Mark 3:31

Context

Jesus’ True Family

3:31 Then¹ Jesus’² mother and his brothers³ came. Standing⁴ outside, they sent word to him, to summon him.

John 7:3-10

Context
7:3 So Jesus’ brothers⁵ advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing.⁶ 7:4 For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself⁷ does anything in secret.⁸ If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 7:5 (For not even his own brothers believed in him.)⁹

7:6 So Jesus replied,¹⁰ “My time¹¹ has not yet arrived,¹² but you are ready at any opportunity!¹³ 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil. 7:8 You go up¹⁴ to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast¹⁵ because my time¹⁶ has not yet fully arrived.”¹⁷ 7:9 When he had said this, he remained in Galilee.

7:10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus¹⁸ himself also went up, not openly but in secret.

[3:31] ¹tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[3:31] ²tn Grk “his”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:31] ³sn The issue of whether Jesus had brothers (siblings) has had a long history in the church. Epiphanius, in the 4th century, argued that Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no offspring other than Jesus. Others argued that these brothers were really cousins. Nothing in the text suggests any of this. See also John 7:3.

[3:31] ⁴tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[7:3] ⁵tn Grk “his brothers.”

[7:3] ⁶tn Grk “your deeds that you are doing.”

[7:4] ⁷tn Or “seeks to be well known.”

[7:4] ⁸sn No one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret means, in effect: “if you’re going to perform signs to authenticate yourself as Messiah, you should do them at Jerusalem.” (Jerusalem is where mainstream Jewish apocalyptic tradition held that Messiah would appear.)

[7:5] ⁹sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[7:6] ¹⁰tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[7:6] ¹¹tn Or “my opportunity.”

[7:6] ¹²tn Or “is not yet here.”

[7:6] ¹³tn Grk “your time is always ready.”

[7:8] ¹⁴sn One always speaks of “going up” to Jerusalem in Jewish idiom, even though in western thought it is more common to speak of south as “down” (Jerusalem lies south of Galilee). The reason for the idiom is that Jerusalem was identified with Mount Zion in the OT, so that altitude was the issue.

[7:8] ¹⁵tc Most mss (Ì^66,75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupw) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 al lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw oupw wrote ouk. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.

[7:8] ¹⁶tn Although the word is καιρός (kairos) here, it parallels John’s use of ὥρα (Jwra) elsewhere as a reference to the time appointed for Jesus by the Father – the time of his return to the Father, characterized by his death, resurrection, and ascension (glorification). In the Johannine literature, synonyms are often interchanged for no apparent reason other than stylistic variation.

[7:8] ¹⁷tn Or “my time has not yet come to an end” (a possible hint of Jesus’ death at Jerusalem); Grk “my time is not yet fulfilled.”

[7:10] ¹⁸tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.