Mark Chapters 8 and 9 - Christogenea on Talkshoe 11-04-2011
Discussing Mark last week I had made a radical comment concerning the blood brothers of Christ, that some of them were apostles. Here I will go over that again, because it is something which has not been discussed sufficiently, and due to a few inquiries I received, perhaps some people did not understand it.
The lists of apostles at Mark 3 and Matthew 10 agree: Simon Peter; James the son of Zebedee; John the brother of James; Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananean; and Judas Iscariot.
In Luke chapter 6 there is a James mentioned with John who must be that same brother and son of Zebedee mentioned in Matthew and Mark. Yet in Luke's list Lebbaeus Thaddaeus – who is only mentioned twice, once each in the original lists of Matthew and Mark - is not mentioned and seems to have dropped out of sight, because he is never mentioned again.
To fill out the twelve, "Judas the brother of James" is mentioned in his place. In Luke's account in Acts we see mentioned “Petros and Iohannes, and Iakobos [James] and Andreas [Andrew was Peter's brother, James and John were the sons of Zebedee], Philippos and Thomas, Bartholomaios and Maththaios, Iakobos [James] son of Alphaios, and Simon the zealot [the Cananean] and Iouda the brother of Iakobos.” The lists in Matthew and Mark being early in Christ's ministry, Lebbaeus Thaddaeus must have dropped out at some point for some reason, and Jude the brother of James filled the list out to twelve again when Luke made his lists.