Mark 15:40,41

Mark 15:40-41. These verses agree in substance with Matthew 27:55-56, but the order is different and the other variations throw much light on the questions which have arisen as to the persons mentioned.

Mary, the mother of James the little. Undoubtedly the wife of Alpheus (John 19:25), hence ‘James the little' is the Apostle ‘James the son of Alpheus' (chap. Mark 3:18; Matthew 10:3). We hold that she was not the sister of our Lord's mother (see on Matthew 13:55; John 19:25), but that Salome was. An additional reason for this view, and also against the opinion that James the son of Alpheus, here spoken of, is identical with ‘James the Lord's brother' (Galatians 1:19), is to be found in the expression here used: ‘James the little.' This may refer either to his age or his stature, probably the latter; but in any case it is used to distinguish him. James the son of Zebedee had been put to death many years before this Gospel was written (Acts 12:2), and the readers of this Gospel would need this term only to distinguish this person from James the Just, the brother of our Lord, who was well known throughout the early church, and the author of the General Epistle of James.

Joses. Against the view that this too was one of the Lord's brothers (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3) is the fact that his name occurs here twice (Mark 15:40; Mark 15:47) to distinguish this Mary, when according to the theory we oppose, two other brothers (Judas and Simon), who are thus assumed to be Apostles, are not mentioned. Mary the mother of our Lord had probably been conducted away by John before this time (see Matthew 27:56; John 19:27) .