Though not infallible in its historical science, the writer of Luke and Acts does mention Jesus having brothers active in his movement, ministry and church (Act 1:14) Some Christians believe this means "brothers in faith" while many, including the United Church have no problem believing that Mary and Joseph had a marriage with many children being born into their family after their rather odd (shall we say?) first child's production.

I likeHeather Bishop. I really like this one. It must be the feminist in me.
I read a funny little book once. It was called 'The Second Greatest Story ever Told'. God sends his second child circa 1970. God's daughter is born in Cooperstown. She is a Mets fan, but if she watches a game the Mets win. The message is "be kind".
I thought it was cool she was not a frilly girl and it was about baseball. What more could I want? LOL

Matthew 13:55 mentions brothers and sisters, whether blood relatives or not who knows. In Matthew 1:25, Jesus is called Mary's firstborn, not her "only".
No problem for me considering the possibilities. Can you even imagine trying to live up to your older brother if that brother was Jesus? Sheesh.

Extracanonical sources indicate that two of Jesus' sisters were Miriam and Salome. The Miriam (Mary) source is the Gospel of James where he says that that the three most important women in Jesus' life were all named Mary. They were Mary his mother, Mary his sister and Mary Magdalene his companion.

My own feeling is that Jesus' had half siblings, same mother, different father.

The strongest connection would be James "the Just" as Jesus' younger half-brother. The connection to Mary (Miriam) as Jesus' much younger half-sister requires one accept non-canonical sources ... but the connection there seems strong enough to lean on.

So? It seems to me the answer is Yes, Jesus had a younger sister named either Mary or Miriam, depending on how one makes the translation.

The Arrogant Worms have a great song called "Jesus' Brother Bob" about growing up in the shadow of the Messiah.

"Jesus' Brother Bob / A nobody relative of the son of God / If only I'd been born / Just a little sooner / I'd be more than the brother of "God Jr." "

I will be blunt here.

I believe that Jesus' four brothers and two or more sisters and of course Jesus himself were all childtren of the same father --- Joseph. The only qualification that I might make is that the circumstances of Jesus' birth are suspect and that he might indeed have been the result of a rape.

It was know that Jesus had half brothers and sisters so I am sure he had a baby sister and not just one but a few.

Why not have a baby sitter? Not, I would think, one of his brothers or sisters, if we accept that Jesus was the oldest, but among the neighbours.
My sense is that family was more linked with community in Jesus' day, and that there would always be someone nearby that Mary could invite to enjoy looking after Jesus for a while. Nuclear family is, as I understand it, part of the Industrial Revolusion's severe price. Stew.

Arrogant Worms have it right, that would be a tough act to follow (love that song!). As to whether Jesus was born of a virgin (not mentioned in all of the gospels, by the way) or not, it seems like the medieval debate of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. I don't really care who his F/father is, I do care what the message and instructions he left us say.

The other side of this debate is...

Who cares?

But yeah, the Roman Solider theory is probably where I would put my money.

Good on Joseph for standing up to claim the child as his own. A good role model for a lot of guys out there who do the deed but don't follow it through.

I believe Jesus grew up in an ordinary Jewish family with siblings. He had an ordinary childhood playing and having fun. Of course it was a poor village and the kids would have helped out working. He would have been in the homes of orthodox Jews who discuss religion a lot . It appears there was no synagogue in Nazareth so religion would have been taught at home. We hear about him at age 12-13 visiting the synagogue in Jerusalem (?) with his parents. He had learned a lot.

Mad Monk said"The other side of this debate is...

Who cares?

But yeah, the Roman Solider theory is probably where I would put my money.

Good on Joseph for standing up to claim the child as his own. A good role model for a lot of guys out there who do the deed but don't follow it through."

How do you explain His miracles? He also could not have died on the cross to save us because that would make Him an illegitamate human child NOT the Son of God.

I have no problem believing that Jesus had any number of half siblings. They did not have reliable birth control back then.

I would like to thow in the Jesus-Astronaut theory at this point.

Serena:

The Mad Monk doesn't believe that Jeuss performed miracles - but did perform acts of resistence against oppression. Stories of miracles tell me who Jesus is for me though, the one who teaches me to walk on water through the storm for example...

The Mad Monk doesn't believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins (talk about transference!) but that Jesus' death was a travesty of justice in which we see in his death all who are crucified as we seek liberation.

The Mad Monk does believe in you, though, and I hope you have a good rest tonight.

Peace,

MM

One of my favourite "heretical" speculations HAS to be the idea that Jesus was known in some circles as "Pantheroi" (son of Pantheros, aka an anonymous Roman solider) and this later became the label "Parthenoi" (son of the virgin).

It's ridiculous, and completely unnecessary. But still I love it.

People had to have Jesus be the son of the Most High God in order for him to be a credible alternative to the line of Augustus, who was also God, Son of God, God from God, Lord and Saviour of the World. Claiming that Jesus, a Jewish peasant who led no wars and was crucified in an act of love is all of these things, is to claim that Caesar is not.

Since few people still claim that Caesar was the physical son of Apollo, I see no reason to continue to claim that Jesus was the physical son of the Most High. What I do see value in, is the relationship between God, who called Jesus 'son,' and Jesus, who called God 'father.' But I consider it an 'adopted' relationship.

On the historical level, is it too much of a stretch to imagine Jesus having a poor relationship with Joseph (both of them knowing that he was conceived out of wedlock?) and forgoing that connection for a spiritual, adoptive relationship with the God who was so present for him, present in ways that neither his actual physical father nor Joseph ever could be? I don't think so.

It's an interesting debate to be having at the start of Advent, as we are about to read the story of the annunciation to Mary... What is the Advent value of this story if we do not take it historically, but as a retrospective imagination of what might have happened?

Gospelcrazy Strange also that the Bible states that His brother's didnt believe in Him being the Messiah, until after His resurrec tion.

What The Monk said.

Wow!

Over a DOZEN posts about Jesus, who his family might have been, etc... That focusses on the first part of my question but...
"Care to wonder what she might have been like? " is the part of the question I am most interested in.

So, MadMonk when you say "the other side of the argument - Who cares?"

I suppose my point was that, when I was growing up, there wasn't alot I could relate to about this Jesus, after a while. I got rather tired of hearing about him. I would've loved knowing about his sister or, if he'd actually had one, it would've been pretty cool, you know? But, of course, why would we ever hear if there was a sister. She's a she and not a He.

I think there are two main options for "what she would have been like..."

Either she would have been a lot like Jesus and James - politically active, spiritually aware, loving and kind...

Or else the opposite. Stay-at-home, middle of the road, don't get involved... like the caricature of the family of Jesus in Mark 3, who set out to seize him because he is "out of his mind" and he is embarrassing them.

With an eldest brother that powerful and committed, I think anything in between these two possibilities becomes less likely.

Thank you, GospelCrazy.

Magda ;

"Who cares?" was always the opening question of my history professor in university after we presented a paper to the class :-)

It was always a great way to get the debate going.

Gospel, thanks for the post on your views of the Caesar vs Jesus concept, that makes so much sense to me. It doesn't detract (in my mind, anyway) one iota from my concept of Jesus, and I still think that for a male jew growing up in an occupied country, he was thinking so far out of the box that he's still worth listening to even in 2006! Happy Advent, everyone!

MadMonk:
Your professor must've made you nervous at first, until you understood what he/she was getting at.
Thanks for your thoughtful posts (elsewhere on wondercafe as well).

Being thoughtful is my cross to bear.

I sincerely try each day to be shallow.

"Blessed are the shallow...depth they'll never find."