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It
has been stated previously that according to a visionary Catherine Emerich
(now a saint) the family of Jesus were members of a sect of very strict
observance called Essenes. The
scrolls of Qumran now verify that such a
sect existed at the time of Jesus.
If Jesus’ family were in fact Essenes it would have been likely they would have
belonged to a sub-group of this sect.
Somewhat like some fundamentalists of the present day they could
have referred to the members of this sub-group as 'brothers' and
'sisters'. Also scholars have said
that it was common at the time to refer to cousins as brothers and sisters
as well. If Jesus was moving out of
the Essene sub-group and forming his own sub-group c/f his disciples, such
a move would fit in with his calling these people his brothers and sisters
instead. Also, he was teaching about
the validity of a society based on order or place as well as the Jewish
social groups which were based on the observance of law. Jesus was teaching that the Originator of
the Universe that is, His Heavenly Father, endorses both types of
society. These disciples of Jesus
were trying to learn how to do this and in so doing were doing God’s will.
Once
again it appears that the family of Jesus is placed beside the severest
sort of criticism c/f the text because this follows some teaching about an
unclean spirit in the ‘house’ of men.
Perhaps the writer is developing the idea that the biggest moral
crises etc are within the family, that is, anybody’s family.
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