Swammerdami
Squadron Leader
I tend to get fascinated with useless trivia! It's not so bad: It "keeps me off the streets", and once upon a time some of the useless trivia was just useful enough to build up a small nest-egg for me. Unfortunately -- Fair Warning! -- sometimes I share the useless trivia at IIDB.
First a disclaimer: I am NOT a Christian; I do NOT think Jesus worked miracles; I do NOT read the Bible for spiritual enlightenment. My sole objective is to try to guess the motives of the Bible's writers, and to try to guess the distinction between fact and fiction. I knew almost nothing about history for most of my life but, for whatever reason, an interest in history (especially ancient history or even prehistory) was aroused after I retired.
Sometimes it seems that the Gospel writers were very parsimonious with their words! Not only was papyrus expensive, but professional scribes had to be hired. For example, in the Gospel of Mark the only mention by names of Jesus' family -- with an important exception -- is this well-known passage:
I wrote that there is an important exception; a place where Mark does repeat his mention of Mary and two of Jesus' brothers.
This reluctance to identify Mary as Jesus' mother strikes me as peculiar -- and should seem peculiar whether you treat the Gospels as fact or fiction.
(By the way, I compose this post using TWO laptops -- each has deficiency -- and sometimes copy/paste verses from a Bible translation different from the KJV I usually use. This explains the Joses/Joseph substitution above -- two renderings of the same name. John/Jona/Jonah also seem to translate from the same (Greek?) name.)
Does the reluctance to name Mary, Joseph and Jesus' brother James seem peculiar?) This James is called "the First Bishop of Jerusalem", and was assassinated in the 60's AD, BEFORE the alleged writings of the Gospels.
There are other oddnesses in Gospel names which I'll mention in a follow-up post.
First a disclaimer: I am NOT a Christian; I do NOT think Jesus worked miracles; I do NOT read the Bible for spiritual enlightenment. My sole objective is to try to guess the motives of the Bible's writers, and to try to guess the distinction between fact and fiction. I knew almost nothing about history for most of my life but, for whatever reason, an interest in history (especially ancient history or even prehistory) was aroused after I retired.
Sometimes it seems that the Gospel writers were very parsimonious with their words! Not only was papyrus expensive, but professional scribes had to be hired. For example, in the Gospel of Mark the only mention by names of Jesus' family -- with an important exception -- is this well-known passage:
That's it!! Father Joseph is mentioned ZERO times in the entire Gospel. Brother James -- who became a top pillar of the Church before the Gospels were written -- is mentioned ONLY here in all the Gospels. (Matthew and Luke offer the same list of brothers; Matthew replaces "the carpenter" with "the carpenter's son," still not naming Jesus' father except in the Nativity myth of chapters 1-2.)Mark 6:3-4 said:Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
I wrote that there is an important exception; a place where Mark does repeat his mention of Mary and two of Jesus' brothers.
The "other Mary" is the mother of James and Joses, and therefore also the mother of their older brother Jesus! But does it seem odd not to just call her "Jesus' mother"? For some reason the author of Mark is reluctant to say this out loud! Why? (Matthew and Luke have the same reticence, with the former changing two instances of that Mary to just "the other Mary." John refers to Jesus' mother, e.g. in his famous last words, but mentions her by name . . . ZERO times.Mark 15-16 said:[15:40] There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome. These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him ...
. . .
[15:47] Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses [Joseph] saw where Jesus' body was laid.
. . .
[16:1] And when the Sabbath passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him.
This reluctance to identify Mary as Jesus' mother strikes me as peculiar -- and should seem peculiar whether you treat the Gospels as fact or fiction.
(By the way, I compose this post using TWO laptops -- each has deficiency -- and sometimes copy/paste verses from a Bible translation different from the KJV I usually use. This explains the Joses/Joseph substitution above -- two renderings of the same name. John/Jona/Jonah also seem to translate from the same (Greek?) name.)
Does the reluctance to name Mary, Joseph and Jesus' brother James seem peculiar?) This James is called "the First Bishop of Jerusalem", and was assassinated in the 60's AD, BEFORE the alleged writings of the Gospels.
There are other oddnesses in Gospel names which I'll mention in a follow-up post.