They were expecting God to send them a Messiah not to raise one up from right in their midst!

Imagine growing up in the same family as Jesus.  While the Bible is largely silent on those early years, clues scattered throughout the Gospels tell of an often-strained relationship between Jesus and His brothers during His ministry.  Who can miss the haunting sadness in Jesus’ statement, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home”?

The Desire of Ages observes that tensions in the home were fueled by Jesus’ unwillingness to follow many of the religious traditions so important to His brothers.  And, to be fair to them, they were expecting God to send them a Messiah, not to raise one up from right in their midst!

What about believers today?

“Like the family of Jesus,” writes author Trudy J. Morgan-Cole, “we can become so familiar with Jesus, so accustomed to His words and the stories about Him, that we lack the ability to see Him with fresh eyes and recognize how startling His claims really are.”

If the story of Jesus has imperceptibly lost its wonder for you, James: The Brother of Jesus paints a soul stirring picture of a savior unafraid to risk doing the unexpected in order to redeem His family through all time.