A Perfect Older Brother

James

 

 

Somewhere in time, this week, I heard a comedian named Michael Jr. joke about Jesus’s little brother.  Michael Jr. is funny, but it made me think about having a perfect older brother.  I have an older brother.  He’s my mother’s favorite child.  At least that is what I tell her when I see her. She likes to explain how she loves all her children the same, but there is something special about a first born.

My brother is a talented singer and song writer. My choir teacher kept waiting for me to birth a talent like his, but it wasn’t meant to be. My talent in High School was Home Economics. 

He has an interesting sense of humor.  If making fun of the unique shape of my nose was any indication. 

He is also kind and a good friend.

I did pick out his wife for him.  He will deny it, but I told him to find out about the pretty red head in the gray sweater.  He told me to mind my own business. A few weeks later, he introduced me to his girlfriend, the pretty red head.

So I do have an almost perfect older brother.  He is a nice man and a good father.  He loves God and his family, but James really did have a perfect older brother.

The book of James in the Bible was not written by the apostle James, but James. He was a son born to Mary and Joseph and his older brother was Jesus.

His brother was God made flesh.  I’m sure God has a sense of humor, since we were created with one.  I’m also sure he lovedsmusic. There are choirs in heaven full of angels. I’m sure James didn’t measure up when learning the Bible, but did he ever have to hear, “why can’t you be more like your brother Jesus?”

Did growing up in Jesus’s shadow make James question the deity of Jesus?  No, on the contrary, he knew it to be true. James grew up watching love and grace exemplified in the person of Jesus Christ.  He was a believer before any of the apostles came around.

James wrote one of my favorite books in the Bible.  He passed on the lessons he learned from his perfect older brother.

James 1:2-6

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.