James the Just and the Family of Jesus

The Bible and other ancient sources tell us that Jesus had four brothers and at least two sisters, plus an uncle and aunt. These family members, especially his brother James, were responsible for carrying on his ministry as leaders and members of the Jerusalem Church after Jesus’ ascension. However, there is surprisingly little information to be found about these important people. Collectively they were known as the “Desposyni” (from the Greek “belonging to the Lord”), basically Jesus’ close relatives. But since ancient times, there has been disagreement over their exact relationship to Jesus. Some believe the brothers and sisters were the younger children of Mary and Joseph, born after Jesus. Others believe they must have been the older children of Joseph and a previous wife (named Escha), a claim made to preserve the perpetual virginity of Mary. Because the word “brother” in the Bible texts could mean full brother, half brother, step brother, or cousin, it would seem that the issue can never be resolved. Nevertheless, all these relationships were strong family ties. Suffice it to say that Jesus had family he called his brothers and sisters. The sisters’ names are unknown, but the brothers were named James, Joses, Simon, and Jude.

Jesus’ brother James is known to history as “James the Just” (in Hebrew Yaaqov Ha Tzaddik, Jacob the Righteous). This is to avoid confusing him with the two James among the twelve disciples. James was called the Righteous because he took the vows of a Nazirite (Numbers 6:1-21). These holy people were set apart for God for a specific period of time; during this they did not drink wine, eat meat, or cut their hair. Nazirites prayed, fasted, and studied scripture to become experts in the Law. What did James, a Nazirite, think of his brother Jesus, whose ministry brought accusations that he was not following Jewish Law? Indeed, what did Jesus’ whole family think of his ministry?

It appears that Jesus had the support of his family but not their unquestioning belief that he was the Messiah. What few gospel references we have suggest that Jesus’ claims evoked worried concern among his family. “Then [Jesus] went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” […] Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:20-35) This passage suggests that Jesus’ family wanted to protect him from the crowds and the accusations of having demonic powers. But Jesus did not want their help if it would interfere with his mission.

Another passage indicates that Jesus’ doubtful brothers pushed him to prove his Messianic claims despite the danger. “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” (For not even his brothers believed in him.) Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come […]” (John 7:1-6)

Whatever picture is painted by these few scenes, everything changed for Jesus’ family after his death and resurrection. Acts 1:3-2:4 explains what happened after those traumatic and astonishing events. “After his suffering [Jesus] presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father “[…] you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now […] and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. […] Then they returned to Jerusalem […] When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.” Thus we see that Jesus’ brother James and the rest of the family were present at Pentecost when “suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” Thus Jesus’ family was transformed and became “witnesses” to Jesus in Jerusalem.

The apocryphal Gospel of Thomas explains that Jesus himself chose James to be the leader of the disciples after he departed. Alternatively, James may have been chosen by the disciples. In any case, James the Just became the first Bishop of the Jerusalem Church. He was their holy leader until his death about thirty years later. The Apostle Paul called James one of the “Pillars of the Church” (Galatians 2:9). One notable decision made by James as Bishop was at the “Council of Jerusalem”, where he decided that Gentile coverts to Christianity did not have to be circumcised in order to belong to the new faith. “James replied, “My brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first looked favorably on the Gentiles, to take from among them a people for his name. […] Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.” (Acts 15:13-20) In this way, James gave Paul permission to minister to the uncircumcised and so allowed Christianity to spread more easily though the Roman world.

James was murdered by a new Jewish High Priest in the year 62. The historian Josephus wrote, “… Ananus, who […] took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews […] he thought he had now a proper opportunity [because there was temporarily no Roman Procurator in the city] so he assembled the Sanhedrin of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.” The outraged people complained it was illegal, “on which King Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he had ruled but three months.” The charge of breaking the Law, leveled against a Nazirite, was baseless, but James tragically joined former companions like Stephen in martyrdom.

The Jerusalem Church survived the loss. Jesus’ Uncle Cleopas had a son Simeon (Jesus’ cousin), who became the second Bishop of Jerusalem. In this way, the Desposyni continued to lead the early Church. But the Jesus movement in Jerusalem was diminished by the disastrous Jewish War against Rome and then finally, totally displaced when the failure of the Bar Kokhba Rebellion forbid any Jews from living in Jerusalem. At the same time, the Jesus movement among Gentiles grew stronger and spread across the Roman world.

So what happened to the relatives of Jesus? The second century historian Hegesippus recorded a poignant story about the grandchildren of Jesus’ brother Jude, which happened about sixty years after the Resurrection. “There still survived of the kindred of the Lord the grandsons of Jude who according to the flesh was called his brother. These were informed against, as belonging to the family of David, and Evocatus brought them before Domitian Caesar: for that emperor dreaded the advent of Christ, as Herod had done. So he asked them whether they were of the family of David; and they confessed they were. Next he asked them what property they had, or how much money they possessed. They both replied that they had only 9000 denaria between them, each of them owning half that sum; but even this they said they did not possess in cash, but as the estimated value of some land, consisting of thirty-nine plethra only, out of which they had to pay the dues, and that they supported themselves by their own labour. And then they began to hold out their hands, exhibiting, as proof of their manual labour, the roughness of their skin, and the corns raised on their hands by constant work. Being then asked concerning Christ and his kingdom, what was its nature, and when and where it was to appear, they returned answer that it was not of this world, nor of the earth, but belonging to the sphere of heaven and angels, and would make its appearance at the end of time, when he shall come in glory, and judge living and dead, and render to every one according to the course of his life. Thereupon Domitian passed no condemnation upon them, but treated them with contempt, as too mean for notice, and let them go free.”

And so the family of Jesus seemingly faded from history, not wealthy, and not powerful. People like James the Just and Simeon were leaders in the early Church, but the forces of history shifted that leadership to the Gentile world, and finally to the Roman Catholic Church. Military disasters suffered by the Jewish nation sealed the fate of the Jerusalem Jesus movement. Surviving written sources then tended to push the family of Jesus into the background, although traces of them remain in the New Testament and other writings. But perhaps there are still distant relatives of Jesus in the world today, people who do not even know they are descended from the likes of James the Just…?