For even his own brothers did not believe in him. – John 7:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 21, 2017): John 7

In 1992, the Canadian band “The Arrogant Worms” released a self-titled album. Among the irreverent choices on the Album was a song called “Jesus Brother Bob.” (Just so you are aware before you try to listen to the “Worms” on YouTube or Spotify, irreverence is their trademark.) “Jesus Brother Bob starts” off with these words -

If you haven't heard of me
I wouldn't be surprised
I bet you know my relatives
Their names will never die
My mother is a saint
And my brother is a God
But all I am is Jesus' brother Bob

Jesus' brother Bob, Jesus' brother Bob
A nobody relative of the Son of God
If only I'd been born just a little sooner
I'd be more than the brother of God Junior.

                                    The Arrogant Worms

“The Arrogant Worms” take us through the fantasy life of Bob who complains that the has to pay for a ferry to cross the Sea of Galilee while his brother walks across for free, and then the relief that Bob experiences when Jesus dies. People will finally get to know Bob for who he really is rather than just somebody’s brother and later, of course, Jesus rises from the dead crushing Bob’s dreams of independence.

Yes, the song is irreverent. But it also contains just a little truth. Maybe one of the most critical questions that we can ask ourselves is what it would take to convince us that our brother is the Son of God? And why would we believe that it would be any different for Jesus’s brothers? The truth is that if “Jesus Brother Bob” was written 2000 years ago, some of the biggest fans of the song might have been the brothers of Jesus.

No, Jesus did not have a brother named Bob. But he did have brothers named James, Joses, Simon, and Jude, as well as two unnamed sisters. There are some who believe that Jude might have been the apostle who bore the same name, but if that is true, he would have been the only spiritual follower of Jesus among Jesus’s immediate family. The rest just did not believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be. They probably thought that their older brother was a little mad and a stain on the family name.

It wasn’t until after the resurrection that James, at least, began to see his older brother in a different light. Eventually, James became the leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem, and he was executed for his faith in his brother in 62 C.E. But his belief in Jesus did not begin until after his brother’s death. Until that time, James, and most of his brothers were unbelievers who probably couldn’t wait to get rid of the black sheep of the family – this Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: John 8