Four Relatives of Jesus You Never Knew

Real People: More Relatives of Jesus

From early church historians, we learn about more relatives of Jesus: An uncle who was there, a cousin that wasn't there, and two grandsons of a stepbrother. Our information about these men comes from Hegesippus the Chronicler, a defender of the early church who lived sometime between AD 110 and AD 180. Most of the work of Hegesippus is lost, but the church historian Eusebius preserves some eight of  its key passages.

Pioneers of the First Century Church

An Uncle of Jesus:

John the Apostle cites the name Clopas in the Bible at John 19:25, but only to identify his wife as one of the several Mary's who were present at the cross. From the Bible, all we know of Clopas is that his wife was one of the women who attended to Jesus' needs during his itinerant ministry. But Hegesippus tells us that Clopas was the brother of Joseph the husband of Jesus' mother, and is  therefore an uncle of Jesus. And again, Clopas is not mentioned for his own sake in Hegesippus' work, but solely to identify Clopas' son as a relative of Jesus. Nevertheless, anyone in the early church who was a relative of Jesus was held in high regard, and called part of  "the family of the Master."

A Cousin of Jesus:

Most of us have probably heard that John the Baptist was a second cousin of Jesus, because the Baptist's mother Elizabeth was a cousin of the mother of Jesus.  So most of us, myself included, knew of no other cousin of Jesus. But Clopas had a son, named Symeon, who played a prominent part in the early Jewish Christian church that met in Jerusalem. (This after tossing out the fallacy that Jesus' step-brothers were actually his cousins instead.) 

As I noted in my blog post on the first of May, Jesus' oldest stepbrother, James "the Just," played a prominent part in the mother church at Jerusalem, and was its leader after the apostles departed for "Samaria and even the remotest part of the earth" (Acts1:8). But James was assassinated by the Sadducees of the temple in AD 62. The church was eager to name a new leader to provide continuity in the Jewish Christian mother church, and turned to "the family of the Master" for its new leader.

The highly recommended Symeon son of Clopas was chosen, therefore, to be the second "bishop" in Jerusalem, even though he was little more than a child at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. He acquitted himself well in this task, leading the church for nearly forty years. Symeon's lengthy reign was cut off by heretics of the early church, who accused him to the Romans of harboring plans for a revolution. He was executed by the Romans near the end of the first century.

The Family of Jesus at the End of the Century

The Grandsons of Jude Worked the Family Farm

Great Story: Peasants Wrestle Emperor, Peasants Win!

Well, it wasn't exactly like that, but it sure made a great story. Hegesippus the Chronicler tells us a tale about two grandsons of Jude--that is, of Jude the youngest step-brother of Jesus.

Near the end of the first century it seems that the Jewish branch of the Christian church had earned the hatred of certain non-messianic Jews, who managed to fill Emperor Domitian's ears with tall tales. The tales told him of certain descendants of King David -- especially those associated with David's descendant Jesus "the Christ" -- that were plotting to overthrow the Roman Empire and place a descendant of David on the throne. Domitian reputedly responded with orders that those who were of the family of David should be put to death.

Historians Hegesippus and Eusebius report that the same "heretics" who informed against Symeon the son of Clopas also informed against Zoker and James, two grandsons of Jude, the writer of the New Testament book of the same name. They were ratted out as dangerous descendants of David,  who were preaching that the Roman Empire would be overthrown and ruled over by Jesus of Nazareth.

Hegesippus goes on to say, "These they informed against, as being of the family of David; and the evocatus brought them before Domitian Caesar, for he feared the Christ, as did also Herod." Now hold on a minute--full stop. An evocatus is a lowly soldier recalled to military service--not a likely person to stand before Caesar in a court of law. It is even more unlikely that Domitian travelled to Palestine to pass judgment on a pair of peasants, and we have no record of these two men being hauled all the way from Palestine to Rome to stand before Caesar.

No, the truth of the matter, stripping away the encrusted legends, is most likely that James and Zoker were hauled before Caesar's legal representative in Palestine, perhaps even by an evocatus who had been sent to Palestine to inquire about these 'dangerous' descendants of David.

In any case, we have a record of the conversation that went on in this court appearance. The judge asked the two men if they were of David's line, and they admitted that was true. Then he asked them what possessions or fortune they owned, and here is where we learn more  about these two real people:

James and Zoker said that between the two of them they had only nine thousand denarii, half belonging to each of them. But this was not in money, but rather in the value of 29 acres of farmland that they owned. From their own labor on the farm they both supported themselves and paid their taxes. They showed the hardness of their hands and the callouses on their body to prove that they were working people, not dilettantes scheming some overthrow of the empire. The judge inquired about Christ and his kingdom, and they explained that the kingdom was not earthly but heavenly, and it would appear at the end of the world when all men would be judged.

With their apparent innocence of any harm intended, and their declaration as faithful taxpayers of the Roman Empire, the judge discerned that he was wasting his time with these peasants and dismissed them. The decree of Domitian that the descendants of David should be killed--if such a decree ever existed--was heard of no more.

Returning to their kin and their church they were acclaimed as victors. They had been brought before the Roman Empire, had testified to their faith in Jesus, and had overcome the charges levelled at them. The result: not only were these two men of the "family of the Master" but also martyrs (testifiers) of the Kingdom of God under Christ. From that point forward their reputation was strong among the churches of Palestine and Galilee, and their judgment was sought when leadership was needed. Hegesippus says "they ruled the churches."

The side effect for us? Now we know that Jesus was a farmer in addition to being a carpenter, for the 29 acres that James and Zoker were working is almost certainly the family landholdings passed down from Joseph, the carpenter and husband of the mother of Jesus.

Real Bible People: Brothers by Another Mother

Carpenters and Farmers, plus an Author

Jesus and His Step-Brothers

We know that James was the oldest step-brother of Jesus. Here we'll take a brief look at the three younger step-brothers: Joseph (also known as Joses), Simon (also known as Simeon), and Judas (also known as Jude). After that we'll take a more in-depth look at Jude. Joses was definitely the second-oldest, and Jude was probably the youngest of the four.

Joseph son of Joseph as a boy was no doubt called by the diminutive Joses, to differentiate him from Joseph Senior, his father. Simeon is the Aramaic pronunciation for the Greek Simon, and the Aramaic version is what he probably heard as a youth.  Jude's real name was Judas, but it has become a custom of the church to call him Jude to differentiate him from Judas of Kerioth, who betrayed Jesus. As early as the first century, he was sometimes identified as Juda.

     (I may have used the above image already, to portray Jesus and his disciples. But it's such a great photo! )

Six Small-Town Construction Workers?

A teknon worked in wood, stone, and masonry

Let's dial back the calendar a bit, to AD 17, when Jesus was about 20 years old and his stepfather Joseph was still alive. He and his family were living in the village of Nazareth, which had a population of 200 or 250 souls. Joseph Senior was a carpenter (construction worker), and he trained his sons in this trade. But how many carpenters do you need for a town of 200 people?

We might say that a new house in Nazareth was built, say, once a year. Building a new house could easily use the talents of six able carpenters, but what do they do for the rest of the year? Small maintenance jobs would be available, but this would barely keep one carpenter busy. How did this large family keep their income coming in?

The answer is in the bigger picture. Galilee was in a big construction phase, led by its Ethnarch, King Herod Antipas. He was busy building cities and towns in the Greek style, with stadiums and race tracks. If he kept his people busy at these tasks, he would please his Roman overlords.

About six miles away from Nazareth was the substantial new city of Sepphoris, which was in an active building phase. The efforts of six skilled construction workers would be welcome there. And at only a six-mile walk, the men of Joseph's family could commute to work and sleep at home!

After the resurrection of Jesus, James the eldest son took up residence in Jerusalem, leaving Joseph's small-town construction business to be inherited by Joses, the second-oldest. Did this mean that the two youngest men would be unemployed between construction jobs? Part of the answer is below.

Six Dry-Land Farmers?

Dry-land farming near Nazareth

Somewhere near Nazareth, the family of Joseph owned a plot of farmland, about 29 acres in size. (Next week I'll go over how it is that we know this.) This was not likely to be an irrigated farm, but was instead a dry-farming operation, dependent on the early and latter rains falling on the fertile soil of Galilee.

The bulk of the work of running the farm fell into two periods: planting, and harvesting. Before planting, there were oxen available to be rented, to loosen and turn over the soil with plows. There were of course other Nazareth families who owned farmland. Planting season and harvesting season were community efforts, when everyone pitched in to help his neighbor. There was also weeding to do, If the farm-owners were careful not to pull up the new grain along with the weeds.

One of Jesus' most famous stories was the Parable of the Four Soils. Jesus didn't learn this story by  watching other people work the farmland. He was a farmer also, and observed for himself what happened when seeds that were sown fell on the road, or on rocky soil, or among thorns, or in fertile earth.

After the resurrection of Jesus, the three youngest of his stepbrothers returned to Galilee. If Joses was occupied by the family construction business inherited from his father, Simeon and Jude must have tended to the family farm to keep the groceries rolling in. One historian reports that "James and Jude were farmers." We know from other historians that Jude especially was tied to the 29-acre family farm, and next week I'll show how we know that.

Four Preachers and a Prophet?

Jesus' brothers went on missionary trips

A prophet, a teacher, and three preachers: We all know the story of Jesus, and how he gained great renown as a prophet and miracle-worker. From the two letters of James in the Bible (one of them at Acts 15) we can tell that he was a skilled teacher. Then from early church history we learn that the three younger brothers returned to Galilee and were preaching the Gospel there.

Based in Galilee, they made missionary trips to Syria and Babylonia and Egypt telling the story of Jesus and how, from the genealogy of Jesus, it could be shown that Jesus was indeed the Messiah foretold by ancient scripture. Some of the trips were extensive, and they brought their wives along. Their expenses were paid by the Jewish Christians in the early church to whom they brought their message.

All four of these men had been to Egypt as youths, and had contacts there, in addition to the contacts they made with pilgrims that came to the Jewish festivals in Jerusalem from Egypt, Syria, and Babylonia. The employment of the younger three as part-time carpenters and farmers afforded them the time to travel and spread the word of the Gospel. All indications seem to be that the eldest, James, stuck closely to the Jewish Christian mother church in Jerusalem.

In the AD 50's, many of the 12 apostles departed on long missionary journeys, and James put together a council of 12 elders to help him govern the church. The apostles John, Matthias, Matthew-Levi, and Philip appear on this list of 12, along with Joses and Jude, two of the stepbrothers of Jesus.

Jude, the Farmer, Scholar and Preacher

Jude was a farmer, missionary and preacher

The most formidable and skillful preacher of the brothers was Jude, whose book in the Bible is actually a seven-minute powerful and evocative sermon. Jude was an avid reader who acquired a wide vocabulary that augmented his sermons, in which he used not only distinctive words, but word play, synonymous and antithetical parallels, and rich sound structures using repetition, rhyme, and alternating sounds.

In addition, Jude was a student of end-times literature, especially that which was followed by the Essene Jews in Qumran. His sermon in the Bible is modelled after the pesher style of prophetic discourse, in which ancient scripture is re-applied to the situations of the writer's current time. Several pesher writings are among the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran, but Jude has written the only pesher prophecy written in Greek.

Next week we'll look at four surprising relatives of Jesus, about whom you have likely never heard.

Real Bible People: James the Just

James, James, and James: Which is Which?

First, let's look at this so-called name "James." The REAL name of all three of these men in the Greek-language New Testament is Jacob, not James. (Consult a Spanish Bible, for instance.) The original "Jacob" is the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, and father of twelve sons who came to lead the twelve tribes of Israel--which, by the way, was Jacob's other name.

So how did we get an English translation of "James" from the Greek name Jacobus? I have not yet been able to follow the tortuous path that got us here. What happened to the hard "C" in the name? Where did the ridiculous letter "M" come from? A partial answer is in the Latin Bible. There the Greek Jacobus is translated "Giacoma."

And why do we have three Jacobs playing major roles in the New Testament? In the first century AD, Jacob was the most popular name to give to a newborn Jewish boy. Jacobs littered the landscape, and they needed additional names or nicknames to tell them  apart. Let's take them one at a time, using today's English translation:

James son of Zebedee:

This apostle named James was also known as "Big" James, or by the later church, "James the Great." He was the brother of John, the "disciple Jesus loved."

James son of Alpheus:

This apostle named James was known as "Little" James, because he was of small stature compared to Big James. The later church called him "James the Less." He was also the father of Judas Thaddeus, another one of the apostles. Judas was also a common name, and secondary names were used to tell them apart. At one place in the Bible, he is called "Judas, not Iscariot."

James son of Joseph:

This was the oldest son of the first wife of the Joseph who later became the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus. This James later became known by nicknames such as "James the Just." He is the subject of this blog post, and we will deal with his additional nicknames farther down the post.

James, Eldest Brother of Jesus

Four Sons of Joseph

Four brothers of Jesus are named in the Gospels: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. (This is Judas #3, who we call "Jude.") Two or three sisters are also mentioned, but not named. The orthodox churches of the East follow the earliest tradition of the church (first and second century), which identifies these six or seven siblings as the offspring of Joseph and his first wife. Joseph is considered to be rather elderly in this tradition.

The eldest son, then, would have been born between, say, 20 BC and 12 BC. It is likely that their mother died in childbirth to the youngest, perhaps a girl. Joseph needed a wife to take care of these infants, toddlers, children, and teens. Tradition has it that Mary was quite young when she was betrothed to Joseph, which would mean that James and Mary would be of similar ages. This no doubt was an issue for Mary, the new wife and mother to the family of Joseph. When Joseph died, his son James became head of the family.

When Jesus started his preaching ministry, he upset the apple-carts of the ruling classes, who tried to get rid of him of by accusing him of lunacy. If Jesus were a lunatic, it would be the responsibility of the family to take care of him and confine him if necessary. As head of the family, it was up to James to investigate these claims. He took his brothers and Jesus' mother along with him to find out whether there was any truth to these claims.

Although Jesus was laying out some unorthodox teachings, once the family heard him preach there was no more mention of the spurious lunacy accusations. In fact, a year or two later Joseph and his brothers took it upon themselves to try to give Jesus some practical advice in how to advance his Messianic ministry. This is the first hint of a strong trait seen later in Joseph: he was a practical man who taught practical solutions.

James, a Leader in the Early Messianic Sect

Peter and James

After the incident of his advice to Jesus, James the Just disappears from the historic record, to reappear some 10 years after Jesus' crucifixion. By this time Big James has been killed by Herod Agrippa and the rest of the 12 apostles seemed to have scattered. Not so Peter, who is in Jerusalem accompanied by James the Just. When Peter escapes from prison he sends instructions specifically to this James. A year or two later, the apostle Paul finds Peter and James together, and identifies James as an apostle, like himself.

James, the Leader of the Jerusalem Church

James the Practical One

By AD 49, 19 years after the crucifixion, James and Peter seem to be the leaders of the Jerusalem church, along with a few unnamed apostles from the Twelve. Paul the Apostle comes to them to with a doctrinal question, specifically whether Paul's new converts from paganism have to obey the laws given to Moses. The leaders and elders, including some Pharisees who were followers of Christ, convened what has become known as the Jerusalem Council to consider this question.

Paul made a presentation of the great things that he had accomplished and the many new believers he had accrued from among the pagans, making a case that the Mosaic law was unnecessary for these non-Jews. The Pharisees disagreed, saying that these converts must be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses.

Peter replied with a visionary view of what God was accomplishing, saying that God had saved both Jews and Gentiles by the grace of the Lord Jesus, and that the yoke of the Mosaic law need not fall on these converted Gentiles.

Here James stepped in, and proposed a practical solution. He proposed that the whole of the Law of Moses need not fall on the new Gentile Christians. Instead, he proposed that a letter be sent giving them four restrictions to follow--restrictions  which would enable Jewish believers to participate in table fellowship with the Gentile believers.

James the Writing Teacher -- Author of Two Letters in the Bible

James the Writer

James' proposal was accepted by the Jerusalem Council, and the letter "written through their hand" was prepared and sent to Antioch accompanied by elders from Jerusalem. There is little doubt that it was the "hand" of James that actually wrote the letter, subject to the consent of the council. James' first letter may be found in the Book of Acts, chapter 15, verses 23b through 29.

(The four restrictions in the council's letter were: 1) Things contaminated by idols, 2) Sexual activity outside marriage, 3) Eating things that had been strangled, and 4) Eating blood.)

Within a few years, James the brother of Jesus wrote the letter we now call the Book of James, included in our Bibles and packed with plenty of practical instruction on how to lead a Christian life.

James, First Bishop of the Jerusalem Church

Although the earliest Jerusalem church was clearly governed by a council of elders, it could be argued that Peter was the first "overseer" (bishop) due to the extra weight given to his counsel. But after Peter's departure to Antioch and then Rome, James came to be the central leader in Jerusalem.

James son of Joseph Sr. organized a council of twelve elders to advise the church, which included his brothers Joseph Jr., Simon, and Judas (the third Judas, after Thaddeus and the Iscariot). Ancient church fathers looked at this list of twelve elders and interpreted it as a list of twelve sequential bishops of Jerusalem, which could only come about if there was an extraordinarily high turnover among the overseers of this Jewish Christian church.

But why "James the Just"? Perhaps it was James' practical, fair and even hand that led to his new nickname among believers in Christ. But through the years, the character of James began to be admired among not only believers, but also members of the Pharisee party. History shows that he was respected for his piety and his strict personal observance of Mosaic Law. He was also called "James the Righteous." Modern scholars call him "James of Jerusalem" for his prominence and historical significance leading the Jerusalem church.

The Trial and Death of James

Trial of James

By their nature, leaders have enemies that oppose their leadership. The success in converting some of the leading Pharisees alarmed many of the ruling class in Jerusalem. In the meantime the winds of war were stirring up trouble with Rome. The priests and Sadducees were advocating cooperation with Rome, while the Zealots were spreading rebellion.

The Roman governor was dismissed, and Rome was sending in a new governor who could perhaps deal with the rebellion. Ananus son of Annas was high priest, and he took advantage of the absence of a Roman ruler to put James on trial. He called the Sanhedrin (high council of the Jews) into session and maneuvered James into publicly declaring his faith in Jesus.

Ananus condemned James to death and had him thrown from the highest peak of the temple. James actually survived the fall, so a mob was induced to stone him and beat him to death with clubs. When the new governor arrived, he promptly fired Ananus, who did not have the authority to do these things. But it was too late. James the Just was dead.

The Bone Box of James Son of Joseph

Ossuary of James

According to custom, James was buried in a tomb sealed with a large rock. But these rock tombs were not designed to hold the revered dead forever. Instead, after a person had been deceased for a long time, his bones were collected and placed in an ossuary, a box for his bones. Traditions like that exist today, in which the ashes of those who have been cremated are preserved in an urn.

BUT, THE OSSUARY OF JAMES OF JERUSALEM HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!

Inscription on the Bone Box of James of Jerusalem

Inscription on the Ossuary

The custom for ossuaries was that the man's name and often the name of his father would be inscribed in the stone. But this ossuary had something additional and unique: inscribed in the stone was also the name of the man's brother.

Unique Inscription on Joseph's Bone Box:

Text of the Inscription on the Ossuary of James

The inscription is written in Aramaic, and reads, Jacob (James), son of Joseph, brother of Jesus. It therefor attests to the overriding faith of this James, and to the high regard that the church had for the relatives of Jesus, who called them the Family of the Master.

Incidentally, the word "brother," inscribed above in Aramaic, cannot be translated as "cousin." We will hear more about the Family of the Master in my next post, when I will deal with the other three brothers of Jesus.