| BROTHER JAMES |
| There was still one important person who refused to go to the funeral ~ Jesus' brother James. His family had begged him to go, but he would not budge. When they were gone, James thought about all the bad things that had happened to their family while they were growing up because of Jesus. Children and even sometimes grownups called his big brother, Jesus, bad names. They said his mother, Mary, was not married when Jesus was born. James was Joseph's first-born son. Because of Jesus, his half-brother, James didn't get to have the special attention first-born sons are supposed to get from their father. His whole family was at the wedding in Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. Was James ever mad. "He didn't do that!" he kept shouting. "It was a trick." James got really embarrassed when he heard big brother, Jesus, had turned over the tables at the Temple where people were selling animals to be sacrificed. When Jesus started performing a lot of miracles and healing a lot of people, James couldn't explain any of it. He decided it was just magic. Jesus even got into demon things. He claimed he cast demons out of people. James didn't believe any of it. He thought Jesus was just becoming a crazy man. James talked his younger brothers and his mother into going over to Jesus' house and dragging him out of there before he embarrassed the family any more. Finally their father, Joseph, got sick. Did Jesus try to heal him like he claimed he could? No way. He just let their father die. He claimed he could bring people back to life after dying, but he didn't try to do that for Joseph either. James just did not like Jesus. People in Jerusalem were trying to kill Jesus by this time. So was King Herod. So Jesus decided not to attend the yearly religious ceremony there. James and his brothers tried to convince him to go. Maybe someone would kill him and get him out of their life. Although Jesus escaped harm, just last month they had succeeded. James' half-brother was killed like a common thief. He had shamed the family even in death. Jesus loved his brother. So he appeared to James alone. He proved who he was by showing the prophecies about him and the holes in his hands. James paced and objected. It is hard to believe what used to be impossible. Finally James knew Jesus was telling him the truth. So James did something very, very hard. He looked at the big half-brother he had always disliked, then bowed his head. Slowly he slid to the floor, kneeled at Jesus feet and said, "My God. all along you were my God." |