Cheers or Jeers?

“For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” John 7:5

As I turn the last page of the Book of James and close the Bible Study for which I have been challenged I cannot help but to stack my life to the younger half-brother of Jesus. James saw Jesus as merely the oldest son of his parents who worked in his dad’s business. James grew up knowing Jesus and was very familiar with Him through their relationship within the family. Like James, I grew up in a Christian home in the family of Christ. I lived with Him as one of our family members with the knowledge of who He was but didn’t give much thought to Him as He related to my life. Like many of us, our focus is not really on our siblings but rather on the life we carve out as adults – James was no different. As the ministry of Jesus emerged, James did not believe in Jesus for anything more than a sibling sharing his home.

“Then Jesus entered the house…when his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.”’ Mark 3:20-21.

As the ministry of Jesus emerged and became more public, there is little doubt that His family would not have heard of all the rumblings, both good and bad. In an effort to intervene and ‘rein Him in’ they approached the home where Jesus was speaking. My commentary states, ‘Doubtless they were embarrassed by the zeal of this religious fanatic in the family. J.R. Miller comments: They could account for His unconquerable zeal only by concluding that He was insane…It is always true that a man who is on fire for God seems deranged to his contemporaries. The more like Christ we are, the more we too will experience the sorrow of being misunderstood by relatives and friends. If we set out to make a fortune, men will cheer us. If we are fanatics for Jesus Christ, they will jeer us.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 1328. Back to my life and the limited spiritual understanding I possessed. I didn’t have the spiritual relationship with God that enabled me to understand Him more completely and the manner in which He worked. I, too, was on the outside looking in seeing and hearing about Him but not spiritually knowing Him. Through deep and long running adversities I became to know Him as Savior instead of family member. He emerged as I surrendered…He lead when I chose to follow…He delivered me when I finally admitted I needed rescuing. He became my Savior.

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…” James 1:1.

Following the resurrection and encounter between James and Jesus, step-brother to step-brother, James no longer referred to himself as brother of Jesus. He was reborn into a family of Master and servant. Can you only imagine the humility in James heart as the reality unfolded that Jesus was Christ, the Messiah of the world and Son of the mighty God? That is the humbling and embarrassing truth that every one of us clothes ourselves in when the revelation of Christ is shown to us in our lives. Thankfully, our humility in this knowledge is met and welcomed with the abounding love and grace of God. We repent for not knowing, not recognizing, and not believing. That conversation between James and Jesus Christ was never repeated in the Bible. It simply states that He revealed Himself to James.

Our encounters with Christ are private and unique to our circumstances. He meets us on the road of life with His revelations. I have never been the same since I moved from God being a family member to God being my Savior and Master.

If that makes us insane, then let us wear that label proudly!