Jesus' Brothers

 Recently in Come Follow Me, we read the epistles of James and Jude. Although scholars contest the authorship of these epistles, they are traditionally attributed to two of the half brothers of Jesus. If they were written by members of Jesus' immediate family, they could shed some light on the homelife of Jesus as he was growing up in Nazareth.

What do the scriptures say about Jesus' nuclear family? Not very much.  In Matthew 13:55-56 the residents of Nazareth were upset at Jesus' teaching and said, "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?

Even though this is a short passage, we actually learn a few notable things from it.  First off, we learn that Jesus had four half brothers and at least two half sisters.  We can also guess that at the time of this event, Joseph, Mary's husband may have died, because he is not mentioned as being "with us".

We can also, I think, deduce that they were a very orthodox family.  All of the names of the brothers are from famous people or words from the Torah:  James is really יעקב or Jacob (The KJV changed all the Jacobs to James to please their patron, King James), Joses is יוסף or Joseph (Don't know why they translated it Joses here, and Joseph in Luke 2.  Both names are exactly the same in Greek) , Simon is שמעון which is the first word of the most famous prayer in the Torah, the Shema, and Judas, is, of course, יהודה or Judah. You can't get much more orthodox than that. 

We also learn that they were not on the lowest rung of the social ladder since Joseph Sr was a τεκτονος which is most closely translated as builder or artisan, and was a skilled laborer. They seem to have had enough money to send even their non-miraculous sons to Hebrew school instead of keeping them home to work with their father because both the epistles of James and Jude are full of references to the Torah. Remember that no one back then had a torah scroll in their home to study.  You could only study the Torah in a synagogue school, or with a master and both options cost money. 

Both also seem to have risen to positions of leadership in the church after Jesus' resurrection despite having doubted his messiahship before his death (John 5:5) because both of them have epistles included in the cannon and the epistles are written as from a leader to their congregations. 

If James and Jude are Jesus' half brothers, the things they emphasize in their epistles might have been reflections of what and how they were taught at home.  If so, Mary and Joseph must have been both strict and loving parents. Both epistles not only emphasize loving and serving others, but also the necessity of strict obedience. James said "Then when lust has conceived, it bringeth fort sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren" (James 1: 15-16).  Jude said, "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord, Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts...But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on you most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." (Jude 1: 17-18, 20-21).  There isn't any hint of softness toward sin in ether passage, but each ends with an exhortation and expression of love.