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I am not trying to start anything, i just have a question..and not sure where to put it. But here it goes

I was reading the gospel of luke and stumbled upon these verses that confused me:
[19] Once when Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, they couldn't get to him because of the crowds. [20] Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to see you."
    [21] Jesus replied, "My mother and my brothers are all those who hear the message of God and obey it."
Luke 8:19-21

I thought Jesus was the only son of mary, So did he have brothers?
I mean like her and joseph married all those years and aint have no more babies?
   

The catholics believe that Mary was a virgin and remained that way.  They believe Joseph was an older man who had children from a previous marriage (I guess Joseph's wife must have died).  This would account for part of the situation of Joseph's children being the brothers and sisters of Jesus.  Another theory is that "cousins" were called brothers and sisters.  The protestant belief is that Mary did not remain a virgin and had other children with Joseph.  

I've always found it a bit strange that Joseph just disappeared from biblical pages.  No one really knows what happened to him.

The apostle John and Jesus' mother Mary were at the foot of the cross when Jesus told John to take care of His mother.  I think that a bit strange too.  Why didn't Mary's own children (if she had others beside Jesus) take care of her?  Why were they not at the foot of the cross?  Where was Joseph, her husband?  Why didn't he take care of her?  After all, he was her husband.  Most people believe Joseph died before Jesus was ever crucified.

Hope I haven't added more confusion to your question.

Grace and peace,
cris

This story is relayed in Mat 12 and Mar 3 also. We also see in Mat 13:55-56 and Mar 6:3 that He had brothers and sisters. There are many theories in this area about how they were related. I do not believe that they were cousins as Luke uses the word cousin in Luk 1:36. Why would he use it there and not later. It is possible that they may have been step brothers and sisters but there is nothing in the Bible to support this theory. In fact it is indicated in Mat 1 that Joseph had only one wife, Mary.




Mar 6:3  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Gal 1:19  But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

PR,

I must reiterate again that I'm not catholic but sometimes sound like I might be.  I know a bit about catholic theology, though.

For over 1500 years everyone believed that Mary was ever a virgin.  Then, interpretation changed.  Who changed it?  I think even Luther believed Mary was forever a virgin, but I'm not absolutely positive of that.  From what I've read, there were those whom the catholic church called heretics 100 years before Luther.  No doubt, the catholic church was in need of reform, but I'm not sure the "Reformation" hasn't caused more problems.  As time marched on, there were those who "hated" catholics.  They called themselves Christians.  Even today there are still catholic bashers and haters among Christians.  The root of all of it is pure ignorance.

There are a couple of catholic programs I watch on EWTN, albeit not consistently, that have blessed me many times. I've learned much about catholic doctrine.  One is called The Journey Home with Marcus Grodi at 11:00 PM EST Saturday and the other is (forget the name) with Father Benedict Groschel on Sunday at 7:00 PM EST.  They are both live, with call ins asking various questions, (mostly protestants) and repeat several times during the following week, obviously not live, though.

The Journey Home show is about conversions to the catholic faith.  They claim they have 3 protestant ministers a week converting and these are who they interview.  Most of the programs are excellent but there have been a few I didn't care for either.  It's rare though.  One thing for sure, those who convert KNOW the catholic faith and are better catholics than cradle catholics.  I'm forever amazed with the Biblical and Early Church Fathers knowledge of these ones, for sure. Marcus Grodi, the host, is a former Luthern and then Presbyterian minister.  Everyone on this program is a former AOG, COC, Methodist, etc.  Again, very interesting and informative programs they are.

Grace and peace,
cris

So those verse mean that he did have brothers and sisters?

Yes.

So its possible that Jesus has great great(x whatever) neices and nephews? interesting...

I didn't get the indication that you were Catholic and I hope that I didn't sound like a Catholic basher. I have a friend that I grew up with that is Catholic. We had many a fine time discussing the Bible and differences in beliefs without anger or putdowns.



simplyangie,

Yes it is very possible. I would like to point out the following verses, also.

Mat 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Mat 1:24  Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
Mat 1:25  And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Take note the last verse here calls Jesus her "firstborn" son. An indication that there were other sons. It also indicates that Joseph "knew her" after Jesus was born meaning that she was no longer a virgin after that.

No PR, you never indicated that you thought I was catholic nor did I ever think you were a catholic basher.

It was me.............I thought I was sounding like I was, and just wanted to say I wasn't.  :P  I made a comment on another thread about the Douay-Rheims version of the bible in that I thought it might be the closer to the original.  Well, strange that I'm not catholic and would say that.  That's all.  I have a copy of the Douay-Rheims but use the NASB.


Grace and peace,
cris

Just remember that there his half brother and sisters. I remember a sermon were our pastor said that would make Joseph his step-dad. I never thought of it that way. It was really an eye opener.