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Christian Corporate Concepts Inc.

The significance of these points has to do with the facts that:
a) breastfeeding virtually prevents conception, meaning longer breastfeeding would have spaced out Jesus' brothers and sisters approximately 2-5 years apart minimum, most likely about 3 yrs on the average (2 yrs breastfeeding plus 9 mths conception).
b) If Joseph and Mary were a typical poor Jewish family (we do know that they were poor Lev12:8 Lk2:24, and law-abiding Mat1:19a Lk1:30) their children would have been an additional help to the family income and not a hindrance--as is common in the families of today. Thus, it is highly probable that the family strove to have many children. The fact that Jesus had relatively few brothers and sisters (according to their culture anyway, not ours) means that Mary probably stopped conceiving and bearing children at some point long before Jesus' ministry began.
 
•Cana of Galilee, Jn2: This passage is another omission of Joseph's headship of the family, and possibly also points to the fact that Joseph was already dead. I.e., Mary did not ask Joseph, her "head" what to do, but sent the servant to ask her oldest son (Jesus) what to do instead, who would have been the next in line in command to take on the responsibilities of providing for the family. GOD then did the miracle because Mary believed, and deferred to her oldest Son Jesus, which was quite possibly her duty in order to fulfill her role or responsibilities as a just woman before GOD.
 
•The question, "Where did He learn letters?" in Jn7:15 seems to point to the fact that Joseph, whose responsibility I am certain it was to teach Jesus the Torah (which was held as a very sacred skill, not to be passed off too quickly on children who would not appreciate it), never was able to complete this task. In other words, the people commenting about him, "Where did He learn letters?" knew He had had no formal religious training, which, in a poor family, would have been the responsibility of his father.
 
The below excerpt, found and researched on 1/6/03 (after all of the above was written) basically confirms most of what was stated above. It was written by Dr. Karl D. Coke, and was taken from his web-site at... https://www.karlcoke.com/Jesus_Bar_Mitzvah.htm:
 
Lessons From Jesus' Bar Mitzvah
 
    The best passage in the New Testament to emphasize the need to discover Christ's Jewish roots is Luke 2:41-52, the days following His bar mitzvah. Nothing in Greek culture, language, or philosophy can shed light on this purely Jewish passage. Only a look into our Jewish roots can reveal the truth contained in this passage.
 
    In the Song of Moses (Exodus 15), it says in verse 2, "The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my GOD, and I will praise him, my father's GOD, and I will exalt him." To "exalt" or "enshrine" GOD is carried out in the bar/bat mitzvah. The bar/bat mitzvah is the official recognition of the celebrant's desire to begin a lifelong walk with GOD. It gives the celebrant an opportunity to "graduate" into a life-style of "walking with his/her GOD." Walking with GOD (halacha) is the ultimate goal of life. Walking with GOD is what Adam and Eve lost in Eden as the result of sin. It is what all men desire. The doorway into a walk with GOD is Jesus Christ. He said in John 14:6, "No one comes to the Father except through me." A bar/bat mitzvah is not just a "rite of passage" acknowledging reaching puberty. The bar/bat mitzvah offers the individual the opportunity to celebrate his/her decision to "walk with GOD" in a new and living way. This decision includes pledging one's life to the study of GOD's Word with the view of obeying all that GOD says.
 

     According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica Vol. 4, pp. 243-245, bar/bat mitzvah is "a term denoting both the attainment of religious and legal maturity as well as the occasion at which status is formally assumed for boys at the age of 13 plus one day, for girls at 12 plus one day... literature gives many references for 13 as the turning point in the life of a young person, e.g., Abraham rejected the idols of his father at this age (PdRE 26), and at 13 Jacob and Esau went their separate ways, the former to study the Torah, the latter to idol worship (Gen. R. 63:10). Until 13 a son receives the merit of his father and is also liable to suffer for his parent's sin; after that each one bears his own sin (Yal. Ruth 600)... A tradition recorded in the Talmudic literature (Sof. 18:7, ed. M. Higger 1937) alludes to the fact that in Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple, it was customary for the sages to bless a child who had succeeded in completing his first fast day at 12 or 13...
 
     The calling up to the reading of the Torah is a symbol of a boy's (girl's) attaining maturity. This is the first public demonstration of his new role as a full member of the community... When the boy's (girl's) father is called to the Torah, he recites the benediction, 'Blessed is He who has now freed me from the responsibility of this one.' ...The major ritual innovation obligatory on a boy reaching bar mitzvah is that henceforth he is required to put on T'fillin for the morning prayer."
 
    Only Luke records the events following the bar mitzvah of Jesus. This is recorded in Luke 2:41-52. It is important to know that a Jewish child in Bible times had three teachers. The mother was the child's teacher until weaned. The father was the child's second teacher until he/she reached puberty. The Torah, with all its Mitzvot, was the third and final teacher for each child. Therefore this celebration noted the change from the teachings of one's earthly father to his/her Heavenly Father. "Bar" means "adopted son." "Mitzvah" is the word best understood as "law." Therefore, "bar mitzvah" means "adopted son of the law." The Apostle Paul followed this same process in "founding," "establishing," and "releasing" the young church at Thessalonica. In I Thessalonians 2:7, he was like a "mother." In 2:11 he was like a "father." In 2:13 the church was taught by the "Word" (Torah) itself. Now, more "Jewish roots" to specifically help us understand Luke 2:41-45. Notice that verse 41 tells us that Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem "every year" for the Feast of the Passover. One must now know Deuteronomy 16:16 and Exodus 23:14-17 to know that Jews were required to be in Jerusalem three times each year: Unleavened Bread (Passover); Feast of Weeks (Pentecost); and, Tabernacles (Booths). One might also know Exodus 34:23-24 where the Lord promises to protect farms while people are in Jerusalem during GOD's Feasts.
 
    Luke 2:42 makes a point of saying, "When He [Jesus] was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom." That is, now that Jesus had become a man, He was joining His parents on this annually required trek to Jerusalem. This explains the Hebrew text of verse 49 (below) and the reason His parents did not look for Him until after they had started home for Nazareth.
 

    Luke 2:46-47 fits perfectly with the activity of a young man following his bar mitzvah. We find Jesus actually carrying out the purpose of His bar mitzvah. Jesus did not see this simply as a "rite of passage" into manhood. His purpose was to "exalt" or "enshrine" GOD by having a bar mitzvah. Following His bar mitzvah it was Jesus' intent to "walk with GOD" and have the Torah as His third and final teacher. He was, in fact, sitting with the teachers of the Law asking and answering questions! He had been for five days when His parents found Him. He was "listening" to His teachers as they explained Torah. "Listening" is the Hebrew word (Shema) which means "to hear with the view of obeying."
 
    The key verse in this passage is Luke 2:49. The King James version of the Bible says, "... wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" The New International version says, "Didn't you know I had to be in My Father's house?" Neither translation makes even the Greek text, oujk.h]deite o}ti ejn toi'" tou}.patrov".mou dei' ei'naiv me clear. The Greek text clearly says, "Knew [past tense] ye not that in the [affairs] of my Father it behooves to Me be?" The words "house" and "business" are not in this text. The word "knew" (past tense) is used, not "know." This indicates that Jesus and his parents had already agreed about what would follow his bar mitzvah. The Hebrew text of Luke 2:49 makes this crystal clear: (Hebrew fonts are not included in this website reproduction) making the following an exact translation, "Did you [plural, meaning both parents] not consensually know that I would become guided in My Father?"
 
    Mary had taught Jesus until he was weaned. Joseph had taught Jesus until He reached manhood. Obviously, in Nazareth, before "they" three went to Jerusalem to honor Deuteronomy 16:16, Jesus had received "consensual" agreement from His parents that, following His bar mitzvah, He would begin having GOD (the Torah) as his teacher. The silence of Joseph at this scene supports the idea that he may have already offered a blessing over Jesus similar to, "Blessed is He who has now freed me from the responsibility of this One." Joseph's silence reveals that he understood Jesus' new "walk with GOD" on his own. The fact that it began in Jerusalem and not Nazareth may have been the only surprise.

    The Hebrew text of Luke 2:52 reveals that Jesus "took possession of" and "was made strong in" both wisdom and stature. Further, it indicates that His growth was witnessed by both GOD and man as He faced them. You see, when GOD's Torah becomes the direct teacher for any man, and that man "listens" and "obeys" GOD's Word, both GOD and man will see the growth.

   WASHINGTON--A burial box recently discovered in Israel dates to the first century and could be the oldest archeological link to Jesus Christ, according to a French scholar whose findings were published Monday.
 
   An inscription in the Aramaic language--"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"--appears on an empty ossuary, a limestone burial box for bones.
 
   Andre Lemaire said it's "very probable" the writing refers to Jesus of Nazareth. He dates the ossuary to A.D. 63, just three decades after the crucifixion.
 
[CCCInc. note: It is interesting that the estimated A.D. 63 is exactly 3x3x3 years after Jesus's crucifixion in A.D. 36.]
 
   Lemaire, a specialist in ancient inscriptions at France's Practical School of Higher Studies, published his findings in the November/December issue of Biblical Archeology Review.
 
   The Rev. Joseph Fitzmyer, a Bible professor at Catholic University who studied photos of the box, agrees with Lemaire that the writing style "fits perfectly" with other first century examples. The joint appearance of these three famous names is "striking," he said.
 
   "But the big problem is, you have to show me the Jesus in this text is Jesus of Nazareth, and nobody can show that," Fitzmyer said.
 

   An expert on ancient inscriptions says the wording on a first-century burial box--"James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus"--refers to Jesus of Nazareth.
 
   If the artifact is authentic, it raises two questions: Who was James? And did Jesus have a brother and other siblings?
 
   The Gospels call James the "brother" of Jesus, and other New Testament books say he later led the Jerusalem church.
 
   The second question is trickier.
 
   Protestants traditionally read the New Testament as meaning Mary conceived Jesus as a virgin and then had James, three other sons and at least two daughters with Joseph.
 
   In accord with church fathers writing after the New Testament era, the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics teach Mary's "perpetual virginity," which means she and Joseph never had marital relations.
 
Taken from The Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, October 22, 2002

   TORONTO--Closer examination of the controversial limestone depository said to have contained the bones of James, brother of Jesus, has yielded evidence that adds to its authenticity, experts at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum said.
 
   Archeologist Ed Keall told a news conference that the clear outline of a carved funereal rosette--a traditional adornment on bone boxes of the first century A.D.--is visible on the back.
 
   Keall found the two faintly incised concentric circles, which probably included red-painted six-point stars, Monday while museum conservator Ewa Dziadowiec was repairing cracks the relic sustained in transit from Israel this month.
 
   He said his best guess is that the rosette suggests the ossuary, or depository, had been previously owned and that the bones of James would have been placed in it when the original owner's bones disintegrated.
 
   Keall said further analysis of the box's Aramaic inscription--Ya'akov (James) son of Yosef (Joseph) brother of Jesus (Yeshua)--supports the contention that it was made by a single hand.
 
   Since the ossuary's existence was first revealed Oct. 21, various experts and other archeological enthusiasts have attacked its credibility. Studying photographs, the skeptics have suggested that the second half of the inscription--including the reference to Jesus--is visibly different from the first half and must therefore have been the work of a second artisan. If that were the case, the Jesus reference might have been added at a later time, raising the possibility of forgery.
 
   But Keall said closer inspection indicates that the only difference between the two halves is that the second part has not been cleaned of its chemical patina and is thus more thickly encrusted with calcium carbonate, presumably accumulated during its 2,000-year exposure to the elements in an unidentified cave in Silwan, just east of Jerusalem.
 
   It is also now clear, Keall added, that the phrase "brother of" belongs to the first part of the inscription, which further undercuts the arguments of the box's detractors.
 
Scripps Howard News Service
 
Taken from The New York Times, Saturday, November 16, 2002
 

    Oded Golan, the Israeli collector who owns the box, told the museum session that Tel Aviv University statistician Camil Fuchs has narrowed the odds to three people or, by less cautious reckoning, "down to almost one person of the period."
 
    He said that Fuchs' calculations, not yet published, eliminate Jerusalem's non-Jews, children, the 85 percent who were illiterate and the 50 percent who could not afford ossuary burial.
 
   Fuchs' conclusion would cover a span of 90 years. But the museum's display says the letter shapes narrow the time of the inscription to roughly A.D. 50-70. Josephus, the most important Jewish historian in the 1st century recorded that James was executed as a heretic in A.D. 62.
 
Taken from The Chicago Sun-Times, Monday, November 25, 2002

From Newsweek Magazine, Nov '02...
 

James is historically important as the leader of the Christian church in Jerusalem during the middle decades of the first century, after the departure of the Apostle Peter for Rome. He was stoned to death in A.D. 62 at the instigation of the Jewish high priest Ananus.