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Hi everyone. 
Welcome back to the Logical 

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Bible Study Podcast. 
We're taking a look at the 

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gospel reading from today's Mass
and then having a look at the 

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literal sense of the text. 
The church tells us we always 

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have to start with what the 
author was trying to convey to 

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his original audience. 
Today we're going to be looking 

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at Mark chapter 3, but before we
do that, I think this is one of 

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those ones where it's actually 
worth going back to a previous 

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passage and just looking at that
before we jump into today's 

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passage because it will make a 
lot more sense that way. 

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So let's go back to verse 21 in 
verse 21 of Mark, chapter 3. 

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So it's about 10 verses earlier.
Jesus relatives in Nazareth hear

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about Jesus. 
So Jesus is doing ministry in 

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Capernaum and his relatives, his
mother and his other relatives 

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who we'll explore shortly, are 
in Nazareth. 

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So the word gets around to them 
about what Jesus is doing and 

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people are bringing them this 
report. 

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So Mary and his relatives are 
hearing this report that Jesus 

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is out of his mind. 
So that helps with the context. 

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Now think about family 
obligations in that culture. 

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So family ties were really 
strong. 

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Any action by an individual was 
seen as a reflection on the 

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whole family, and any breach of 
family honour would result in 

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severe discipline. 
You did not want one of your 

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members of your family bringing 
shame on the family. 

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So from the perspective of Mary 
and the other relatives of 

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Jesus, really Jesus should be 
back in Nazareth being a 

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Carpenter rather than doing this
crazy tour, attracting crowds 

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and arousing the anger of the 
authorities. 

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Think about it, if Jesus is 
making the authorities in 

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Jerusalem angry, which we know 
he is, that's not going to 

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reflect well on his family. 
So they're concerned for him and

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they're concerned for their own 
welfare. 

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From what they can understand, 
this miracle working he's 

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supposedly doing is possibly 
just evidence of mental 

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imbalance. 
Remember they've seen him grow 

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up for 30 years just being a 
Carpenter. 

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All of a sudden he's a a star 
doing these miracles. 

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So their current thought is he's
a bit mentally imbalanced. 

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We need to go and get him and 
bring him home. 

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Also, another fact to consider 
here, Joseph has probably passed

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away by this time because he 
isn't mentioned at all after 

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Jesus childhood. 
So Jesus is probably 30. 

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Don't know how old Joseph was, 
but if we consider that a lot of

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people didn't make it past 50 in
that culture, it's it's 

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possible. 
But in fact I'd say it's likely 

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that Joseph is no longer alive 
by this point. 

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So Jose Jesus older relatives 
have sort of taken 

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responsibility for him. 
Jesus is under their charge, and

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so they, whoever they are, his 
older relatives and his mother, 

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set out to find him, and the 
text in verse 21 says they're 

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going to seize him. 
So they set out on this twenty 

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mile journey from Nazareth, 
their hometown, to Capernaum, 

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where Jesus is living and doing 
his ministry. 

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Then what happens in Mark is 
there's what's called a mark and

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the sandwich. 
So Mark starts to tell a 

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narrative, and then he stops 
abruptly, puts a different thing

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in there, and then resumes the 
original narrative. 

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Scholars call that a mark and 
sandwich. 

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So we have the Mark and 
Sandwich, and in the middle of 

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the sandwich is the passage we 
heard yesterday about the 

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unforgivable sin. 
And then Mark returns to the 

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description of his family coming
to get him, which is brings us 

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right up to where we are today 
in Mark chapter 3, verses 31 to 

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35. 
So here's the text of that. 

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The mother and brothers of Jesus
arrived and standing outside, 

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sent in a message asking for 
him. 

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A crowd was sitting around him 
at the time. 

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The message was passed to him. 
Your mother and brothers and 

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sisters are outside asking for 
you, he replied. 

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Who are my mother and my 
brothers? 

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And looking round at those in a 
circle about him, he said, here 

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are my mother and my brothers. 
Anyone who does the will of God,

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that person is my brother and 
sister and mother. 

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So that's the passage we're 
looking at today. 

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So verse 31, they arrive. 
The mother and the brothers of 

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Jesus arrive from Nazareth in 
Capernaum. 

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So they've just arrived in 
Capernaum. 

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So we have here the mother of 
Jesus. 

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That's Mary. 
Now, a lot of Catholics are a 

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little bit uncomfortable with 
this passage. 

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Now it's possible she was just 
dragged along by the other 

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family members, but I think it's
reasonable to say that at this 

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point, Mary does not fully 
comprehend what Jesus is doing. 

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The Angel Gabriel apparently 
didn't tell her the full extent 

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of what Jesus ministry was going
to look like, just that he would

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be the son of David that 
everyone had been waiting for. 

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She probably didn't anticipate 
this massive crowd thing and the

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authorities persecuting him. 
She didn't expect all that. 

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So at this point in Jesus 
ministry, it's quite early on. 

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She doesn't understand. 
And I do. 

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Think it's worth? 
Discussing this verse a bit 

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because as Catholics you can 
have different opinions about it

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as I. 
Said at the start there, it's 

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possible. 
That she does fully understand 

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everything that Jesus ministry 
would entail and she's just been

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dragged along. 
That is certainly possible, and 

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many Catholics. 
Hold to that view. 

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But we also want to think about 
what are the possible ways of 

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thinking about it in terms of 
she genuinely doesn't 

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understand. 
Well, we know that according to 

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Luke's Gospel, she knows quite 
early on that he is God. 

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So that Angel Gabriel. 
Says to her. 

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He'll be the son of David, the 
son of God, and then when she. 

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Visits Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth explicitly says you 

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are the mother of God, so she. 
Does know all of that, but it's 

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not entirely. 
Clear. 

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How much Mary knows about the 
exact details of what Jesus 

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ministry would look like. 
Theologians do. 

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Discuss this because. 
Certainly in the early chapters 

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of Luke's. 
Gospel. 

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It does say that. 
He's going to cause division, 

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but remember. 
That she's also. 

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In that same gospel and the 
Gospel of Luke, she's quite 

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concerned about Jesus when they 
find him in the temple. 

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That wasn't obvious to her that 
they would find him in the 

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temple, and she didn't expect 
him to be doing what he's doing.

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So I do think we as Catholics, 
we have room to say that Mary is

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concerned about some of the 
things she's seeing Jesus doing,

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and there's a whole lot more 
you. 

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Could say about this as you. 
Explore Marian theology. 

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You'll see that. 
Theologians have. 

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Agreed that. 
Mary had the fullness of grace, 

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but theologians are divided in 
terms of what that means about 

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her knowledge and. 
This is one of these verses. 

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It's well worth. 
Getting into but. 

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Probably by the time of the 
cross. 

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She does understand. 
She gets it then. 

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But at this stage it's OK for us
to say that Mary doesn't fully 

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get it and she's concerned about
Jesus. 

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She thinks is possibly a little 
bit gone, a little bit too far. 

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So there's the mother of Jesus. 
We also have the brothers of 

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Jesus. 
Now we need to explore these 

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brothers of Jesus. 
So firstly, the word brother in 

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Greek is a del force and in that
culture is used quite loosely as

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it is in the Old Testament. 
We have lots of examples of 

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people being called brothers in 
the Old Testament and we later 

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discovered they're not actually 
brothers, they're just close 

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relatives. 
So in that culture as it is in 

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some countries even today, 
people will be called uncle, 

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auntie, brother, when they're 
not literally that biologically,

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they're not biologically 
brothers, but perhaps they are 

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extended family members or 
cousins. 

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That's the way it was used in 
Jewish culture. 

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So just seeing the word Adolphus
doesn't guarantee that we have 

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here a biological brother of 
Jesus, just some sort of close 

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relative. 
We also know from later in the 

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passage that some of his sisters
are there as well. 

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So we have some brothers and 
sisters, so we know that there's

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some sort of senior close 
relative of Jesus. 

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Because remember, they feel 
responsible what they want to 

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take. 
They feel that they're 

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responsible for Jesus because 
Joseph has passed away, which 

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probably indicates that they're 
older than Jesus. 

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So they're senior relatives of 
Jesus. 

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Who are they? 
Let's see what we can work out 

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about them. 
These brothers and sisters of 

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Jesus are mentioned several 
times in the New Testament, 

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though we're never given a full 
explanation of who their mother 

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and father are. 
We just get little tidbits. 

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Another thing we know is the 
early Church unanimously held 

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that Mary remained a virgin her 
entire life, and that's Catholic

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teaching as well. 
Catholics. 

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A Catholic belief is that Mary 
did not have any children after 

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Jesus or before Jesus actually. 
So we know firstly, they cannot 

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be children of Mary, whoever 
these brothers and sisters of 

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Jesus are, They're not Mary's 
kids. 

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But also, if Joseph has died at 
this time, it seems like Mary is

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living with these other 
relatives in Nazareth. 

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Since she's still living in 
Nazareth, and since these other 

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relatives are also living with 
her in Nazareth, it seems likely

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that these other relatives 
probably grew up in Nazareth 

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too. 
If we put all that together, 

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probably we're looking at some 
blood relatives of Mary here, 

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some people who all grew up in 
the Nazareth area, some blood 

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relatives of Mary, as we already
said that they are probably 

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older than Jesus because of 
their authoritative behavior. 

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So they're born before Mary and 
Joseph were married. 

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Now here's the interesting bit. 
Later in Mark, in chapter 6 

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verse three, we actually get the
names of some of these so-called

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brothers of Jesus. 
So there's four brothers of 

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Jesus that we're given names for
in Mark chapter 6, verse three, 

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and you can look at this up as 
well. 

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We have James, Joseph, Judas and
Simon. 

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Now it's problematic as all four
of these names are really common

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even amongst you can see there 
that three of them, James, Judas

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and Simon, they have the same 
names as Son of Jesus Apostles. 

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And the 4th 1 Joseph is the same
as Jesus Father. 

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So it gets really confusing 
trying to track who these four 

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boys are, but we know for sure 
that they're not fool siblings. 

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And here's why. 
The James and Joseph, the two of

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the boys mentioned here, James 
and Joseph. 

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We later get more information 
about James and Joseph in Mark 

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chapter 15, verse 40. 
It says that James and Joseph 

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have a mother called Mary, but 
it's not the Mary that's Jesus 

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mother. 
So we Mark explicitly tells us 

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that James and Joseph are not 
full blood relatives of Jesus. 

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They're not full siblings. 
They are in fact from another 

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mother. 
So who's this other mother? 

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Mary. 
Many in the early church, we're 

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not sure about this, but we know
Mark tells us for sure that 

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they're not. 
They don't come from the same 

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mother as Jesus. 
And then on top of that, many in

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the early church believe that 
this other Mary possibly is Mary

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the wife of Cleopas mentioned in
the Gospel of John and the early

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church, A lot of the church 
fathers talked about this other 

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Mary actually being a relative 
of Mary, the mother of Jesus. 

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So if that's the case, if this 
other Mary is a relative of 

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Mary, the mother of Jesus, then 
roughly what we have here is 

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that these boys, James, Judas, 
Joseph, and Simon, basically 

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they're Jesus cousins or second 
cousins, something along those 

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lines. 
So it took us a while to get to 

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that conclusion. 
But if we put together all the 

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data, particularly what the 
Gospels tell us about the mother

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of these boys, we know for sure 
that they're not Mary's kids. 

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They're probably Jesus cousins. 
There's some other theories as 

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well, but I think this is the 
most plausible theory that these

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are blood relatives of Mary, but
not blood relatives. 

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Sorry, this that's not a good 
way of putting it. 

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They are blood relatives of 
Mary, but they are not Mary's 

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children. 
OK, so having said that, they 

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arrive in Capernaum. 
So that's they've been on a 20 

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mile journey, probably only took
a day or two. 

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They arrive in Nazareth and they
stand outside. 

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There's waiting outside Jesus 
home in Nazareth in Capernaum. 

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Because the crowd is too dense, 
they actually can't get into the

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house. 
Jesus is in his house. 

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He's healing people. 
He's teaching massive crowds as 

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usual, and it's too dense. 
They can't get in. 

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So keep this in mind. 
Often in pictures you'll see it 

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as though they could see Jesus 
or something and Jesus could see

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them. 
He actually can't. 

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From what we can tell, the crowd
is too thick. 

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They can't see each other. 
So what they have to do is they 

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send in a message. 
So they get they send someone to

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squeeze through the crowd to 
speak to Jesus. 

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And this is the message they 
send into Jesus. 

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Verse 32. 
Your mother and brothers and 

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sisters are outside asking for 
you. 

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That's the message Jesus gets. 
So remember, Jesus can't see any

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of his relatives. 
This is probably news to him. 

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He's probably going oh OK, these
people have arrived. 

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I wasn't expecting them. 
Who knows? 

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He's the son of God. 
Maybe he was expecting them. 

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But then his reply in verse 33. 
Because it says here, he 

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replied, It's seems likely that 
he's not speaking loudly to the 

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crowd here. 
Probably only those nearby would

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have heard his reply. 
Here That would include Peter. 

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And remember, Peter is the main 
source for this gospel of Mark. 

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So here's his reply. 
Who are my mother and brothers 

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now? 
Jesus here is not pretending to 

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know his biological relatives. 
He's not being like, oh, who are

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my mother and brothers? 
I don't know. 

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I've never met them before. 
That's not what he's saying. 

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He's just using this as a 
teaching opportunity. 

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He's about to springboard off 
this, to say something more 

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profound. 
Verse 34, looking around at 

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those in a circle about him. 
So the crowd that are nearby, 

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sitting, listening to him think 
about what's going on here, this

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inner circle of the crowd is 
sitting and listening to him. 

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And they're accepting the 
message of the Kingdom. 

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They're taking in, the message 
of the Kingdom. 

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They want to hear more about God
and about Jesus. 

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He says that here are my mother 
and my brothers, this inner 

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circle of the crowd. 
And then he goes on verse 35, 

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anyone who does the will of God.
Now let's pause there. 

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Anyone who does the will of God,
that's anyone in the world, even

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up until today. 
If you do the will of God, this 

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next bit applies to you. 
That person is my brother and 

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sister and mother. 
So anyone who does the will of 

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God, That's the prerequisite 
Jesus sets out here, can be 

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considered legitimately to be 
part of the family of Jesus and 

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God. 
Anyone who does the will of the 

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anyone who does the will of God.
So that's not just a nice 

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sentiment. 
You might go on retreats and 

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things and hear this oh, you're 
a child of God or Jesus is your 

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brother. 
Well, it is a nice sentiment, 

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but actually Jesus teaches this 
here. 

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It's literally true. 
Well, in a spiritual sense, it 

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is correct to say that we're a 
part of Jesus family. 

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So not only is Jesus 
establishing the Kingdom of God,

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he is doing that, but he's also 
establishing a new family of 

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God. 
We sometimes forget that aspect 

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of it. 
Jesus is establishing a new 

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family for God. 
Now let's go back to the 

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cultural aspect of this. 
Jesus says here's my brother and

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here's my mother and brothers. 
That would have been shocking. 

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You can imagine a gasp from the 
crowd because to essentially put

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aside your own biological family
and say, Nah, I have another 

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family, that's shocking. 
That's putting aside your the 

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00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,560
expected family obligations, 
that's quite scandalous. 

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Now one thing to notice who 
Jesus doesn't list in this 

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family, He says. 
Anyone who does the will of God,

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00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:18,120
listen to what he says is my 
mother and my brother and my 

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00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,080
sister who's missing from that 
list. 

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00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,640
Father. 
There's no father in. 

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00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,760
Well, there's no one who's added
into the family of God as 

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00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:30,880
father. 
That's significant. 

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00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,560
Jesus here is saying there's 
already a father of this family 

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and that's God. 
I think that's quite an 

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00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,400
interesting little bit of the 
text, isn't it? 

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God is the father of the family 
and Jesus. 

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Part of Jesus mission is to 
bring more people into that 

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00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,640
family, but there's no more 
fathers of the family because 

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00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:48,200
there's only one father in 
there. 

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00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,280
So let's try and get a Jesus 
overall meaning here. 

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He's not dissing his own family.
It's what he is saying though is

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00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:04,200
that his obligations to his true
spiritual family override his 

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00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,640
obligations to his natural 
biological family. 

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He is saying that that he has 
another family that's more 

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significant even than his 
biological family. 

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So we can say that even the 
closest of human bonds, the 

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00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:19,839
biological family, has to take 
second place to the Kingdom of 

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00:17:19,839 --> 00:17:22,599
God. 
That still applies to US today, 

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00:17:22,599 --> 00:17:25,160
and we need to think about how 
that might apply, you know, our 

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00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,480
own lives. 
Now, he's not dismissing his own

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00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,520
family completely. 
He's not cutting them out of his

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00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,480
life or something. 
And think about if things looked

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different at that particular 
time. 

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00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:36,800
So there's a massive crowd in 
the house. 

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00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:38,520
He can't see them. 
They can't see him. 

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00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:42,000
If there was no big crowd, 
things might be quite different.

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00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,680
If Jesus was alone up in the 
hills, or just with his 12 

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00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:46,760
apostles, probably the 
conversation would have been 

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00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:50,200
quite different. 
It's just that there are so many

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00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,800
people there in the crowd with 
him, and he's in the middle of 

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00:17:53,800 --> 00:18:00,880
teaching and healing. 
So presumably he's saying right 

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00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:05,040
now I'm needed here. 
This is the family that I need 

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00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,480
to tend to here, and that's more
important than my biological 

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00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,760
family, and that's where the 
text ends. 

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00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:12,600
Presumably he would have 
continued teaching. 

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00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:14,840
He would have just kept talking 
for a bit longer, and it's 

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00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:17,720
possible maybe that he might 
have caught up with his family 

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00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,000
later. 
Who knows, maybe the crowd stuck

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00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,200
with him for too long. 
But it's possible that he did go

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00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:24,760
and see his mother and his 
family a bit later on. 

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00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:26,880
But that's not recorded for us 
in the Gospels. 

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00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,000
Another thing to keep in mind 
here is many of his family, many

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00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,800
of the people listed here did 
eventually accept Jesus as the 

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00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,200
Messiah. 
Obviously his mother did, and we

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00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,160
know that some of his brothers 
and sisters did. 

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00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:44,200
So that's mentioned in Acts 114,
one Corinthians 9 verse 5, and 

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00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,840
Galatians one verse 19. 
There's these references to the 

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00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,400
mother and brothers, sorry, the 
brothers and sisters of the Lord

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00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:53,720
who eventually become his 
disciples. 

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00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,760
Although for many of them it's 
not until after his death we 

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00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,840
know that one of them in 
particular was really important.

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00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:05,920
One of Jesus brothers called 
James eventually becomes the 

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00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:09,400
first Bishop of Jerusalem, and 
he becomes a really, really 

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00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,760
important figure in the early 
church, one of the most 

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00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:17,320
important. 
So that's our passage today. 

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00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,240
There's only one catechism 
reference, and that's paragraph 

353
00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:25,200
500, and it's in the discussion 
about how Mary is ever virgin, 

354
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:30,520
and it directly links to this 
passage and echoes a lot of what

355
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,960
I've been saying here. 
So paragraph 500 against this 

356
00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,880
doctrine of Mary's ever 
virginity. 

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00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,400
The objection is sometimes 
raised that the Bible mentions 

358
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,880
brothers and sisters of Jesus. 
The Church has always understood

359
00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,280
these passages as not referring 
to other children of the Virgin 

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00:19:48,280 --> 00:19:51,400
Mary. 
In fact, James and Joseph, 

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00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:56,600
brothers of Jesus, are described
as the sons of another Mary, a 

362
00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,480
disciple of Christ, whom Saint 
Matthew significantly calls the 

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00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,960
other Mary. 
They are close relations of 

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00:20:04,040 --> 00:20:06,920
Jesus according to an Old 
Testament expression. 

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00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,200
So I and I think that that's. 
You know, that's quite a 

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00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,160
legitimate thing. 
It's not that Catholics are 

367
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:16,920
grasping at straws here to come 
up with an explanation. 

368
00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:21,080
The text of the Gospels, 
particularly the Mark 15 that we

369
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:25,720
looked at today, actually tells 
us that these so-called brothers

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00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:27,520
of Jesus actually had a 
different mother. 

371
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:31,360
The Gospels tell tell us that. 
So it shouldn't be something 

372
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,400
that Catholics should be too 
concerned about. 

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00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,080
The the case here is pretty 
strong. 

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00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:38,320
Hopefully you'll learn something
new from this. 

375
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:40,600
It's a really interesting 
passage to explore for 

376
00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:45,080
apologetic reasons, but it also 
tells us a lot about Jesus 

377
00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,160
priorities and about how the 
Kingdom and family of God works 

378
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,920
as well. 
Thanks for listening. 

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00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,520
If you thought this was an 
informative podcast, please 

380
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,600
share it with some other people 
and we'll see you again 

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00:20:58,600 --> 00:20:59,160
tomorrow.