<\/p>
Three women are mentioned in Matthew 27:56: Mary Magdalene, another Mary, identified as \u201cthe mother of Jakobos and Joses,\u201d and the unnamed mother of James and John. \u00a0Who is the second Mary? <\/p>\n
Matthew 13:55 is the only other reference to these names, Jakobos and Joses, and their mother. \u00a0There, the mother Mary is clearly Jesus\u2019 mother: \u201cIs not this the carpenter\u2019s son? \u00a0Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, Jakobos and J0ses and Simon and Judas?\u201d \u00a0We know from John 19:25 that Mary the mother of Jesus was at the cross. \u00a0It\u2019s likely that the other Mary (called \u201cthe other Mary\u201d in Matthew 27:61 and 28:1) is Jesus\u2019 mother. \u00a0The woman who bore Him \u2013 the womb that gave Him birth and the breasts He sucked \u2013 are present at His death. \u00a0Her presence gives a maternal spin to His resurrection; the tomb becomes His new womb. <\/p>\n
Why then is she called \u201cthe mother of Jakobos and Joses\u201d instead of the mother of Jesus? <\/p>\n
Perhaps because Jesus is dead, and His mother is now designated by the names of her surviving sons. \u00a0Perhaps too because, though Jesus will rise from the dead, He will not rise to flesh but to Spirit. \u00a0He will no longer be identified as the Son of Mary but declared Son of God with power. <\/p>\n
But perhaps Matthew wants us to catch the resonance of the names. \u00a0In Genesis, Jakobos and Joses do not have a common mother, unless it is perhaps Sarah or, at a more abstract level, the nation of Israel (which would be a stretch since Jacob is Israel). \u00a0But the names of Jakobos and Joses conjure up important tomb-related connections. \u00a0Both die in Egypt and are transported elsewhere. \u00a0Jacob\u2019s burial is recorded in great detail (Genesis 50:1-14), and Egyptians join with his sons in mourning his death. \u00a0Jacob is entombed in the cave of Machpelah, the purchase of rich Abram. \u00a0Joseph dies in Egypt, but his bones are transported at the exodus and are eventually buried in the land. \u00a0Both are buried in hope of inheriting the land. \u00a0Jesus too is buried in hope. <\/p>\n
Jesus is, further, a new Jacob\/Israel and a new Joseph. \u00a0He is the suffering, limping victor, the wily supplanter who overcomes His faithless older brother. \u00a0He is Joseph, opposed by brothers but exalted above them. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three women are mentioned in Matthew 27:56: Mary Magdalene, another Mary, identified as \u201cthe mother of Jakobos and Joses,\u201d and the unnamed mother of James and John. \u00a0Who is the second Mary? Matthew 13:55 is the only other reference to these names, Jakobos and Joses, and their mother. \u00a0There, the mother Mary is clearly Jesus\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-matthew"],"yoast_head":"\n