[Footnote 6:  Now Kuryetein, or Kereitein.]

We have seen that in general the family of Jesus were little inclined toward him.[1] James and Jude, however, his cousins by Mary Cleophas, henceforth became his disciples, and Mary Cleophas herself was one of the women who followed him to Calvary.[2] At this period we do not see his mother beside him.  It was only after the death of Jesus that Mary acquired great importance,[3] and that the disciples sought to attach her to themselves.[4] It was then, also, that the members of the family of the founder, under the title of “brothers of of the Lord,” formed an influential group, which was a long time at the head of the church of Jerusalem, and which, after the sack of the city, took refuge in Batanea.[5] The simple fact of having been familiar with him became a decisive advantage, in the same manner as, after the death of Mahomet, the wives and daughters of the prophet, who had no importance in his life, became great authorities.

[Footnote 1:  The circumstance related in John xix. 25-27 seems to imply that at no period of the public life of Jesus did his own brothers become attached to him.]

[Footnote 2:  Matt. xxvii. 56; Mark xv. 40; John xix. 25.]

[Footnote 3:  Acts i. 14.  Compare Luke i. 28, ii. 35, already implying a great respect for Mary.]

[Footnote 4:  John xix. 25, and following.]

[Footnote 5:  Julius Africanus, in Eusebius, H.E., i. 7.]

In this friendly group Jesus had evidently his favorites, and, so to speak, an inner circle.  The two sons of Zebedee, James and John, appear to have been in the first rank.  They were full of fire and passion.  Jesus had aptly surnamed them “sons of thunder,” on account of their excessive zeal, which, if it could have controlled the thunder, would often have made use of it.[1] John, especially, appears to have been on very familiar terms with Jesus.  Perhaps the warm affection which the master felt for this disciple has been exaggerated in his Gospel, in which the personal interests of the writer are not sufficiently concealed.[2] The most significant fact is, that, in the synoptical Gospels, Simon Bar-jona, or Peter, James, son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, form a sort of intimate council, which Jesus calls at certain times, when he suspects the faith and intelligence of the others.[3] It seems, moreover, that they were all three associated in their fishing.[4] The affection of Jesus for Peter was strong.  The character of the latter—­upright, sincere, impulsive—­pleased Jesus, who at times permitted himself to smile at his resolute manners.  Peter, little of a mystic, communicated to the master his simple doubts, his repugnances, and his entirely human weaknesses,[5] with an honest frankness which recalls that of Joinville toward St. Louis.  Jesus chided him, in a friendly manner, full of confidence and esteem.  As to John, his youth,[6] his exquisite