MARY HAS NO OTHER CHILDREN

 What the Scripture says about other Brothers of Jesus Christ 

Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa

Mary had no other child except Jesus, although the evangelists (Matt 12:46; Mark 3:31-35; LK 8:19-21) referred to some people as the brothers of Jesus. These are named as James and Joseph [elsewhere Joset], Simon and Jude (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). Yet a different Mary (Mary, wife of Cleophas) is mentioned as the Mother of James and Joset (Matt 27:61; MK 15:40). Paul also called James the Lord’s brother (Gal 1:19), but we know too from the bible that James and John are sons of Zebedee (Mark 1:19).

Now, at the death of Jesus, we are told that, Mary the wife of Cleophas/Clopas (John 19:25), was present. She was described as the mother of James and Joseph (Matt. 27:56) in one account, and mother of James the Less and Joses in another (Mk 15:40). On the other hand, James is described as the son of Alphaeus in the synoptic Gospels' listing of the Apostles (Mt 10:3, Mk 3:18, Lk 6:15). We can infer that Mary wife of Cleophas is unlikely to be a true sister of the Virgin Mary, since they bear the same name. However, they are related in some way. This runs in parallel to the semitic use of "brother" in relating James, Simon, Joseph and Jude to Jesus.

An ancient historian named Hegesippus can shed further light. A native of Palestine, Hegesippus finished his Memoirs in the reign of Pope Eleutherius (AD 175-189) when he was an old man. He draws his information from personal sources, as he was able to question some surviving members of Jesus' family. Hegesippus can tell us that: "After the martyrdom of James, it was unanimously decided that Simeon, son of Clopas, was worthy to occupy the See of Jerusalem. He was, it is said, a cousin of the Saviour;" Hegesippus recounts in fact that Cleophas was a brother of Joseph (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III, 11).

St. Epiphanius (Haer., LXXVII, 7) says the same and adds (ibid., 14) "that this Simeon, the son of Cleophas, was a cousin of James the Just," as Hegesippus says in another passage. (Prat, Jesus Christ, p. 505). Cleophas is the brother of Joseph (Jesus' adopted father). It follows that Cleophas' wife Mary is the Virgin Mary's sister in law, which explains why they can have the same name and are called sisters. It also follows that James is Jesus' cousin. 

Ferdinand Prat reasons:

We know, then that the mother of two of the brothers of the Lord was Mary of Cleophas, the sister of the Blessed Virgin. We also know that Cleophas, St Joseph's brother, was the father of a third, called Simon or Simeon. Since the remaining one, Jude, is always connected with Simon and is, like him, part of the family of David, it is natural to suppose that he was also a son of Cleophas.

All the points that remain obscure would be cleared up, in our opinion, if two hypotheses are risked. Mary, the sister of the Blessed Virgin, having two sons, James and Joseph, by a first marriage, was married a second time to Cleophas, brother of St. Joseph, who also had two sons, Simon and Jude, by a former marriage. In light of the customs of the country and the age, there was nothing extraordinary in the marriage of a widow and a widower, each with children. The second hypothesis is that the sister of the Blessed Virgin had as her first husband a man of the tribe of Levi, called Alpheus.

In this fashion nine or ten problems would be solved. Thus one could explain why:

James, Joseph, Simon and Jude are always named in that order, as brethren of the Lord; 

James and Joseph are a pair distinct from Simon and Jude; 

Mary, sister of the Blessed Virgin, is called the mother of James and Joseph and not the mother of Simon and Jude; 

according to Hegesippus, Simon and not James is the son of Cleophas; 

again according to Hegesippus, Simon and Jude are of the family of David; 

according to tradition, James was of sacerdotal ancestry; 

the common opinion of Catholics identifies James, son of Mary, sister of the Blessed Virgin, with James the Apostle, the son of Alpheus; 

Mary of Cleophas is called in the Gospel sister of the Blessed Virgin, when she was really her sister-in-law, being the wife of St. Joseph's brother; 

after the deaths of Joseph and Cleophas, the two sisters brought their families together, so that thereafter the two families seemed to be but one." (Prat, Jesus Christ, p. 136-137).

We do not hear of Cleophas or Joseph (Jesus' adopted father) in the Gospels during Jesus' adult life. We can imagine that after their deaths, the two families—deprived of their protectors and heads—came together under one roof. This would further strengthen their ties: the two Marys as "sisters" and Jesus and His cousins as "brothers". Gospel and tradition kept these names without denying Mary's perpetual virginity. Furthermore, for the Jews, the term “brother” or “sister” is used for a co-religionist or a near relation.

Culled from CATHOLIC TEACHINGS IN THE BIBLE BY UTAZI PRINCE SFDPM