Verse 3 The carpenter. Matthew (Matthew 13:55) says the carpenter's son. It would seem, from Mark's expression, that Jesus had been accustomed to labor with his father.--Brother,--sisters. These words are often used in the Scriptures to express any near relative, as in Genesis 13:8, where Abraham and Lot are said to be brethren. It would seem from Mark 15:40, that the mother of James and Joses was a Mary; and from John 19:25, that she was a near relative of the virgin Mary, but not the same. She is called in several places the wife Cleopas. The words sister and son are used with the same latitude. Thus Christ is called the son of David.