Why do people refuse to admit that Jesus Christ had a brother?

Question

Saint John the Divine, the guy who had the revelation, was the son of Mary and Joseph. This makes him Jesus's brother.

Why doesn't he get some kinda recognition.

Answer 1

For the same reason they keep Sunday instead of Sabbath.

For the same reason they keep Easter instead of Passover.

For the same reason they keep Christmas instead of Succot.

For the same reason they defile themselves with pork and shellfish instead of eating only food as prescribed by the bible.

It doesn't fit their traditions.

But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matt 15:9)

Answer 2

There is no evidence that says that Jesus had any brothers or sisters. It is possible that St. Joseph had children from a previous marriage and was a widower. We do know that he was considerably older than St. Mary.

The passage in Scriptures referring to His mother and His brothers is a word that can be and most likely is used to refer to more distant relatives than brothers or sisters, therefore it offers no evidence for Jesus having siblings.

The Disciple James, who was the bishop of Jerusalem, in tradition is the cousin of Jesus instead of brother. Certainly the theological conclusions and beliefs of the early Church would have been very different if Jesus had brothers or sisters.

The best evidence from Scriptures of whether Jesus had brothers is when He was on the cross and told St. John that His mother was entrusted to Him for Her care. Had Jesus had a brother this would not have been necessary and would have been a cultural error as it is the elder son who is entrusted to care for the mother. Jesus said "behold your mother, behold your son" to St. John. (John 19:26-27)

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 3

You are totally wrong about John the Divine - he is never named as a brother of Jesus, anywhere.

In Matthew 13:55, and Mark 6:3, four brothers are mentioned by name: James, Joseph (or Joses), Simon and Judas (Jude/Juda); and several unnamed sisters (Matthew 13:56 and Mark 6:3)

You need to read your Bible with a little more care.
.

Answer 4

I never heard that one before. It was James that was the brother of Jesus. People might not like to recognize that because it means that Mary did not remain a virgin after Jesus was born. The Bible plainly says that Joseph did not know his wife until after Jesus was born, meaning she did not remain a virgin.

Matthew 1:24-25
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Answer 5

Because people refuse to give us a reason to. The Bible wasn't written in English. The Greek word ἀδελφός means "brother," "half-brother," and "step-brother." The Hebrew word it most likely had behind it had an even broader meaning that could include "cousin" or even "nephew."

Now, if you can provide a way to narrow that down, we would might feel a pressure to admit He had a brother, but if you can't, then *shrugs*, can you blame us for not feeling compelled to admit it?

As an aside, I do believe you're confusing St. John with St. Jude, or else interpreting the Master's words on the cross. When He said "Woman, behold thy son. Son behold they mother" He wasn't saying, "Look, I know you didn't know, but he's your son." Instead, He was committing His mother to John for care in her old age. Nothing there suggests that John was her son; to the contrary, it suggests she had nobody to care for her, and her only son was dying.

Answer 6

Believers will say it's because jesus was conceived through divine intercourse between his mother and the holy spirit (yeh, right). The other kids came along the more "earthly" way (Mary and Joseph doing the wild thang). So his brothers and sisters were just regular human beings.

Plus, the oldest kid is always the favorite.

Answer 7

Actually Revelation was written by John one of the Disciples of Jesus....James (who wrote the book of James.) was the brother of Jesus.

Answer 8

Maybe Mary and Joesph did have a son.But Jesus was not their flesh and blood .He was Gods. No bloodline to anyone but our Heavenly Father.

Answer 9

Jesus didn't have brothers. If he did, then he disgraced them. If he told the disciple at the cross to take care of Mary and Jesus had brothers, he was telling them that they are incappable and cannot be trusted with watching their mother.

Answer 10

He had at least half a dozen of brothers and sisters. Jesus was married, and had a daughter named Sarah, who lived in Southern France.

Yes, John the visionary (the alleged writer of the Apocalypse) was his brother.

PS: I like the answer that AZRA gave you.