The Tax Collector's Kin

Five Disciples of Jesus!

Autumn, AD 27

Is it possible that at least four family relatives of Matthew the tax collector were also disciples of Jesus? Here I will show just how that may be.

Matthew vs. Levi

Matthew the Levite

Beginning at Matthew 5:27 and at Mark 2:14 are two virtually identical stories about Jesus calling a tax collector sitting at his booth to follow him. These stories continue with Jesus reclining at a meal and the Pharisees complaining about Jesus eating with tax collectors.

Except the stories differ in one key facet: The Gospel of Matthew calls this tax collector Matthew while the Gospel of Mark calls him Levi. He is also called Levi in the Gospel of Luke, which identifies the meal as a reception thrown in honor of Jesus, starting at Luke 5:27.

So is he Matthew, or Levi? In all three Gospels, this disciple is identified as Matthew when Jesus chooses his twelve apostles. So Levi must be a nickname, identifying him as coming from the tribe of the Levites.

And here's the rub: Levites are tasked in the Bible with collecting the taxes that support the temple, the priests, and the Levites in their support of worship, sacrifice, and song. But Matthew is collecting taxes for the government (King Herod) instead of for God (the priests). He thus earns his derisive nickname of Matthew the Levite.

The Call of Matthew

Follow Me!

The Sons of Alphaeus

Two sons of Alphaeus are mentioned separately as being among the Twelve apostles. This is not unusual, for Jesus has two other sets of brothers among the Twelve: Peter and Andrew, sons of Jonah, plus James and John, sons of Zebedee

James Son of Alphaeus

The synoptic gospels' listing of the apostles names all identify a second James as one of the twelve (Mt 10:3, Mk 3:18, Lk 6:15). Each of these three "synoptic" gospels identify him as "James son of Alphaeus." In other places this James is identified as "James the Less" (or perhaps "James the younger one" or "James the shorter one"). He does not play a central role as much as James son of Zebedee does.

Matthew Son of Alphaeus

In Mark's story of the call of Matthew, he calls him "Levi son of Alphaeus" (Mark 2:14).  If Matthew is a Levite, so also is his brother James. With Jesus' habit of signing up brothers, there is no reason to doubt that Matthew and James the Less have the same father.

The Grandson of Alphaeus

As Luke names the Twelve, he proceeds from "James son of Alphaeus" to "Simon called the Zealot," and then names "Judas son of James." There are many called James in the Bible.  Could this Judas be the son of James the Less? John's Gospel identifies this Judas as "Judas, not Iscariot" to distinguish him from the betrayer (Jn 14:22).

Judas Thaddeus Son of James

In both Matthew and Mark's lists of the Twelve a second Judas does not appear. Instead they list Thaddeus, (in some manuscripts Lebbaeus). Thaddeus is identified directly after James the Less, without further identification. With the  witness of Luke's list, scholars agree that this person can be identified as Judas Thaddeus son of James. Having two names was not uncommon in Jesus' day.

There are several "James" in the New Testament. The only James that scholars say can be mentioned without clarification is James the Just, brother of Jesus and leader of the Church in Jerusalem for many years after Jesus' death. But Thaddeus is not a brother of Jesus.

 Could Thaddeus' father be the disciple James the Less? The order and closeness of the names of James the Less and Thaddeus suggest this must be the case. This gives us a trio--three members of the same family on the inside group of the Twelve apostles.

The Wife of Alphaeus

At the crucifixion, John 19:25 lists three women named "Mary" who were present. These included his mother, and "his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas." Scholars have identified this as a potential second name for Alphaeus. The third "Mary" at the scene was Mary Magdalene.

Mary the Mother of James and Joses

In place of "wife of Clopas," the Gospels of Matthew and Mark have "Mary the mother of James and Joses/Joseph." (Joses is a diminutive of Joseph.) In any case, we can identify this second Mary as a disciple of Jesus.

Roman doctrine has held in the past that Jesus did not have actual brothers, but that James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude were in fact "cousins." This is highly doubtful, for there is a perfectly good word for "cousin" in Greek which Luke employs when needed. The "brother" relationship of these four men to Jesus is better explained as older step-brothers from father Joseph's first wife, as was understood in the second century. Death of a woman at childbirth was a not uncommon event in the first century.

Joses the Brother of James -- and Matthew

Joses then is another brother of James the Less.  It is possible that the third and oldest brother, Matthew, was a child of a previous wife of Clopas/Alphaeus, which would indicate why this Mary was not listed as Matthew's mother. So in Joses and his mother we have the fourth and fifth members of the Alphaeus family who were disciples of Jesus, although not members of the  Twelve.