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Joseph after the final reference to
· him when Jesus was 30 years old
(Matt. 13:55).
If
so, Jesus set an
important example for James as
the family leader. And he also set
the example of hard work and
right management of the heavy
and technically proficient con–
struction business the family was
noted for. (The Greek word
tek–
ton,
translated "carpenter," can
read in the broad sense ·as "build–
er of houses"-that is, both wood–
worker and stoneworker.)
Yet there was the element of
familiarity that is always present
when two people spend a great deal
of time together. A prophet is with–
out honor in bis own country-or
his own family. James respected
and deeply admired his brother in
many areas, but for a long time
Jesus was always simply "Jesus" to
James. Whicb, of course, was quite
natural.
After Jesus became 30 (Luke
3:23), family events took a new
turn. James became concerned
when his older brother and leader
of the family went wandering off in
the wilderness away from home–
for a 40-day fast (Luke 4: 1-2) pre–
paratory to starting his ministry.
Jesus surely left someone in charge
of the family- perhaps James him–
self. But however Jesus prepared
for and explained his departure, it
must have seemed a little odd to
James at the time.
Strange Brother?
Then Jesus reappeared at a wed–
ding in Cana with sorne friends
(disciples) whom James probably
also knew (John 2:1-11). James
was relieved to see bis brother
again-and was fiUed with many
questions. Wbat happened when
Christ turned the water into tbe
finest quality wine? Perhaps it did
not even register in. James' mind.
He may have heard about or even
seen what happened, but after all,
how could Jesus-his own broth–
er- do something like that?
After the wedding, James went
to Capernaum with Jesus and his
new disciples. Mary herself also
went on the trip (Jobn 2:12). This
gave James the opportunity to talk
with the men who would now be his
older brother's constant compan–
ions- and who believed on Jesus
32
enough to follow him in his work
(John 2:11 ).
Jesus would not be spending
many more days at home. Because
from here on, he ·was to devote '
himself full time to proclaiming
the message of the Kingdom of
God (Matt. 4:17). He was making
many statements that must have
troubled James. Sorne teachings
like "the Son of man is Lord even
of tbe sabbath" and other ·public
announcements eventually caused
a group·of Jesus' former friends to
attempt to cart him off out of the
public eye-as they thought he
had gone berserk (Mark 3:21).
Perhaps even James was among
tbis group.
As late as thé autumn preceding
Christ's death, James still did not
believe that his brother was the ·
One of whom the prophets wrote.
John 7:2-9 gives the account in
which James and the rest of Jesus'
brothers somewhat skeptically
asked Jesus:
"If
you want to con–
vince people of your power, why
don't you go dow11 to J erusalem at
Feast time, where there'll be
hundreds of thousands of people to
see you?
If
you are real!y doing
these miracles, let the whole world
see!"
Jesus answered bis brothers eye–
ball-to-eyeball in no uncertain
terms. In modero terms he might
have said, "I'm headed on a colli–
sion course with this world, but the
time for me to be put to death is
not here yet." Tbat reply must have
really set James tbinking.
James' attitude of unbelief was
not going to last much longer.
After Christ's death, James experi–
enced something that he would
never forget - something that
would act as a driving force for the
remainder of his life.
Convlnced at Last
James must have had his brother's
murder constantly dominating his
thoughts and must have been con–
sidering the strange stories about
the circumstances of Jesus' death.
So it was quite a moving experi–
ence for James to see his dead
brother suddenly appear and then
say words to this effect: "James,
remember all those things that 1
told you about myself, about the
fact that 1 am the Christ? James,
my brother, they were all true,
and now you're seeing firsthand
evidence of tbem" (1 Cor. 15:7).
James was absolutely convinced!
His brother was alive again! He
now searched out Jesus'
dis~iples,
the very meo over whom he had
previously shaken his head (Acts
1:13-14). From this point on,
James was in on the grass roots
foundation of the Church of God,
very likely receiving the outpouring
of God's Spirit on Pentecost in
A.D. 31.
Now the constant contact that
James had had witb Jesus could be
valuably used by God. True, be
hado't spent a great deal of time
with Jesus during his 3\12-year min–
istry, but think of all the
years–
the tens ofthousands ofhours-he
had spent with Jesus when he was
so young and so impressionable.
Even Peter and John and the other
aposiles, though many had been
childhood friends, hadn't had so
much contact with Jesus at such an
early age and for such a long
time.
Many times in one's life when
there is a decision to be made, wbo
has not asked bimself, "Let's see,
how would Christ do it?" In many
cases in James' life- after bis con–
version-all he had to do was to
think back and say: "Let's see, how
did my
brother
do it?"
James now grew in spiritual stat–
ure under the direction of God's
Spirit. And a very few years later
he ·is shown as an apostle in tbe
Church of God (Gal. 1:19). Paul,
here, refers to James as an apos–
tle.
James' powerful writing style is
preserved for all time in the epistle
of James. The heavy influence of
Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is
obvious in this epistle-no epistle
of straw as Martín Luther called it,
but an epistle' of LIVING FAITH!
lt
was probably written shortly before
James' death, James dying in mar–
tyrdom in A.D. 62, according to
Josephus.
So James, the man who wanted
nothing todo with his brother's mes–
sage in the beginning, died for that
same message at the end- and will
forever, from the time of his resur–
rection, remain as a
real
brother of
Christ, in the fullest sense of that
word, in God's Family. o
The PLAIN TRUTH