Joan of Bark

Was Jesus estranged from His family? This is the contention of the late preacher and broadcaster Charles Templeton in his book Farewell to God (or via: amazon.co.uk). A possible reason for Jesus’ estrangement would be the fact that He was an illegitimate child, probably teased and derided as a youngster. Due to these experiences, He became very anti-family in general and in his anger also rejected his own family.

There are, as is so often the case, passages from the gospels to support and oppose this hypothesis.

(I am assuming that Jesus’ use of the word ‘brother’ includes personal family, although I suspect he meant it more in the sense of ‘neighbor’).

Pro-Family Passages (taken from the NIV)

Anti-Family Passages

Comments?

GakuseiDon

I wonder if the "pro-family" and "anti-family" headings are the right descriptors? Both groups of sayings seem to generally fall under "God first, then family, then self".

The one I find interesting is where Jesus says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple." The apologetic response is that "hate your family" here really means "like your family less than God". It makes the saying more palatable, but does anyone know that captures the sense of the passage more accurately?

Joan of Bark

That is the interpretation put forth by Christians, but I've never found the arguments very convincing. The logic seems to be, 'oh, our lovely Jesus could never be anti-family, so how can we interpret his words in a way we can accept?'

Actually, I find the idea of a bitter prophet rather compelling and in keeping with a man who overturned the tables of the money-changers and called for the annihilation of any city that rejected His word.

mountainman

Dear Joan of Bark,

We are dealing with a prophet who has been made popular due to his appearance in a literary work known commonly as the new testament. Many centuries after this epoch, today, we are in a position to question whether or not the personage of jesus ever actually existed, without being executed by the authority of those who used the authority of the NT to perform executions.

Having said this, it is quite possible that we are not dealing with an historical figure, but a fictional and literary figure of the second, third, or heaven forbid, even the fourth century. Therefore it may very well be appropriate to deal with the the question Was Jesus estranged from his family? with the following question ...

Was Clark Kent estranged from his family?

Best wishes,


Pete

Amaleq13

Please avoid derailing the discussion into yet another "Jesus Myth" thread. Thanks in advance,


Amaleq13, BC&H moderator

andrewcriddle

Mark 3:20-21 indicates that his family were estranged from/out of sympathy with Jesus.

Andrew Criddle

credoconsolans

This.

The Jesus of the NT is - in this passage at least - at odds with his family, either because he's embarrassing them with his public preaching, which goes against traditional Judaism/family values or because they believe he's unhinged because of his teachings, or because he really is off his rocker and they can't ever catch him alone without his followers around to lock him up. Seems Jesus keeps them at arms length to prevent this from happening.

neilgodfrey

That Jesus should be alienated from his family in a particular gospel narrative, with his family simply failing to comprehend his extraordinary nature or destiny, or verging on hostile, is an extension of the litrary/prophetic tradition that it must be so with all prophets or elect of God. Joseph and David are the most obvious models, but one finds the motif over and over (Abel, Jacob, Gideon, Jephthah, Hannah, . . . ) The theme is found in Psalms and other Wisdom lit. This sort of rejection serves to enhance the specially chosen status of the prophet/man of God -- he is beyond the comprehension of his kin, guardians, community. It is one of the most established of classic literary foils, and certainly not restricted to biblical narratives.

There is nothing unusual or surprising in an author (e.g. of the Gospel of Mark) opting to depict the Son of Man and Messiah and Son of God being misunderstood and disbelieved by his family and close village community. Given the extent of this trope, especially in the tradition of the biblical literature, there no room for any "criterion of embarrassment" in the equation.

Yes, Jesus was estranged from his family to this extent. There is more evidence for this being a literary question than a historical one in this case particularly.

Is it "derailing the discussion" to point out the clear literary trope behind the question for what it is?


Neil

Joan of Bark

Thanks for that, neilgodfrey. But what about Jesus' generally negative comments about families in general? It appears in some passages that He is demanding a more universal estrangement, and even a contradiction of the fifth commandment (which He claims to endorse).

Doug Shaver

If the man really existed, we know nothing about him. We know nothing about his parentage or how well he got along with his family.

Trying to sort fact from fiction in the gospels, assuming that there is any fact, is an exercise in pure speculation.