The show is called Pastor Bob’s Bible Hour. Pastor Bob proclaims: “Jesus knew Catholics would come along and begin to worship His mother and call her perpetual virgin and absurd things like that. But the Bible says: ‘Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all of His sisters with us?’ (Matt. 13:55-56a). And isn’t it sad, my brothers and sisters?”
Pastor Bob goes on to say: “Jesus dealt with these Mary worshippers in His day. In Luke 11:27-28, the Bible says, ‘A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that You sucked!” But He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”’”
On a normal day you would probably just listen, take a few mental notes and drive on. But not this time. You’re feeling a little bit too saucy. You take the first exit you see and head for a phone. This is just one more reason why you need to buy that cell phone you’ve been talking about getting.
Step One:
You don’t have to wait long. Because you identified yourself as a Catholic to the station’s “call screener,” your call is put through and you’re on the air in no time. You begin by correcting Pastor Bob’s assertion that Catholics “worship Mary.” The Church honors Mary as the Mother of God and our mother (see Luke 1:43, Rev. 12:17, Eph. 6:1-3), but worshipping her would be a mortal sin according to the Catholic Church.
You then point out that Jesus wasn’t denying the fact that His Mother was blessed in Luke 11:27-28.
“If there’s one thing we agree on, it’s that Scripture doesn’t contradict itself,” you suggest carefully but in a friendly tone. You smile as you hear a hearty “amen on that!” boom over the phone line from Pastor Bob. “Well, Luke 1:48 says, ‘Henceforth all generations will call me blessed.’ Jesus would never contradict His own Word and say we are not to call His mother blessed.
“Far from saying Mary is not blessed and to be honored as such, Jesus was heaping a double blessing upon His Mother while teaching us a very important lesson. What’s most important about the life of the Mother of God was not her calling per se; rather, it was her cooperation with the grace of God she was given to fulfill her calling. She’s the ultimate example of one who ‘hears the word of God and keeps it.’
“In Luke 1:38, it was Mary who declared to the angel, ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the result was the incarnation of our Lord. Because of Mary’s yes, we have the possibility of salvation if we will but follow her example and say yes to the calling of God in our lives.”
Pastor Bob then reminds you how the Catholic Church contradicts the Scriptures in claiming Mary is a perpetual virgin. “Scripture clearly says Jesus has brothers and sisters. How do you answer that?”
Step Two:
You begin with Galatians 1:18-19: “Then after three years I [St. Paul] went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.”
“Notice two very important points,” you explain. “First, the ‘James’ St. Paul is talking about was a ‘brother of the Lord.’ Sound familiar? And second, he was an apostle. There are only two apostles named James. The first was the ‘son of Zebedee.’ He would not be the ‘James’ St. Paul was talking about because he was martyred very early according to Acts 12:1-2. And even if it were him, his father was named Zebedee, not Joseph. If he were the uterine brother of the Lord, his father would have been Joseph.
“There is only one James left who was an apostle according to Scripture. And according to Luke 6:15-16, his father’s name was Alphaeus, not Joseph. That would mean James the apostle and Jesus were not uterine brothers.
“We also know that Jude was the ‘brother’ of James according to Jude 1:1. So here we have two of the four ‘brothers’ of the Lord in Scripture as relatives of our Lord, but not his uterine brothers.”
You go on to explain to Pastor Bob that it was common in Hebrew culture (as it is in ours) to call one another brothers when, in fact, you were either extended family members or brothers in the Faith. References to Abraham and Lot in Genesis 13:8 and 14:14 are classic examples of this practice. Though they were uncle and nephew respectively, they called one another “brother.” (Some Bible versions, like the Revised Standard, translate the Hebrew word for “brother” here as “kinsman,” which of course only confirms this point.) In the New Testament, Jesus told us to call one another “brothers” in Matthew 23:8 (see also Acts 9:17 and 1 Cor. 2:1). This doesn’t mean we all come from the same physical uterus!
You then continue: “If I may just toss in another thought, Pastor Bob. If you examine the scene at the foot of the cross, you discover something very interesting. We know from John 19:25 that there were at least three people named Mary present: Jesus’ mother; Mary, the wife of Clopas; and Mary Magdalene. There may have been more because Matthew 27:55 tells us many of the women who ministered to him (see Luke 8:1-2) were following as well. But John also said ‘Mary’s sister’ was present. Who was she?
“Isn’t it interesting that St. Matthew referred to one of the Marys at the foot of the cross as ‘the other Mary’ in both Matthew 27:61 and Matthew 28:1? Could it be that she was the sister of Mary that St. John mentioned in John 19:25? Why do I say that? Simple: If you had a famous cousin like Mary and you were named Mary as well, it wouldn’t be surprising if you were referred to as ‘the other Mary,’ even though there were four or five Marys present. Everyone would know who was being referred to.
“Notice as well that St. Matthew identified two of her sons as James and Joseph. Here we see number three in the list of the ‘brothers of the Lord.’
“The bottom line: We have here at least two, perhaps three, of the ‘brothers of the Lord’ shown to be relatives, but not uterine brothers of Jesus. It’s certainly not a stretch to say that the Simon among the list of four ‘brothers’ was also a relative of Jesus. This is the clear context.”
Pastor Bob responds: “I think you’re twisting the Scriptures to fit your dogmas. Matthew 1:24-25 tells us plainly that Mary and Joseph had normal, marital relations like everyone else.”
(Be sure not to miss Part 2 in tomorrow's Touched by Grace.)
