INSPIRE BELIEVE GROW WRITER CONTRIBUTION
My Big Brother Says He’s The Messiah
Jesus Through the Eyes of James
A Good Jewish Family
Many, many years ago, in a place very different from here, lived a man called James. James came from a family larger than is common today; he had younger brothers Joseph, Simon and Judas, as well as some sisters. James wasn’t the oldest, though; that was Jesus. They lived with their parents, Mary and Joseph.
They lived an ordinary sort of life in the fairly unremarkable town of Nazareth.
But the stories his mum told James about the events of his older brother’s birth were certainly anything but unremarkable… Stories of an angel, then a journey seemingly at the worst time possible, so she gave birth away from home in a town called Bethlehem.
Then some strange visitors before fleeing a ruthless tyrant to live as a refugee in Egypt.
There was one time growing up when James remembered his older brother went missing at a festival in Jerusalem. That had frightened his parents; Jesus hadn’t seemed too concerned, though.
Inappropriate Friends!
It was as Jesus got older that James saw the trouble start. Jesus didn’t seem to want to take over the family carpentry business. Instead, he studied the scriptures and spent time in the desert.
Before long, he had a group of disciples following him around, hanging on his every word. To be honest, James was concerned about some of them: some fairly rough fishermen.
Well, they’re OK, I suppose, but a tax collector collaborating with the occupying Romans? A freedom fighter? — not the sort of people you really want your family to be associated with.
James thought that was when his mother really started to worry.
But people did seem to want to hear what Jesus had to say; it wasn’t long before he had quite a following as he travelled from place to place. There were stories of miracles, of bold claims his brother was making of who he was. James wasn’t convinced, though. Not at first, anyway.
Was Jesus Going Out of His Mind?
Jesus was saying strange things, making wild claims, and beginning to make enemies. Something had to be done. His father, Joseph, had died, so it was up to James and his brothers to go and bring him home. Their mother, Mary, out of her mind with worry, wouldn’t be appeased and insisted on coming too. But when they got to the place where Jesus was, they couldn’t even get in to see him. There were so many people gathered around. They passed a message to him, but he didn’t come out.
Jesus seemed to think of family in a different way than just the people you are related to.
Tragedy
The events that followed… well, things got worse. It sometimes seemed to James that Jesus went out of his way to upset the religious leaders. His brother seemed to want people to know what God was really like — a God they seemed to have forgotten.
But the rumours grew… the religious leaders wanted Jesus dead. These rumours turned out to be more accurate than anyone had dared think.
His brother Jesus was executed.
His mother had to witness it.
And James remembered his mother telling him a story of something an old man had said to her when Jesus was a baby — that a sword would ‘pierce her own soul’. Not the sort of thing you should say to a new mother, even if it turns out to be true. Especially if it turned out to be true.
Triumph
But then, how things changed. And so quickly. Jesus was alive! Friends and family had seen him. James himself saw him. Such joy after such heartbreak.
And if this could happen, then perhaps all the things Jesus had said were true too!
Certainly, with James’ doubts fading away, he had a new confidence. It was all true. James spoke at the council in Jerusalem. He had to tell everyone that his brother was the one his people had been waiting for. The one they had read about in the Scriptures — someone for all people.
His big brother was The Messiah!
It didn’t end there. James went on to take a leading role in the growing movement of people following the way his brother Jesus had shown them.
This movement is still changing lives 2,000 years later.
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