This is the story of an ordinary Jewish family living in the early years of the 1st century AD, with one not so ordinary member. The story is told by James, the eldest son of Joseph, the village carpenter of Nazareth. He and his brother Jude and sisters Sara and Leah were children of Joseph by his first wife, who died when they were quite young. Joseph remarried at a time when his new wife, Mary, was already pregnant with Jesus. There was a possibility of a scandal, but, as James relates, “Mary has always believed – or at least told others – that there was something special, something miraculous, about Jesus’ birth. I think she truly does believe that God is his father rather than Joseph; and I think she somehow made my father Joseph believe it too.” Mary and Joseph went on to have two more sons, Simon and Joseph, and two daughters, Rebecca and Naomi.
James is 11 years older than Jesus. As a young man he spent a year in Jerusalem, studying the scriptures under the leading rabbis, returning from Jerusalem after Jesus, then aged 12, had upset his parents by staying behind when the family left for Nazareth. Some time after the death of his father Joseph, one of three members of the family to die of a fever which struck the village, he became the rabbi and leader of the synagogue of Nazareth. Steeped in the learning he had acquired in Jerusalem, which was deepened by his continued study of the Torah, he found Jesus’s disregard for some of the traditions difficult to tolerate; but Jesus always had a smile and such charm that it was difficult to impose on him the discipline that he deserved.
The author brings out the very different characters of James and Jesus well, even though for more than ten years they worked together with their brothers, both in Nazareth and in the construction work that was plentiful in the rebuilding of Sepphoris, Herod’s capital, and the building of his new town of Tiberias, to earn money to keep the family. When he was about 30 Jesus, independent as ever, announced that he was leaving Nazareth and going to Jerusalem. He did not consult James, who felt that, as the head of the family, he should have had a say in his future; but James makes no secret of the fact that he felt relief that Jesus was leaving.
From then on the story of the family touches at a number of points on events recorded in the gospels. The wedding at Cana, for example, was the wedding of Mary’s youngest daughter Naomi, and the story of the turning of water into wine is told with convincing detail, as are the occasion when Jesus took part in the service at the Nazareth synagogue and, later, the raising of Lazarus.
James and his son Benjamin, then 17 and a good deal more attracted to Jesus’s teaching than his father, came up to Jerusalem for the Passover and witnessed the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem seated on a donkey. James, who still saw Jesus as an annoying younger brother who was too smart for his own good and would not conform to society’s expectations, heard Jesus speaking in the Temple courtyard. He could not deny that he spoke with authority as well as with the charm and lightness of touch that had enabled him throughout his life to get away with unconventional behaviour; but he himself still remained the traditionalist who could not approve wholeheartedly of Jesus’ disregard of all the traditions that he had learnt from study of the scriptures.
The crucifixion is alluded to but not described; but the book ends with a well-imagined account of the meeting between James and Jesus after the Resurrection which is mentioned by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians. Of this meeting James says “I never really saw Jesus until I saw him risen, and that changed everything. That changed me.”
The author herself says “Like the family of Jesus, 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 recognise how startling His claims really are.” She told me that she never felt equal to the task of writing about Jesus, and didn’t think she could depict him in a way that was both believable and reverent. It seems to me that, although Jesus is not the central character in the book, the relationship between James and Jesus is the main underlying theme, and she has done just that in depicting both of them. The picture of someone who was always laughing or smiling, but who spoke with authority, is just right for Jesus. So many people forget the joy and abundance of life that he said he came to bring, but that is well brought out in the book.
Trudy J. Morgan-Cole lives in St John’s, Newfoundland. She has published more than 20 books, including Esther: A Story of Courage and Lydia: A Story of Philippi. I first made her acquaintance when I mentioned on the Christian discussion forum Ship of Fools (ship-of-fools,com/) that I thought the wedding at Cana might have been the wedding of one of Jesus’s sisters, which would help to account for the prominent part played by Mary at the wedding, and she said she had written a book which included the same supposition. This is that book; and her description of the life of an ordinary Jewish family of the 1st century will long remain with me. She writes on the website under the delightful username Trudy Scrumptious.
James, the Brother of Jesus. Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2011. 286 pp. ISBN 13: 978-0-8163-2512-2. Paperback from Amazon.com $19.99 inc p & p; Kindle from Amazon.co.uk £6.54 inc VAT.
JAMES the Brother of Jesus, Trudy J. Morgan Cole
Ted Nugee