Brothers of Jesus
Many people use a few biblical texts to show that Jesus had biological brothers and sisters and therefore the Catholic Church is wrong about the virginity of Mary. Let's take a quick look at these and see if they make sense.
Matthew 13:55-56 : 55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude: 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence therefore hath he all these things?
Mark 6:3 : Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph, and Jude, and Simon? are not also his sisters here with us? And they were scandalized in regard of him.
Aren't these biblical obvious enough to show that the Catholic Church is wrong ? Not so fast. According to the Strong's Greek dictionary that I use, the word brother could mean
"a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote" . It could mean a brother by blood or simply a close relative like a cousin. That does not help us to confirm or infirm the fact whether Jesus had brothers by the same mother or not. However, the dictionary tells us that there's a possibility that the word brother could be used to mean cousin.
Let's look at a sample of Scripture text that gives us some insight in how the word brother was used in the Bible.
Genesis 11:27 :
[Darby] :
And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot.
[King James Version] :
Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
Genesis 14:14-16 :
[Darby] :
And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive; and he led out his trained servants , born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them as far as Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is to the left of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the property, and brought again his brother Lot and his property, and the women also, and the people.
[King James Version] :
14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
Hmmm.... From Genesis 11:27, we know that Abram was Lot's uncle. In Genesis 14:16, Abram is described as Lot's "brother", not his uncle. We see here that the word brother is used very loosely to indicate "a relative".
Therefore, concluding that Jesus had brothers and sisters by simply quoting Matthew 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3 is imprudent in my opinion.
One of the good questions that readers may ask is: if Jesus had brothers and sisters, then why did He entrusted His mother to the apostle John when He was on the cross ?
John 19:27: After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.
Wouldn't that be a great offense from Jesus to his "brothers and sisters" if they were his biological siblings ?
The above list of quotes of the Sacred Scripture is by no means exhaustive. I have selected only the texts that I believe are so obvious.
Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical texts are quoted from the Douay-Rheims Bible.
www.happycatholic.org