Msg Base:  AREA 3  - ASK FATHER (AMDG)
  Msg No: 13.  Wed  7-29-92 22:08  (NO KILL)
    From: Father Mateo
      To: Robert Cahill
 Subject: Holy Family

RC|Did Jesus have any brothers or sisters? A friend maintains that
  |Luke's reference to Jesus as Mary's first child supports this
  |theory. According to this friend, there is further biblical
  |support for this belief.
 
Dear Robert,
 
Your question is part of a larger dogmatic question: the Perpetual
Virginity of Our Lady.  The best treatment of this today is in Karl
Keating's book: "Catholicism and Fundamentalism".  San Francisco:
Ignatius Press, 1988. ISBN 0-89870-177-5. Pages 282-289.
 
Your question zeroes in on St. Luke's gospel, 1:7, "she gave birth to
her firstborn son".  If Jesus is called the firstborn, does this not
imply that Mary had other children?  No, such an opinion rests on a
misunderstanding of the way ancient Jews used the term "firstborn".
Keating writes: "(Firstborn) meant the child that opened the womb (Ex
13:2, Num 3:12).  Under the Mosaic Law, it was the `firstborn' son
that was to be sanctified (Ex 34:20)....  The first male child of a
marriage was termed the `firstborn' even if he turned out to be the
only child of the marriage."
 
In 1923 a Jewish grave inscription was discovered on the site of the
ancient Jewish settlement of Leontopolis in Egypt.  It marked the
grave of a Jewish woman named Arsinoe, who died while giving birth to
her firstborn child.  Obviously she can have no other children.
 
"Firstborn" in Jewish law and ritual was a legal term, used to
situate a boy within a special legal and ritual context, giving him
special duties and privileges in his family and in the community.
The ceremony which so situated the firstborn was to take place on the
31st day after his birth.  At that point he became legally and
ritually the firstborn even if he turned out to be the only child.
(ENCYCLOPEDIA JUDAICA, vol. 6, col. 1309).
 
When St. Luke wrote his gospel, he could have been familiar with
Colossians, written several years before the gospel.  There, Jesus is
called "The firstborn among many brethren".  Of course, those many
brethern are his disciples in every age and every place, the members
of his Mystical Body the Church (Ephesians 5).  So he is truly our
elder Brother.  Mary is our spiritual Mother and so Jesus was truly
her firstborn in the order of our redemption, though she had no other
children according to the flesh.
 
You mention other scriptures.  If you wish to ask about them, please
send me specific messages about the specific texts that interest you.
 
                                Sincerely in Christ,
 
 
                                        Father Mateo
 
 
.ORIGIN: 043/001 - THE ANGELUS,      -the Word became flesh                     
                                and made his dwelling among us -                
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