All in the Family
Acts talks about the work of the early church and the apostles of Christ immediately following Jesus’ ascension into heaven. It follows the life of the disciples and even new converts such as Saul of Tarsus, who became Paul the Apostle. In the first chapter of the book of Acts, the author describes Jesus’ final visit with His disciples and His instructions to them. After Jesus ascended into heaven, there was much prayer going on. In verse fourteen, it says, “They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” This scripture explicitly names Mary, Jesus’ mother, and “his brothers.” Those would be Jesus’ brothers, James and Jude.
The brothers of Jesus became apostles in the early church after Jesus’ resurrection.
Before these two wrote books of the New Testament, they disagreed with Jesus’ mission. They suggested that God Almighty didn’t know what He was doing - kind of. As knowledge of Jesus’ miraculous power and authoritative teachings grew in the area surrounding Nazareth, Jesus' brothers adopted the popular idea that Jesus should seize power and gain more earthly glory. They thought Jesus was foolish for choosing to remain “anonymous.” In their minds, it was time for Him to make His authority known.
Jesus obviously did not go with His brother’s plan. Instead, He stayed the course and followed His Heavenly Father’s will. After this disagreement with His brothers, the gospels don’t mention them much at all, until the first chapter of Acts. Now they are back with the disciples and the other followers of Jesus. What happened?
Well, Jesus rose from the dead! If his brothers didn’t believe their older sibling was God before, now they knew it. In fact, James testifies that Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection. This was a pivotal event in his life, which led to him becoming an Apostle of the early church in Jerusalem. Like many of the other apostles, James would go on to sacrifice his own life for the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
On Jude’s part, he was martyred as well. So just like their half-brother, Jesus, these men died proclaiming the Kingdom of God and humans' need for salvation. Seems that the world did not change much between Jesus’ crucifixion and James and Jude’s deaths. When it comes to tolerating those who speak truth, one wonders if it has changed much even today. What do you think?