The idea
The other Mary appears three times in Mark's passion narrative — 'Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses,' 'Mary the mother of Joses,' 'Mary the mother of James' — and 'Mark would never refer to the mother of Jesus as the mother of James and Joses,' having already called her Jesus' 'mother' twice (3:31, 32). Luke's 'Mary the mother of James' carries Richard Bauckham's point: 'Normally in the early church only James the Lord's brother could be called James without risk of ambiguity' (Galatians 1:19; Acts 12:17; 1 Corinthians 15:7). And the widower theory — that the brothers were Joseph's sons by an earlier wife — fails because 'Mary the mother of James and Joseph is obviously still alive at the time of the resurrection.' Pitre's endnote adds that the theory rests on the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James, and would make Joseph a polygamist and Jesus not his heir.
Key verses
- Mark 15:40 — 'Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses.'
- Mark 3:31 — Mark calls Mary 'his mother.'
- Luke 24:10 — 'Mary the mother of James.'
- Galatians 1:19 — 'James the Lord's brother.'
- Mark 16:1 — the other Mary alive on Easter morning.
The connection
| Old Testament root | New Testament fulfilment | |
|---|---|---|
| A Mary identified by her sons James and Joses | → | Not the mother of Jesus, and not a dead first wife of Joseph |
Two of the three theories about the 'brothers' fall here: they are not Mary's sons, because their mother is another living Mary; and they are not Joseph's sons by a first marriage, because that woman is alive at the tomb.
Sources
- Modern scholars Pitre cites — Richard Bauckham (p 106)