The Believing Brother

May 16, 2025 | Read and Think About James 1:1 and 5:7-19

The Book of James is a letter written 20 years or less after Jesus left this earth - following his crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection.

According to the editors’ summary about the author, the book is a how-to on Christian living.  Their summary says the book’s theme is that good deeds are the mark of genuine faith.

But who was this writer?  In the very first verse, he identifies himself as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In fact, this James was the half brother of Jesus.  He was one of the half-brothers of Jesus who had ridiculed Him in our last reading, “A Doubting Family.”

By the time of this letter, however, he was a devoted follower of Christ, and a leader of the young church in Jerusalem as we could read about in Acts 15:13.  Whatever the relationship before, James now was the “believing brother” of Jesus Christ.

The letter he wrote is 5 chapters long and covers many topics.  But what stood out to me was the 5th chapter, where he speaks of patience. He identifies patience in waiting (v. 7), patience in suffering (v. 10), and patience with someone who has lost their way spiritually (v. 19).

I think James wrote as one knowing that great patience had been shown to him – patience by his Savior, who also was his half-brother.  The analogy of the farmer who waits patiently for the land to produce the harvest is a powerful image.  James realized that is how his Lord had treated him, as the farmer who is patient and content to wait. 

He was not a believer at first.  James’ transformation – from one of the brothers we read about last time to the Christ-filled leader he is now – didn’t happen right away.   

James might have been drawing from his own faith journey and the powerful influence someone had on him, when he wrote several of these verses on patience. 

Points to ponder:

• What experiences have you had where the way you thought about something changed?

  
  

• Where do you see expectations – yours or someone else’s – influencing how you thought about that topic?

A Doubting Family

May 14, 2025 | Read and Think About John 7:1-10

The events told by John occurred during what is known as the Feast of Tabernacles.  This Feast goes all the way back to the time of Moses, when God instructed the Israelites on living holy lives after their great exodus out of Egypt. 

The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for 8 days, and it was one of 7 annual Jewish feasts appointed by God.  This one was meant to be a time of celebration for God’s provision during the time of wandering.  If interested, more can be read about the Feast of Tabernacles at Leviticus 23:39-43.

The key thing is people were on the move when it came to these feasts. Massive numbers of people would stop what they were doing and travel to Jerusalem for a week at a time.

Jesus’ family was no different.  And here, we read His brothers mockingly urged Him to go to Judea (Jerusalem) for the Feast.  They said in a demeaning tone to go to the Feast “so your disciples may see the miracles you do.”  They accused him of being a publicity hound (“no one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret”).  They taunted Him, “show yourself to the world.” 

John the writer concludes, “for even his own brothers did not believe in Him.”  This was not good-natured banter among family members.  They doubted Him, and their statements were insults. 

But Jesus did not respond to them in kind.  One of the great applications from today’s reading is to understand how He responded to them with grace and directness. 

And we read that Jesus did go to the Feast because He had some work to do.  But He went on His own terms – not theirs. 

Son, Brother, Savior

May 12, 2025 | Read and Think About Mark 3:20-35

Our last 3 readings have been about King David (May 5), Mary the mother of Jesus (May 7), and Joseph (May 9). If Jesus' life could be compared to a family room of a home, these 3 would be like the portraits placed prominently above the mantle. 

Now, the 3 we will look at this week are more like the photo album on the coffee table to me:  quick snapshots that fit together in a larger story.  In particular, today’s reading and the next one show times when Jesus’ family misunderstood him, and even ridiculed him.

In verses 20-21 of Mark’s account today, his family has come to the crowded house where Jesus happens to be.  They have not come to hear him.  They have come because they think He has lost his mind.  They have come to take charge of him.  

By this point, Jesus has done a lot already.  He turned water to wine at a wedding.  He has healed a paralytic, and a man with a crippled hand, among other public miracles.  Even so, as the family members stood outside the house, sending word to Jesus that they were there looking for him, some of them didn’t believe.  They didn’t understand truly at that point who He was or the purpose of His mission.

Haven’t we all been there?