On the carnal brothers and mother of Jesus in Revelation parodied in Mark 3

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Giuseppe
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On the carnal brothers and mother of Jesus in Revelation parodied in Mark 3

Post by Giuseppe »

If the episode of the family rejected by Jesus in Mark represents the institution of the group of the "Brothers of the Lord", as distinct from the 12, and as opposed to a carnal family of Jesus, then the idea of carnal brother of Jesus has to be older than the idea of a spiritual family of Jesus.

The fact is, that in Galatians 1:19, James is a spiritual brother of Jesus for reasons that are independent from the Mark's episode of the family.

Hence the idea that Jesus had a mother and brothers that are biological was a older myth, not a historical reality.


That idea is found in the Book of Revelation, where a BIOLOGICAL mother of Jesus is given (Rev. 12:5). The women has other BIOLOGICAL offspring (Rev. 12:17). There is no allegory at all here.

I think that in Mark 3 it is evident that the family of Jesus has done the sin against the Spirit (read also this), but especially note what the family is doing:

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

What motivated the family to persecute Jesus is basically not the knowledge of what Jesus was doing, but simply the precise knowledge of what the crowd was doing in that precise moment:

a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat


The being surrounded by a crowd and not being able to escape from it is precisely a deliberate parody of what the Woman and the CARNAL brothers of Jesus did in Revelation: to avoid that the Son was captured by "the dragon stood in front of her", by fleeing in a place without people.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

(Revelation 12:1-7)

The contrast is deliberate:

Revelation 12Mark 3
the Woman is besieged by the Dragon Jesus is besieged by the crowd
who surrounds is evilwho surronds is good
Jesus escapes the besiege, thanks the WomanJesus wants the besiege, despite of the Woman

Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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