Family Matters
Matthew 13:55 (NIV)
“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?”
Acts 1:14 (NIV)
“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”
My middle name is James – my mother chose it as it was her father’s name. One of my cousins is into ancestry and has created an extensive family tree; interestingly (well, to me anyway) the name James features a lot, not only on my mother’s side but also on my father’s side of the tree.
I have been wondering what it was like for that other James in the Bible, having Jesus as an older brother (technically half-brother). After all, your brothers and sisters know everything about you – your character, your foibles, your behaviours. Did Jesus always play fair? (Yes!) Did he ever sulk when another brother was given preference? (Presumably not, as Jesus was sinless!) Did James resent Jesus as a child? We don’t know, but we do know James was not a follower of Jesus’ during his ministry. According to Mark and John, James and his brothers were sceptical and were worried that Jesus had gone out of his mind.
We do know that James ended up being a great and well-respected Christian leader and teacher.
So what caused James to change? It must be when he experienced the resurrection of Jesus as a fact. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that James was there in the upper room with the apostles.
The resurrection is the keystone of our faith in Jesus as God. That not only did he die on the cross for us, paying the price for all our sins, but came to life again allowing us to be fully part of God’s family - sons and daughters, heirs to the kingdom of heaven.
Sometimes we don’t feel part of God’s family; maybe it is because we feel we have let God down, or we have behaved badly towards our earthly family. But the truth is once you are in God’s family it is for life – for eternity.
Prayer — Thank you Jesus for suffering in our place and for adopting us into your family. We want to love you, and our brothers and sisters, more and more. Help us to keep short accounts – to recognise when we are wrong or have wronged others – to say sorry and ask for forgiveness.