Two Brothers

You could very well say that his brother embarrassed him very, very much. Even when they were boys growing up together that older brother was a bit weird. He said things and did things that no other young boy would even think of saying or doing. Unlike most other siblings the two of them never fought. They didn’t even argue. Big brother was so nice and helpful. He would do anything for all of his brothers and sisters. He proved to them every day that he truly loved them.

But the older the two of them got, the more embarrassed James was of his brother, especially when he was with him in the public setting. James saw his brother do some amazing things; acts he could not explain. He enjoyed watching his brother do what many called miracles, but what really embarrassed him were the claims he made, and the way he talked to the religious leaders. James was worried that if his brother kept saying these preposterous things about himself, and defying the sacred laws he would be arrested or maybe worse.

The religious leaders called him a heretic, and accused him of blasphemy. They didn’t believe what he was saying about himself, and for that matter James didn’t believe it either. All of this worried James very much because he loved his brother, and didn’t want anything bad to happen to him even if he did embarrass the dickens out of him.

There were times that James and his other brothers teased big brother. They thought maybe that would cause him to stop all of that nonsense he was saying about God being his Father. But he would just smile and say, “I must be obedient to my Father.” James knew that he was referring to God. That really bothered James.

Jesus healed people, turned water into wine, gave life to some who had died, delivered people from demons, and those 12 guys that followed him everywhere he went said he even walked on water. But James would not believe that he was the Messiah, the Son of God. James the brother of Jesus did not believe the most important truth about his big brother, Jesus. Many did, but not James.

Yet, James wrote one of the books in the New Testament.  How could that be? James, the brother of Jesus, was the author of the book of James. In his book James said, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” There we see that James is calling his big brother Lord Jesus the Christ, the Lord of glory!

What happened to change James’ mind about Jesus? The thing that happened to change his mind and his life was the greatest event ever, and has changed many lives for over two thousand years. It was the resurrection! James saw his brother die a horrible death on the cross. He saw him placed in that tomb. Then three days later his brother is alive. He saw him and talked to him. Many saw Jesus, talked to him and even ate with him. Many saw him ascend to heaven. That is what changed James. There is no denying the resurrection of our Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus it is so important that we tell others so that, like James, they will also believe in his  resurrection . The Resurrection was the greatest life changing event the world has ever known.