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.