His name is James. He’s not James, the brother of John, who were sons of Zebedee and Apostles of Jesus. He’s the James of Mark 6:3, “James, Joseph, Judas and Simon,” the oldest of Jesus’ brothers. He is also known as “James the Just” and in Acts we see him leading the Jerusalem church. Many scholars attribute the Epistle of James to him.
Growing up with Jesus as a brother couldn’t have been easy. We know that the brothers were not exactly thrilled when Jesus left the carpentry shop and took off preaching. John reports that “his own brothers did not believe in him.” [7:5]
A couple times they even dragged their mother along and came looking for him to bring him home. They thought he was crazy. But then something changed for James. Jesus appeared to him following the resurrection. Paul gives that account in his great chapter on the physical resurrection of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 15. He reminds his readers of the evidence of Jesus’ bodily resurrection by citing those who saw Him afterwards.
Jesus appeared to Peter, the Twelve, to more than 500 brothers (most of whom were still alive), then to James, and finally to Paul himself. The James that Paul mentions is believed to be Jesus’ brother James.
What was James thinking of when Jesus came to him? Here was his brother, the one he thought was crazy, the one he wanted taken out of ministry, the one who was crucified as a common criminal, now standing before him in glorious splendor, resurrected from the dead. I wonder what they said in that personal private moment.
For all who come to call on Christ Jesus as Lord, to each there is a “James-moment,” a personal private revelation of Christ Jesus who comes to us resurrected from the dead. Whatever we may have thought of Him before, it all changes in one glorious moment as it did for James.
Thank you, Lord, for coming to each of us in a personal “James-moment.” Amen.
