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What Was It Like
to
Be the
BROTHER OF JESUS
~
•
by
George Geis
Suppose you had been a neighbor of Jesus' fami ly. What would you
have thought of Jesus, his brothers and sisters?
P
U RE SPECULATION?
No! There is a biblical
account of a man who
actually
was
Christ's broth–
er.
J ames- the author of the
book of James in the New Tes–
tament-is very distinctly
called "the Lord's brother"
(Gal. 1:19). His mother was
Mary. His story tells what it
was like to be the brother of
J esus.
Jesus' Family
When the brothers of Jesus are
listed, J ames' name appears first,
which would indicate that he was
the eldest of Jesus' younger broth–
ers (Matt. 13:55). For proof tbat
these were indeed Jesus' pbysical
brothers and sisters, turn to Psalm
69 , especially verses 8 and 9.
Jesus quoted verse 9 of this Psalm
of David as a prophetic reference
by David to J esus himself as the
Mess iah (see J ohn 2: 17). Bu t
verse 8 is also a prophetic refer–
ence-to the family of Jesus.
It
reveals that Jesus was to "become
a stranger unto my brethren and
an alien unto my mother's chil-
dren."
•
Notice, J esus' brothers and sis–
ters were
his mother's children
February 1982
(and therefore his half-brothers
and half-sisters).
After Jesus was born, both his
mother Mary and his stepfather
Joseph knew that God would be
well pleased for them to have chil–
dren of their own. Soon the expan–
sion of their family was under way.
In time James was born.
J ames grew up with J esus in the
town of Nazareth until Jesus was
30 years of age. He saw Jesus in
every conceivable situation. James
was able to observe from childhood
the way of life his older brother
Jived.
Perhaps when Jesus and James
were young children, they wan–
dered together in the countryside
and explored the rocky ledges in
the cliffs around Nazareth. On
occasions they would walk together
along the shores of the Lake of
Gennesaret to watch the fishermen
hau l their nets to shore. T hey sat at
a common table for family meals
and rehashed the day's events in
dinner conversation.
As they grew older, perhaps they
talked over the problems, aspira–
tions, frustrations and desires of
youth as they went to sleep. They
sat next to each other in the syna–
gogue on Sabbath and traveled
together along the road with their
parents to J erusalem to keep tbe
annual festiva1s of God. After a
hard day's work in their father's
construction busi ness, they perhaps
"talked shop" as they scrubbed off
the grime and sweat.
James probably had many dis–
cussions with his older brotber,
who displayed unusua1 wisdom at a
very early age (Luke 2:40).
Although James could not have
realized it at the time, he was hav–
ing set for him the perfect example
of obedience to God,
living
faith–
honoring one's parents, being an
example (Luke 2:51 ).
J ames found Jesus easy to get
along with- even when Jesus was
goi ng through bis teenage years
and then his early 20s. They must
have shared many enjoyable mo–
ments (Luke 2:52).
Famillarity
Yet , of course, James must have
sometimes gotten quite angry with
bis brother, and thought Jesus was
dead wrong. Even thougb J esus
was living perfectly according to
God's law, James didn't realize it.
At times he must have tbought
that bis brother's actions didn't
make sense. He was to Jearn dif–
ferently later.
Jesus was an important example
in another way. Tndications are
that J esus became the head of the
family certainly by his early 30s.
We don't read of bis stepfather
31