arrested by the emperor Domitian, but released because they were peasants “of no account”!

While the brothers of Jesus were active in the early church there was probably no belief in the virgin birth.  In any case the Jewish tradition does not put much value on virginity as a sign of spiritual excellence.  The belief in the virgin birth comes from the gentile church.  Greek gods were given to impregnating human women, and Rome had a tradition of vestal virgins whose purity protected the Roman state.  As the belief in Mary’s lifelong virginity became dogma, it was necessary to explain away the brothers and sisters.  One way of doing this was to suppose that they were the children of Joseph by a previous marriage.  This is the belief of some Orthodox churches.  Those who follow this teaching generally depict Joseph as much older than Mary, which makes him a safe spouse for a committed virgin.

The Catholic tradition usually explains away the brothers and sisters as cousins.

It seems to me that these attempts impoverish our understanding of Jesus.  In the first place, they give us the Holy Family (2 virgins and a perfect child) as a model for ordinary Christians.  This is not a helpful model, and no couple embark on a life together with any intention of copying it.

The only story we have of Jesus as a child is the story from Luke Chapter 2 41-51 in which the family visit the temple in Jerusalem and leave without Jesus, not noticing that he was absent until “they travelled a whole day”. The historicity of this story is doubtful.  There is no mention of other children, and it is strange that these perfect parents do not miss their child for a whole day.  At the end of the story:

Jesus went back with them to Nazareth, where he was obedient to them”.

Actually by wandering off on his own he was not obedient to them, but then Jesus’ supposed obedience is stressed in the church’s teaching to children. “Christian children all must be/ Mild, obedient, good as he” according to the Christmas carol.  To a child this means “Shut up and do as you are told”, and offers no challenge or inspiration.

The Holy Family would appear to provide a good upbringing for a Holy Hermit, but Jesus was not a hermit.  He was a sociable man, who always travelled with friends.  We often hear of him being entertained in people’s houses.  He was comfortable in the company of a great range of people, from the teacher of the Law who asked “what must I do to receive eternal life” to tax collectors, peasants and fishermen.  He was a man who had brothers.

In Matthew 18 21-22 Peter asks Jesus how many times one should forgive one’s brother.  Seven times?  Jesus replied, “No, not seven times, but seventy times seven.”  Is this the reply of a pious man who never had a brother, or the reply of a man who shared a small sleeping space with 4 brothers, all treading on each other’s toes and borrowing each other’s possessions?  Surely seven acts of forgiveness would hardly get you through the week. Forgiveness is one of the key planks of Jesus’ teaching, and is central to the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus is also comfortable in the company of women.  He was not fazed by the “woman who had who suffered terribly from severe bleeding” (Mark 5 25-34) or the woman taken in adultery (John 8 1-11) or the woman of poor character who anointed his feet with perfume (Luke 7 36-50).  He was a man who had sisters, and I suspect they were women of some character!

It is of course true that Jesus spent time alone in communion with God.  I do not want to underestimate that aspect of his life.  But whatever divine insights he received had to be tested in the rough and tumble of family life, before being also tested during squabbles among his followers.  What a pity no great artist has supplied us with images of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.