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The Sunday Sermon

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The Older Big Brother

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I am indebted to Alexander Whyte, a Scottish preacher of great renown, who, by his own admission imagined himself to be one of the brothers of Jesus.

Before we can go any further, let it be said that even though the Roman Catholic Church has argued insistently that the ‘brothers & sisters" spoken of in this morning’s Gospel were in fact only cousins or at best half brothers and sisters born in an earlier marriage to Joseph. The Roman Catholic Church has painted itself into a corner of sorts as it must argue this in order to maintain the perpetual virginity of Mary. However, the Bible knows nothing of this other marriage of Joseph, and thus it is only pure conjecture. Mark’s Gospel tells us that Jesus had at least four brothers, James, Joseph, Judas and Simon and also unnumbered and unnamed sisters. Because James heads this list, we know he was the next eldest to Jesus. Jesus was James older brother.

As Alexander Whyte notes, ‘For thirty years James would eat every meal seated at the same table as Jesus, working six days a week with him, worshipping in the same synagogue on the seventh day, and going up once a year to Jerusalem to participate in the great feast of the Passover that recalled the exodus by the people of Israel out of Egypt and out of slavery.

James would have been his bigger brother’s delight and joy. Just as we see two brothers today, Jesus would have been protective of his little brothers and sisters. Jesus and his brothers and sisters grew up in a place called Nazareth.

Nazareth was about 18 miles from the shores of the great lake known as Sea of Galilee, and area where Jesus began his ministry in the many fishing villages and towns that were dotted around the shores of this lake. Perhaps Jesus, along with his brothers worked in their father’s carpenter’s shop making the boats that was used by the fishermen of that area to make their living.

What does the Bible say regarding Jesus? For some 18 years the door is firmly closed to us regarding Jesus early life. We are not even given so much as a glimpse into those years. The door closes after he and his parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. Mary and Joseph went every year to Jerusalem for this special feast that commemorated the Passover ( see Exodus 12). On this particular occasion Luke tells us Jesus was 12 years old, and as was the Jewish custom, he was being prepared to take his place in the religious community the following year when he would have been considered an adult.
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It was also on this occasion that Jesus disappeared for three days, when they found him he was sitting among the rabbis, the teachers and experts in the Jewish religious laws. Jesus responded to his anxious mother who asked him why he was treating her and his father this way by simply stating that they should have known "that I would be in my Father’s house?" Jesus cancels out Mary’s use of father by stating that he had to be in "My Father’s" house. He then travelled with Mary and Joseph back to Nazareth where we hear nothing for the next 18 years. The door has been closed tightly shut.
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The door opens again as St. Luke describes with great drama another occasion when Jesus is once again in Nazareth, that place where it is said "no good thing can come from." On this occasion, we learn that the people of Nazareth, his neighbours, for this is the village where he lived and was brought up, did not approve of how Jesus thought, spoke and taught. After his sermon in the synagogue aroused their anger, the people took him "and brought him to the precipice of the mountain that their city was built upon".
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Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel while she was in Nazareth and told of the birth of this child she was to call Jesus. (See Luke 1:26-38). She was not yet married and was only pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. There would have been a lot of ‘talk’ around this birth as Joseph was not the biological father and Mary had shamed her family by becoming pregnant before being properly married according to Jewish custom. In a small village like Nazareth, tongues would quickly spread the gossip of this scandal, that you can be sure.

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However, let us return to James, the younger brother of Jesus. As they attend the synagogue together, James notices a change in his big brother. He has begun calling fishermen, and tax collectors, and even a zealot to be his disciples. James notices that his older brother has become very different, claiming to be able to heal people from their diseases and also is able to cast out demons. Things have taken a strange turn indeed. However, James, who is a strict Nazarene, that is, he was a holy man, he did not drink wine or strong drink, he did not cut his hair, or eat animal meat, and he was a man of prayer.

James was such a religious, holy man, that he could not be but offended by his bigger brother who ate and drank with outcasts and sinners. James must have been horrified when Jesus began to heal people on the Sabbath and thus break the Jewish religious laws that James kept so meticulously. James was scrupulous in keeping the Jewish religious law and must have been scandalized when he saw his big brother breaking them without conscience.

This would have been made all the more unbearable for James for he had heard those rumours of scandal regarding his big brothers birth and the tongues that wagged and spread the gossip that Joseph was not really the father of Jesus.

No wonder then, that James and his bothers, accompanied by their mother made the journey from Nazareth to Capernaum, where Jesus was staying. They sought to bring him home as they had heard the stories about him and the trouble he was getting into b y breaking the Jewish Sabbath religious laws.

They had gone to ‘take charge of him, for they though he was out of his mind'.

No wonder then when his neighbours in Nazareth heard Jesus preach in the synagogue that day they would ask "Is this not the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son, and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters her with us?" And as Mark so succinctly puts it "And they took offense at him."
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We learn a great deal from this verse easily missed in the third chapter of Mark. First, Jesus was a carpenter, and that he had brothers and sisters. Secondly, because he is called "Mary’s son" Joseph has is all probability died. Thirdly, the people have never forgotten the ‘scandal" surrounding Jesus’ birth and that Joseph was not his ‘real’ father’.

You see, when Jesus preached, he not only denounced the practices of the Jewish religious leaders, he also denounced the practices of his own brothers, especially James, who we know was a strict Jew in every sense of the word.

However, even though James thought that Jesus was out of his mind, James was eventually converted to the Christian faith. It was a Christian faith that was distinctly Jewish in flavour, for James could not rid himself of his Jewish roots.

However, he was converted after Jesus appeared to him following His resurrection, and James went on to be one of the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem. There is a wonderful lesson in this for us all.

First of all, those closest to us, are perhaps the most critical of us. That’s the way it is. Jesus own mother and brothers and sisters at first thought he was out of his mind. They said so publically and in doing so helped his enemies.

Secondly, those who know us, and know all about our backgrounds, our neighbours, are often the last people to take us seriously. Jesus neighbours, the people of his own village, literally ran him out of town. He had no power there.

Thirdly, just as Jesus called fishermen, and tax-collectors to be his disciples, and associated with undesirables and outcasts, the only thing that matters is not what our family, friends and neighbours think of us, but what God thinks of us.

Maybe that is why James, writing in his little book found in the Bible, tells us that "everyone should be quick listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for a person’s anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires. If anyone considers themselves religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on their tongue, they deceive themselves and their religion is worthless." James 1:

James well remembered how he had squandered those thirty years sitting at the same table as the carpenter - the builder of boats - who claimed he was the True Messiah - and James almost missed the boat ........... thankfully, he got on board.

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"THE 'MASTER' STORYTELLER."

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There were many fishermen in Galilee. Josephus, a historian, tells us that 330 fishing boats sailed the Sea of Galilee - which was a bit misleading, for it was really a large lake. The people in Palestine seldom ate meat, fish was their staple diet. Fish, fish and more fish. Even the little towns dotted around the lake indicated how important the fishing industry was: Bethsedia means "house of fish" and Dalmanutha means "The place of the salt fish’. Newfoundlanders would be at home there. The salt fish industry was big business around Galilee.

All the little fishing towns, Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle, Capernaum, where Peter lived, and Bethsaida, where Peter, James and Philip were born, were all fishing villages dotted around the lake known as the Sea of Galilee. Nazareth was about 18 miles from the shores of the lake, where it was said that no good thing could come from. Jesus was thrown out of the synagogue there and run out of town because of his preaching. He made his home in Capernaum, which was also the center of his ministry around Galilee.

As Jesus walked along the shores of the Lake, he saw two brothers casting their nets into the lake. The nets they were using were sort of umbrella shaped and a skillful fisherman could cast it into the water and draw through the water to scoop up the fish. Simon and his brother Andrew were simple folk, they did not attend schools or colleges, were not among the wealthy or the learned, but were ordinary folk doing a day’s work, when Jesus called them to be his disciples. Jesus interrupted these two brothers, not in a church, but at their work.

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Walking a little further along, he saw two more brothers, James and John, they were preparing and mending their nets. They were in the boat with their father and the hired men. They too were doing their work, when Jesus called them. Jesus interrupted these two brothers, not in a church, but at their work.

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On another occasion, Jesus is again by the lake, as he walked along a large crowd is following him and he teaches them. Then he sees Levi, whom we know as Matthew, a tax collector. He too is doing his work when Jesus called him into discipleship. As Jesus continues his outdoors ministry, the doors of the synagogue in and around Galilee are slowly being closed to him - he is not welcome in their place of worship. Would Jesus be welcome in our churches? Jesus interrupted Levi, known to us as St. Matthew, not in a church, but at work.

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Jesus and his disciples would withdraw to the lake to get away from the large crowds. On other occasions, Jesus would teach the people by the lake. On one occasion he would even get into a boat, probably Simon Peter’s boat, and used it as a pulpit. On this occasion He was teaching about the Parable of the Sower.

Jesus and his disciples would cris-cross the Lake, once in the region of the Gerasenes, there was a notorious incident concerning a herd of pigs and a man named Legion, who was possessed by hundreds of evil spirits.

Jesus caused such an uproar there the people of the area pleaded with him to get back into the boat and leave their region. They couldn’t afford to lose any more pigs. Already a whole herd of pigs had jumped off the cliff and drowned in the waters below. The now healed Legion, once again in his right state of mind pleaded with Jesus to take him along, but Jesus said "No" to him and instead told the man to go and tell his family and friends what happened.

You perhaps may think that something like a person being possessed by hundreds of evil spirits is not something that happens today. Then you have never seen anyone who has been taken over by methanphetime and literally have gone crazy, hurting others as well as hurting themselves.

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Then there were those two great occasions, when the disciples were in their boat, making yet another crossing, when a storm came up and they were terrified. Jesus simply spoke "Peace! Be Still." And it became calm. And what about the night Jesus walked across the water to the disciples who were trying to row their little boat into the strong wind. What an experience.

After what is referred to as the "pig incident" Jesus and his disciples once again cross the Sea of Galilee. Again a crowd gathered around Jesus while he was at the Lake. By now Jesus was no longer allowed to teach in their Synagogues.

On the occasions that he did, Jesus would heal people, a man possessed by an evil spirit, a man with a withered hand, a woman who was crippled for eighteen years. By healing these people on a Sabbath, Jesus broke the Jewish religious laws. On the day he healed the crippled woman, the ruler of the synagogue, chastised the people for coming to be healed on the Sabbath - there were six other days in the week - so they were to come on those days to be healed. Mustn’t break the religious rules. Keeping rules and tradition was paramount.

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As Jesus was walking along the shore of the lake, one of these synagogue rulers came to Jesus. He was in desperate straits. His twelve year old daughter was so sick that it looked like she was going to die. It would be too much of a coincidence to think that this might be the same synagogue ruler who chastised the people for coming to Jesus to be healed on the Sabbath.

On this day, the synagogue ruler, his name was Jairus, came to seek Jesus’ help. He was perhaps more than desperate. Who wouldn’t do anything and everything to save their child. That day Jairus put his pride aside and fell at Jesus feet and pleaded with Jesus to come and lay his hands on his little girl who was dying, so that she would live. Jesus immediately went with Jairus.

As they walked along, a large crowd followed them. They were pushing and shoving and were pressing in on Jesus and Jairus. There was a woman in that crowd - she is unnamed - perhaps she is unnamed because as a woman of her day, she is powerless. Jairus on the other hand was a powerful religious leader.

As the woman pushes her way through the crowd, there is only one thing on her mind. She had been sick for twelve long years. She had faith that Jesus would heal her. If only she could get through this crowd and touch the hem of his garment. Suddenly, the crowd seemed to open up, and there she was, directly behind Jesus. She reached forward, just a bit more, and suddenly, it happened. She knew at once that she had been healed. She felt the power.

At once Jesus turned around. He realized power had left him and he turned around to the pushing, shoving crowd and asked who was it that touched him?

The disciples thought he had gone crazy. People were pushing and shoving and Jesus wants to know who touched him? BUT Jesus kept looking around.

Then the woman, who had spent all her money on doctors who were not able to cure her, and who had been barred from worshiping in the synagogue because her illness made her ceremonially unclean, she came and fell, trembling at Jesus’ feet and told him that it was she who had touched him.

Jesus called her 'Daughter." and said to her to go and live in peace and be freed from her suffering.

I often wonder what Jairus thought. Would he have been the one to enforce the synagogue rules and barr this woman from worshiping in the synagogue because she was unclean? Did he resent the precious time she took as Jesus turned to talk with her? We really don’t know, but Mark certainly contrasts these very different characters, the powerless and the powerful, both united in suffering and pain. Both have come to Jesus - he’s their last hope for the future.

While Jesus was still speaking to the woman, some men came from Jairus’ house and told him that his daughter was dead. There is no need to bother the teacher anymore. It is over, his little girl has died. Jesus ignored them. As they walked along, Jesus said to Jairus "Don’t be afraid. Just believe."

Jesus did not let anyone else follow him except Peter, James and John, the brother of James. When they came to the home of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, there was a terrible commotion as people wailed loudly and cried because the young child had died. Jesus told them to stop all the commotion because the girl was not dead, but only asleep. The people’s crying turned to laughter. They laughed at Jesus for saying the girl was just asleep.

Jesus put all the people out of the house, except for the child’s mother and father, and the three disciples and went in where the child lay. He took her by the hand and said to her ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!" Immediately the girl stood up and walked around. Her parents were completely astonished. Jesus told her parents to give their little girl something to eat. Perhaps it was fish.

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We now know that Jesus has power, not only over demons and disease, but he also has power over life and death .........

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