1 Corinthians 15:3-8
For what I received I passed on
to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according
to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After
that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time,
most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared
to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as
to one abnormally born.
I wonder what that conversation
was like! I’m
talking about the conversation between the risen Jesus and his younger brother
James.
We
don’t know very much
about the relationship between the two men other than what we read yesterday in
John 7:
For even his brothers did not
believe in him.
While we can only guess what James
might have felt while watching Jesus’ ministry from afar, I suspect he may have had many
conflicting feelings.
Like most younger brothers he
probably grew up both idolizing and resenting his older brother. He would have
both looked up to him and wanted to be like him. But he also would have
resented him for being bigger, stronger, faster and enjoying more privileges
than he did as younger brother.
I would imagine that when Jesus
left the carpentry shop and began his public ministry there may have been some
resentment in James over having to take on more responsibility for the economic
support of the family.
As Jesus grew in popularity with
the people, and rumors swirled about his teaching and healing ministry, James
may have felt both wonder and confusion. How could he have possibly understood
who Jesus was when he once shared a room with him? Perhaps James wondered if
Jesus had succumbed to some kind of mental or emotional illness. We don’t know.
What we do know is that before the
resurrection James did not believe Jesus was the Messiah of God. But after
Jesus rose from the dead James believed. I think his transformation of faith
took place in the meeting Paul describes so briefly in this passage.
Then he appeared to James...
Can we even begin to imagine what
James would have felt seeing the risen Jesus for the first time?
Would he have been overjoyed to
see his brother again? Would he have been ashamed for his years of resentment
and unbelief? Would he have been overwhelmed and even terrified of what it
meant that Jesus was alive again?
I think he likely felt all these
things simultaneously and more!
I find myself wondering what Jesus
would have said to his younger brother?
Would he have take time to explain
to him, as he did with the two men on the road to Emmaus, how everything had to
happen just as it did in order to fulfill the scriptures? Would he have shown
James the scars on his hands and in his side as he did with Thomas? Would he
have broken bread with him and shared a meal as he did with Peter and others?
Would he have repeated the words
he spoke first at Lazarus’ tomb:
I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives
and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26)
Would he have simply said, “Follow me.”
We
don’t know. What we do
know is, from that moment on, James believed; and that he became one of the
leaders of the church in Jerusalem.
Christian tradition suggests that
James preached the gospel and served the church until he was martyred in about
62 AD.
Even though our knowledge of James’ story is limited, I think we can
see something of our own stories in his. Whether we grew up in a Christian home
or have spent years running away from God, it’s not until we come face to face with the crucified
and risen Christ that we surrender to him.
In describing his own reluctant
journey toward faith in Christ, C.S. Lewis writes:
"You
must picture me alone in that room at Magdalen, night after night, feeling,
whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting
approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly
feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and
admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most
dejected and reluctant convert in all England." (in “Surprised By Joy”)
I believe Jesus pursues each one
of us with his steady, unrelenting love and truth. We can resist; we can run;
we can deny; but he still pursues.
Have you surrendered, like James,
like C.S. Lewis, to the one who died and rose again for you?
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