JAMES, THE BROTHER OF JESUS What would it have been like growing up in the same house as Jesus?! What would it have been like being His brother or sister? … It’s actually not a hypothetical question because Jesus did have brothers and sisters. His conception was different to anyone else’s but He was born into a family as any other child is born. He came as God in the flesh, and through the virgin Mary was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, but following His birth she had other children. … She had a normal relationship with her husband Joseph that led to at least six more children, and perhaps even more … which would have been common in those days. Now, where do we discover Jesus had brothers and sisters? Well, Luke tells us 2:7 she [Mary] brought forth her firstborn son, which clearly implies there were more. Matthew tells us the names of his brothers … and also mentions His sisters, 13:55 James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Mark mentions them too, Mk. 6:3. Therefore, while Jesus is the only-begotten of God, He wasn’t the only-begotten son of Mary. So, including Jesus, Mary and Joseph had at least five sons and two daughters. … The house would have been full and busy! We need to be absolutely correct though … Jesus was the true biological son of Mary, but not of Joseph. Therefore, His brothers and sisters were half- brothers and half-sisters, but they lived together from birth as a family and I doubt if they knew anything to the difference. His brothers were a part of His daily life, as were His sisters, and they lived together until either they moved out or He began His ministry. So … imagine living with Jesus! Imagine getting up with Him every morning, and going to bed with Him every evening. As the eldest brother, James, Joseph (Jnr.), Simon, and Judas probably wore His ‘hand-me-downs’! He didn’t leave home until He was almost thirty … and His family would have been around and near Him until then. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, James is mentioned first, - James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas, - and that would indicate their order by age. Next to Jesus, James was the oldest. What would it have been like, especially for him, growing up in his older brother’s shadow? 2 Now, in what is known as the New Testament ‘apocryphal’ gospels there are stories about Jesus when He was a boy. In them, for example, we read in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, … “Ch. 1:2 When the child Jesus was five years of age and there had been a shower of rain, which was now over, Jesus was playing with other Hebrew boys by a running stream; and the water running over the banks, stood in little lakes; 3 But the water instantly became clear and useful again; he having smote them only by his word, they readily obeyed him. 4 Then he took from the bank of the stream some soft clay, and formed out of it twelve sparrows; and there were other boys playing with him. 5 But a certain Jew seeing the things which he was doing, namely, his forming clay into the figures of sparrows on the sabbath day, went presently away, and told his father Joseph, and said, 6 Behold, thy boy is playing by the river side, and has taken clay, and formed it into twelve sparrows, and profaneth the sabbath. 7 Then Joseph came to the place where he was, and when he saw him, called to him, and said, Why doest thou that which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath day? 8 Then Jesus clapping together the palms of his hands, called to the sparrows, and said to them: Go, fly away; and while ye live remember me. 9 So the sparrows fled away, making a noise. 10 The Jews seeing this, were astonished, and went away, and told their chief persons what a strange miracle they had seen wrought by Jesus.” Yet another of the many stories involves James, ch. 16:1 “And Joseph sent his son James to bind fuel and carry it into his house. And the young child Jesus also followed him. And as James was gathering of [sticks], a viper bit the hand of James. 2 And as he was sore afflicted and ready to perish, Jesus came near and breathed upon the bite, and straightway the pain ceased, and the serpent burst, and forthwith James continued whole.” None of these stories, however, are given any credence for the Bible gives no evidence Jesus appeared any different to any other child in His town of Nazareth or throughout the region. Nevertheless, He, undoubtedly, was a beautiful young boy, obedient to His parents (Lk. 2:51), and as He grew up, He Lk. 2:52 increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. … And by the age of twelve, He had a full understanding of Who He was, for He explained to His parents, Lk. 2:49 How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? Was He sheltered from the rigours and reality of daily life? No, he wasn’t for Heb. 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered [i.e. experienced] … and He Heb. 4:15 was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. As a baby, and as a child, He had to face the temptations common to all. He wasn’t cocooned away. It is not that temptation didn’t feature in His life, - for 3 it would most certainly have done, - but He never sinned … not ever! … He had at least six other brothers and sisters … and He never sinned … That is a miracle in itself!! He never had a bad attitude towards them. He never got fed up with them. He never argued with them. He never fought or squabbled with them. He never gossiped about them. He never wasted a moment of His life … What must it have been like having a brother like Jesus? It must have been awful! … How often, - do you think, - those children would have been told by mum and dad, “Jesus would never do that. Jesus would never say that”. It must have been hard for them! … It would have been lovely, but hard at the same time. … And everything He did, - everything He made in his earthly ‘father’s’ workshop would have been absolutely perfect … He would never have had to go back and sand down rough edges on the wood. Every length of timber He would have cut was exactly the right measurement … He would have been impossible to keep up with. And even as a parent, neither Mary nor Joseph would have had to scold Him, pick up after Him, or discipline Him. … It must have been hard, especially for His brothers and sisters … and maybe that is why they did not believe in Him at the start because they envied and resented Him, for John in his Gospel explains, Jn. 7:3 His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea ... 5 For neither did his brethren believe in him. That’s amazing! … Living with Jesus, - His own family in His own home … and His neighbours in Nazareth … and they failed to recognise His true identity, the Messiah, the Son of God. Even in His early years, - in His home, among His brothers and sisters, - John’s comment is so applicable, Jn. 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. … They did not see Who He truly was! Even when He spoke with such authority, they didn’t notice it, Jn. 7:42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith … What’s He talking about?! Who does He think He is! His brothers, though, were really so set in their unbelief. They grew up in His perfect company everyday … and yet, they didn’t believe in Him. And I think it must have hurt Jesus for He said to them, Mk. 6:4 A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. 5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, 4 and healed them. 6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. … It must have hurt Him! Despite the fact He lived a perfect life in front of His brothers and sisters, it did not convince them of His true identity. I do reckon there would have been times when they absolutely resented Him … because He was so different, so perfect. … Being an older brother, you are often ‘the apple of your mother’s eye’ … coupled with being like Jesus, I’m sure the seeds of resentment would have been sprinkled often with something like the usual question, “Why can’t you be more like your Brother!” So that’s something of how James would have been brought up. … It would have been difficult living with someone as good, - always so good, - as Jesus. No other brothers and sisters would have had to put up with it! Now when Jesus began His ministry, He ‘moved out’, Mt.