VIRGIN MARY HAS NO OTHER CHILDREN

 MAMA MARIA HAS ANY OTHER CHILDREN APART FROM JESUS CHRIST?

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Some fundamentalists object to why Catholics teach that Mama Maria was a virgin throughout her life, even when the Scripture clearly says that Jesus Christ had brothers and sisters while on Earth. 

These fundamentalists and antagonists go further to state that there are even about instances in the New Testament where brothers and sisters of the Lord are mentioned. Such passages include: Matthew 12:46; 13:55; Mark 3:3134; 6:3; Luke 8:1920; and I Corinthians 9:5.

The aim of this article is to educate them and not to present an objection to their arguments.

2.0 FAMILY TREE TERMINOLOGY

Being “related” means that people are connected in some way: usually by birth, adoption, or affinity (marriage or partnership). In genealogy and family history, kinship terms (like siblings, parents, grandparents, first cousins, and once removed) describe how two people are connected or related, usually through common ancestors. 

An ancestor is anyone you descend from. In families, to descend means to come from. You descend from your parents, who descend from their parents, who descend from their parents, and so on. The chain of parents and children are your ancestors. It means that not every older relative is your ancestor. For example, your aunts and uncles are your relatives but not your ancestors, because you do not descend from them. 

A common ancestor is someone you and a relative both descend from. For example, your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents are all common ancestors to you and your siblings. 

Now, let us go to the point.

SIBLINGS These are persons of the same father and mother.

AUNT In the strict sense, this is the sister of your father and the sister of your mother. In a broad sense, it is also used for the woman who is married to the brother of your father or the brother of your mother. For example, if your aunt marries a man, he becomes your uncle. If she marries a woman, your aunts wife also becomes your aunt. 

NEPHEW Your nephew is the son of your sibling (brother or sister). 

NIECE Your niece is daughter of your brother or sister. 

COUSINS Your first cousins are the children of the siblings of your parent. You people share a set of grandparents. If first cousins have children, the children are second cousins to one another. They are the same generation because they share a set of great-grandparents. If second cousins have children, the children are third cousins to each other. They are in the same generation because they share a set of great-great-grandparents. 

3.0 MEANING OF THE TERMS BROTHER AND SISTER AMONG THE JEWS

The first thing to understand is that the term “brother” (Greek: adelphos) has a broader meaning than uterine brothers. It can mean a biological brother, but it can also mean an extended relative, or even a spiritual brother. The same goes for sister (adelphe) and the plural form brothers (adelphoi).

Take Genesis 13:8 for example. Here the word “brother (adelphos) is being used to describe the relationship between Abraham and Lot, who were not biological brothers but uncle and nephew: So Abram said to Lot, Let us not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers (Genesis 13:8; 14:12).

4.0 WAS MAMA MARIA HAVING OTHER CHILDREN APART FROM JESUS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURE?

These brothers are never once called the children of Mama Maria, although Jesus himself is a child of Mama Maria (John 2:1; Acts 1:14). Again, the attitude taken by the brethren of the Lord implies they are his elders. 

In ancient and, particularly, in Eastern societies, older sons gave advice to younger, but younger seldom gave advice to older. It was considered disrespectful to do so. But we find the brethren of Jesus saying to him that Galilee was no place for him and that he should go to Judea so he could make a name for himself (John 7:34). This kind of behavior could make sense for ancient Jews only if the brethren were older than Jesus Christ, but that alone eliminates them as his biological brothers, since Jesus was the first-born son of Mama Maria (Luke 2:7).

Furthermore, consider what happened at the foot of the cross. When he was dying, Jesus entrusted his mother to the apostle John (John 19:2627). 

The Gospels mention four of his brethren: James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude. 

It is hard to imagine why Jesus would have disregarded family ties and made this provision for his mother if these four were also her sons.

5.0 OTHER WOMEN NAMED MARY IN THE BIBLE

James and Joseph (called Joses), who are called Jesus brothers (Mark 6:3) are indeed the children of Mary but not Mama Maria, the mother of Jesus.

After the account of Matthew on the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, he writes: There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him; among who were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40).

6.0 WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAYS ABOUT OTHER BROTHERS OF JESUS CHRIST 

Mary had no other child except Jesus Christ, although the evangelists (Matthew 12:46; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21) referred to some people as the brothers of Jesus Christ. These are named as James and Joseph [elsewhere Joset], Simon and Jude (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Yet a different Mary (Mary, wife of Cleophas) is mentioned as the Mother of James and Joset (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:40). Paul also called James the Lord's brother (Galatians 1:19), but we know too from the bible that James and John are sons of Zebedee and Mary Salome his wife (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 (Matthew 27:56) in one account, and mother of James the Less and Joses in another (Mark 15:40). On the other hand, James is described as the son of Alphaeus in the synoptic Gospels' listing of the Apostles (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 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 Christ.

An ancient historian named Hegesippus sheds 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 the family of Jesus Christ. 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 (the adopted father of Jesus). It follows that Mary, the wife of Cleophas is the sister-in-law of Virgin Mary, which explains why they can have the same name and are called sisters. It also follows that James is the cousin of Jesus Christ. 

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 that country and that 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: (1) James, Joseph, Simon and Jude are always named in that order, as brethren of the Lord;  (2) James and Joseph are a pair distinct from Simon and Jude; (3) Mary, sister of the Blessed Virgin, is called the mother of James and Joseph and not the mother of Simon and Jude; (4) according to Hegesippus, Simon and not James is the son of Cleophas; (5) again according to Hegesippus, Simon and Jude are of the family of David; (6) according to tradition, James was of sacerdotal ancestry; (7) the common opinion of Catholics identifies James, son of Mary, sister of the Blessed Virgin, with James the Apostle, the son of Alpheus; (8) Mary Salome 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. the brother of Joseph; (9) 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 the adult life of Jesus Christ. We can imagine that after their deaths, the two families, who were deprived of their protectors and heads, came together under one roof. This would further strengthen their ties: the two Mary as sisters and Jesus and His cousins as brothers. Gospel and tradition kept these names without denying the perpetual virginity of Mama Maria. 

Furthermore, for the Jews, the term brother or sister is used for a co-religionist or a near relation.

CONCLUSION

Jesus is the only child of Mama Maria, but the spiritual motherhood of Mama Maria extends to all men whom indeed Jesus came to save. The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, that is, the faithful in whose generation and formation she co-operates with a mothers love (CCC 501).

REFERENCE

Chapman, G. (2000). Catechism of The Catholic Church. London: Geoffrey Chapman press.

Fradd, M. (2013). Jesus Had Brothers?. Retrieved from: https://www.catholic.com > magazine.

Osei-Bonsu, J. (2011). Catholic Beliefs & Practices.Takoradi: Franciscan Publishing. 

Utazi, P.B (2016). Catholic Teachings in the Bible. Owerri

© Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus 

June 12 2024

Feast of Saint Leo III