Though They Didn’t Believe in Him at First, They Later Did
John writes that even Jesus’s own brothers did not believe in him. We can assume this applies to his sisters too. How shocking to learn that Jesus’s siblings didn’t believe in him or who he really was.
They grew up living with the Son of God, but they didn’t realize it. To them he was their older half-brother and nothing more.
Aside from Mary, no one had spent more time with Jesus. No one knew him more—or better—than his brothers and sisters. They spent every day with him.
Spending time with Jesus would be something most of us would long to experience, even for a moment. Yet his brothers and sisters could not recognize him for who he was, for who he is.
This doesn’t surprise Jesus because he earlier points out that a prophet is without honor among his own people (John 4:44). Who better exemplifies this than his brothers and sisters?
Their Opinion Changes
Their view of their brother, however, changes after he dies and rises from the dead. Now, Jesus’s brothers, along with Mother Mary, gather with some of Jesus’s other followers to pray (Acts 1:14).
The Bible doesn’t give the names of Jesus’s sisters, but it lists four brothers: James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas (Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3).
We later see that James steps up to take a lead role in the church (Acts 15:13). And we see that brother Judas (nicknamed Jude) also plays a key part in growing Jesus’s church (Jude 1:1). (The Bible doesn’t tell us any more information about his brothers Joseph and Simon, or his sisters.)
Though Jesus’s brothers didn’t start out believing him, they do in the end. That’s what matters.
[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is John 7-8, and today’s post is on John 7:5.]
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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