This morning we were led to read Mark 3, and somehow the Lord opened our eyes to experience this from the vantage point of Jesus’ family:

“Again He entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And [the Pharasees] watched Jesus, to see whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.  And He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Come here.’  And He said to [the Pharasees], ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’  But they were silent.  And He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’  He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against Him, how to destroy Him..…[selah]

“…He had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around Him to touch Him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God…..“

” And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those whom he desired, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles) so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons…..“

“Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.  And when His family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’ ”

Jesus had four younger half brothers: James, Joseph, Judas(Jude), and Simon, who grew up with Him in Nazareth. When Jesus entered HIs public ministry, it must have put the family under some scrutiny. Joseph, Jesus adoptive dad, had passed away by this time; so the responsibility of the family would have fallen to Jesus. However, clearly convinced that Jesus had gone off the deep end, they were deciding an intervention was necessary to save the family’s reputation.

I can imagine them talking amongst themselves; “Brothers, I tell you: he’s lost it! We have to go get him and hide him out until the scribes and Pharisees forget about him.”

“Yes, It’s bad enough our crazy cousin John is down at the Jordan in a hair suit baptizing whomever passes by. Hasn’t the family reputation suffered enough from that? Fortunately, no one in Jerusalem knows we’re related to him or the Feasts would be unbearable.”

“Where is Jesus now?”

“Just follow the crowd. He supposedly healed some guy in a synagogue, and now every lame, blind beggar in Galilee is trying to touch him because they think that will heal them. I hear he’s so surrounded by the crowd he hasn’t eaten for a week.”

“Mother is beside herself. She wants us to go down there and bring him home where she can get some food into him.”

“Frankly, I’m a little worried about Mom too. She seems to be starting to think about those stories she used to tell us about how an angel came to her.. that Dad isn’t really Jesus’ father, that he was born in Bethlehem… all that.”

“Yeah, and that story about John’s mom, cousin Elizabeth. How an angel told her husband (while he was serving in the temple) that she would have a son in her old age, and how he was struck dumb for nine months for not believing it!”

“It’s no wonder Jesus thinks he’s special. He’s always been her favorite. The first born always acts superior to the others.

“So what do we do about Jesus? It was just a nuisance when he was stirring up things locally, but now he’s got the scribes and Pharasees after him, and he’s drawing bigger and bigger crowds. The Romans are beginning to notice.”

“We need to get him away from those people and try to talk some sense into him. It’s only a matter of time before they come down from Jerusalem and start harassing Mother. Can you imagine what will happen if she starts telling them the story of his birth, they will lock us all up!”

“Ok, I’m willing to try to talk some sense into him, but if he won’t cooperate I’m leaving the country. I tell you: no good can come from stirring up all this religious fervor. Some of these nuts are even calling him the Messiah.”

“Oh great, that’s all we need. They’ll think we can heal people too. There won’t be a moment’s peace. We’ve got to get him to stop this nonsense.”

So the committee adjourns and travels with Mary down to where Jesus is ministering in the country. There are so many people surrounding Him that the family cannot see Him so they send word to Him they they are outside wanting to talk to Him.

The crowd says, “Your Mother and brothers are outside looking for you;” to which Jesus replies, “Who is my mother and brothers?” Then he looks around the crowd and replied, “Here are my mother and brothers; for whoever does the will of God, they are my brother, and my sister, and mother.“

And Jesus mother and brothers went away. Perhaps the next time Mary saw her son was at the foot of the cross on the day he died. We don’t know for sure. We do know this: as skeptical as Jesus’ brothers were at the time, at some point at least two– probably all four– brothers realized that their half brother was indeed the Messiah. One brother: Jude, was part of the early church, and even wrote the book of Jude in the Bible. His book specifically addresses some early heresies that were creeping into the church.

James, the next eldest after Jesus, became the head of the Church in Jerusalem. He was such prayer warrior — spending hours a day on his knees — that his nickname was “Camel Knees.” He had such authority that even Peter deferred to him; and Paul appealed to James and the other Apostles for authorization to spread the gospel to the Gentiles. His contribution to the scriptures is the book of James, a short but most powerful book that covers a wide gamut of church discipline.

When Jesus was on the cross, He placed Mary in the care of the disciple John instead of his half brother James. However this was likely before James’ conversion. Although James conversion story is not in the Bible, legend has it that Jesus appeared to him after His resurrection and thus James had a radical conversion to belief in Christ, which would probably account for his tremendous zeal for the faith afterwards.

I guess the moral of the story is that, in this crazy world, sometimes your “crazy” brother is the sane one. If you listen, what He says might just change your life.

Galatians 4:4-7

“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son [and therefore Christ’s brother or sister], then an heir of God through Christ.“