Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Ohio says they may be related to one another. I myself have never heard that. But it does seem clear they are in a relationship when Jesus shows up. This relationship becomes, in a large part, the vehicle for their going on with Jesus.
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Here's my basis for commenting that Jesus was related to James and John, and had a family relationship with them before the gospel record begins:
Matt 27.56 lists Mary Magdalene, Mary (mother of James and Joseph -- the Lord's mother based on Matt 13.55), and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (clearly James and John, the leading disciples)
Mark 1540 and 16.1 list Mary Magdalene, Mary (mother of the
younger James and Joses -- the Lord's mother), and Salome (we finally learn the name of the wife of Zebedee and the mother of the "sons of thunder")
Luke has no record of the sisters at the cross, but does include the message to the "daughters of Jerusalem"
John 19.25 lists His mother, His mother's sister, Mary (wife of Clopas, and not mentioned elsewhere), and Mary Magdalene
Here the author John lists his own mother as the Lord's mother's sister, hence John is the first cousin of Jesus.
Apparently, among the close cousins, James (son of Salome and Zebedee) was older in age than James (son of Mary and Joseph) so the former was referred to as James the elder, and the latter James "the younger." The elder James was slain by Herod in Acts 12.12, and the younger James became the leading elder in Jerusalem and authored the epistle by his name.