Jesus' Trials With His Human Family

As you all probably realize, we do have a number of brethren going through different trials. This year, 2020, is one that hardly anybody will forget. It has been shocking from the start. I was just kidding as I was going to the parking lot and I saw all these brethren coming and they all have masks. I said, boy, it looks like one of these science fiction movies. If we were one year before, in 2019, and seeing people coming in and everybody had masks, we'd think, what in the world is going on? But that's how quickly things can happen. And there are people with health trials that include having pain and suffering. And we know it is a human condition. And eventually, if Christ doesn't return, we will all die of something. As we age, it becomes more apparent. As the body breaks down, we just have more pains and aches. And our body just doesn't respond as quickly. We all understand that and try to postpone it and do whatever we can to maintain our health and the best level possible. But we know it's a struggle against time itself. And some people ask, why does God allow such trials and suffering? Are they truly necessary? That's one of the things that people wonder about. Why all the suffering and pain, if God is a God of goodness and He is love, and why do people suffer in the way they do? And many times, tragically, unexpectedly.

We know one important reason the Bible tells us is trials and difficulties and pain are a way of testing us to help develop spiritual character. What the Bible simply calls the faith. The faith that you have, the trust in God, in following His way of life. We have to be tested. It would be like a child who could never leave his home, because the parents are afraid that they're going to be tested in the world. And so they coddle them and protect them. Well, that child would never develop as they normally would. You have to face tests and trials. You have to see if you're going to be able to obtain a job and keep a job and develop self-discipline. Well, you can't do that if you're in the home and everything's provided for you. You can't let your fears overcome you and paralyze you. You have to learn to go forward in faith that God is with you, that He's going to work things out. And so one of the reasons that's very clear in the Scriptures is because God knows that we need to be tested. And you can't be tested with just good things. It's like a little child. I'm going to test you and put you in a candy shop. And I hope you won't become miserable then, right? Well, that's not much of a test. The child's going to go eat chocolates, eat all kinds of things, and he's going to be happy. But he'll probably get sick afterwards, too. So the idea for God is that this isn't a great big party that He has put us in. To just have a nice life and have a nice picnic of a life and everything is wonderful. No, this is a testing ground. Whether you like it or not, we are all going to be tested by the world, by the situations we face, sometimes by people that we trust. And they are not faithful and betray you. That's part of being tested. Do we put our trust in people, or do we put our trust in God and His Word?

Notice this important lesson about being tested. We've got several scriptures we can go to. The first one is the book or the epistle of James. And in fact, people are going through so many trials and tests in his day that he starts out his epistle talking about trials and why they are necessary, the purpose behind them.

People were going through a lot of pain and suffering back in that Roman Empire. It wasn't a nice democratic system. You didn't have rights that you could just face the government and just protest. You'd end up real quickly either being crucified or in the dungeons. They did not have a nice, friendly policy to people. James says in chapter 1, verses 2 through 4, I'd like to read it in the Good News Bible. You can go along in the version that you have. I think the Good News Bible has a pretty clear version of what it says.

James says, My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way. For you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure. And that's a better translation than patience, because enduring means sustaining yourself in the midst. Not giving up, not giving in, or persevering. He goes on to say, Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So he had to learn that. That testing either is going to show that we have faith or that we lack faith and endurance. Another scripture along that line was from Peter, which he says at the beginning of his first epistle, because they were going through trials, he says in the God's Word version, 1 Peter 1-7, he says, Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has given us a new birth because of His great mercy. We have been born into a new life that has a confidence which is alive because Jesus Christ has come back to life. Just talking about baptism, a new life that we begin with God accompanying us, committed to us, as long as we're committed to Him, as long as we do not abandon Him. He goes on to say, We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance or a reward that can't be destroyed or corrupted and can't fade away. That inheritance or reward is kept in heaven for you. God is keeping it there. And when Jesus comes back, you will receive that reward of being faithful. He goes on to say, Since you are guarded by God's power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end time, you are extremely happy about these things, even though you have to suffer different kinds of trouble for a little while now. The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith. As fire tests how genuine gold is, your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor, not to you. I was struck by that. It says, To God. Because, you see, God is the one that's working things out. As Mr. Cedeno mentioned in the first message, God's in charge. So, if he sees his children pass the test, they're able to overcome the difficulty. Well, then you say, God is right. He is carrying out a great purpose, and we are part of it. And so, it gives glory to God and his plan of salvation. Because we're part of it. He goes on to say, When is this going to happen? When are you going to receive that inheritance? This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again. Not before. You don't die and just get rewarded immediately. No, when Christ returns. See, that refutes the idea that you have an immortal soul and that you're rewarded immediately. People talk about, well, now he's in heaven. Well, he got his reward before Jesus Christ's return. Who is correct? The person or what the Bible says? It says, When Jesus Christ appears again. But you might also ask, how about the rest of the world, which doesn't generally know about this purpose? Why submit them to pain and suffering? They're not even aware of the real purpose of such trials. God reveals this to you as he calls you to conversion, but the rest of the world, they don't know. They're suffering. You go to any hospital, you see people in terrible conditions. It's always kind of helpful when you have to visit someone and you see all of these sick people. And then you say, boy, I don't have anything to complain about, right? And I thought I was bad, in bad shape.

In the Bible, first of all, it doesn't apologize for God's plan and his purposes.

It tells us that God knows what he is doing. We should never forget that. We are also privileged to know there will be a period of the great white throne judgment mentioned in Revelation 20, which we call the second resurrection, because it's after the first. When most people will be brought back to physical life and given an opportunity to know God's truths, to repent and accept those truths, they are not lost. So even people that are miserable, even people that are just ignorant and doing a lot of wrong things, one day God is going to resurrect them and they will know the truth.

They are not lost because they went off on the wrong tangent during this life. Paul brings up the analogy of the potter and the clay, which mentions that God is the potter. He is shaping things. He is carrying it out. We are like the malleable clay that he is shaping. Notice in Romans 9 and 20.

All of this is a preface preparation for what I'm going to give in a moment. But this is a little more of the background. Romans 9 and 20. He says, But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? And so here God is carrying out his purpose. He knows what he's doing. He goes on to say, verse 21, Does not the potter have power over the clay?

And verse 22, What if God, wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? So he's putting up with evil people right now. And he has allowed people to go that way. Verse 23, And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, those that he has called, that he has cleaned their lives, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.

He goes on to explain this in chapter 11, verse 25. And this is the conclusion of this whole subject. He says in Romans 11, verse 25, He says, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery or revelation, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

So God, he was calling Israel, but Israel rejected Christ, and so God started calling Gentiles into the church. But what happens to those Jews that they weren't converted in their ignorance? They rejected Christ? Are they lost forever? No, it says here. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written, that the deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

For this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins. So there will be this second resurrection period when these Israelites will have a chance to learn the truth and to be converted. And so it goes here in verse 30. To conclude, for as you were once disobedient to God, were we?

Yes. We were following along with the world. We were sinning. Yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. God couldn't call them. He started calling people from all walks of life, not just from the people of Israel. Even so, these also have now been disobedient, talking about the Israelites, that through the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all, not just a few.

So there will be a chance. And so God is carrying out his plan, just like the potter working with every person and through their trials and difficulties. Notice in Isaiah 55 verse 8 and 9. Again, who are we to question God and what he's carrying out?

God says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth. Believe me, when you're talking about the heavens, it's talking about our universe as such, and that God is above that universe. And so talking about, look at the the height you're dealing with here. It's inconceivable. But God says, look, your thoughts are very inferior to mine. And he says, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

He reminds us of the problem that Job had. He thought he could match wits with God. He thought he was at the level where he could contend with God and question why God was doing things that Job had a lot of explanations that he thought were pretty good until he finally fazed God. And then he realized, boy, I am not in his league at all. And he repented, he says, with sackcloth and ashes. So again, we have to remember the purpose that God has for testing and also that God has a plan where he doesn't explain everything, but we have to trust he is the potter.

We are the clay. We're not co-potters that can just talk to God about how everything is being done. And so I'd like to now focus on just one aspect of how God also gives an explanation to us about pain and suffering and what people go through, which many times this is not something that has been covered along this line. And so it's important to realize God is not this bystander. He's not this absentee landlord that is watching all of this suffering and pain and just saying, well, too bad, but I'm way above this.

No, he participated. He went through pain and suffering to carry out his will. And one of the ways he did it was when he sent his son to the earth, he didn't name him as a prince to live in a palace and to live this luxurious life and comfortable life. Now, it was a miserable life.

And one of the tests that Jesus had to face was, you can call it the incredulity or the unbelief of his own human family. He had to put up with that almost every day because they did not believe he was a Christ. They questioned and many times humiliated him. And here's God in the flesh and he is willing to be submitted to such humiliation. Talk about pain. Talk about going through so much. And again, it's for God to say, look, I have paid a very high price to have you one day in my kingdom.

I have paid the ultimate sacrifice. So the Bible kind of explains to us what all of that entails, what he had to go through. This is very different than the typical view of traditional Christianity, which has this little manger and all of the parents of Christ and all of the people.

They sort of especially lift up Mary and all of these, they call it the Holy Family. Well, that's not what the Bible pictures at all. And because we are in the truth, we take our instructions from the Bible, not from Christian traditions and beliefs and all of this mythology that has risen around this case. Let's go to Isaiah 53, 1-3, to begin here, the prophecy of what Jesus Christ was going to have to face during his lifetime. Again, I'd like to read from the Good News Bible version.

It's a little clearer. It says, The people reply, Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this? In other words, how a strange plan that is being carried out. Who would have believed it?

It was the will of the Lord that his servant grow like a plant, taking root in dry ground. So it wasn't going to be very nice and pretty, as you know. When you have plants and you don't irrigate them very much, they dry up. I've been struggling having a little avocado plant and that thing looks like it's going to die any day and then it kind of gets resurrected for a while. You're either over water and then it doesn't look good either and you're just always scratching your head. So here's a kind of a dry plant and this is what described Jesus Christ. Being in an area he was going to live, it was going to be a rough life. He didn't have it comfortable. The family had to work hard just to put food on the table. He goes on to say, He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of him. So he wasn't given the face of a Hollywood star and just this wonderful, attractive personality that just drew people to them. That wasn't the case.

There was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him. We despised him and rejected him. He endured suffering and pain. There are the two words. No one would even look at him. We ignored him as if he were nothing. He didn't have any status, dignity, fame or fortune.

And he was willing to do that, to carry out his plan, God's plan. In Philippians 2, again, this is a fulfillment of that prophecy in Isaiah 53. Just expanding on it. Philippians 2, 5-9. It says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Talking about the mindset, the attitude. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. He had that position of equality with God the Father. But he didn't take that as something to hold onto. The status, the power.

He says, but made himself of no reputation. That's that dry plant we're talking about. Taking the form of a bondservant. The word here is dulos. And here in the word study, Greek dictionary, talking about that, it says, metaphorically, which means symbolically spoken of as voluntary service. A servant, implying obedience, devotion, and modesty. So that's what he chose. And of course, that's why he had to live in a modest village called Nazareth. Born in a little village, the smallest, as it mentions there, in Judah, Bethlehem. And of a family, which was basically blue collar, working as craftsmen. And so we see here that that's the profession that he chose.

And coming in the likeness of men, flesh and blood, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. Even the death of the cross, a worse kind of imaginable death designed by human beings. And he was willing to put up with that pain and suffering. I didn't have to do any of that. And yet, because he wants us so much in his kingdom, he was willing to humble himself to that point. And so we understand that it's a God that we have, talking about God the Father, Jesus Christ. They both have that same sacrificial attitude.

And so when the angel Gabriel revealed to a young Mary about her son, and then another angel, it doesn't say it was Gabriel, spoke to Joseph about not putting away Mary, as if she had sinned and became pregnant. They had all of these signs that God showed them. This is going to happen. God is going to come in the flesh through Mary. Notice in Luke chapter 1, in verse 26, the story of the humble attitude of Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 1, verse 26, it says, Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth. To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, the virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. She was meeked, she was humble, she was willing to yield. And behold, you will conceive in your wound and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man? She's never had relations with a man. And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also the Holy One, who is to be born, will be called the Son of God. This is that being that was with God the Father, that did not seek to keep his status and position, but came in this way.

It goes on to say in verse 38, what was her reply? Then Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. So God wanted her to answer. It wasn't something that she was just completely forced into doing. No, she says, Yes, I'm willing to do so. And she knew it was going to be a tough life, but she was willing to be a servant of God.

Going on, then after the angel talked to Mary, let's go to Matthew chapter 1 and verse 18. An angel talks to Joseph after he becomes pregnant.

Matthew 1 verse 18. It says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as followed. After his mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph before they came together, in other words, before they had sexual relations, she was found with a child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, Mary your wife.

For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That's what the term Jesus means. The Lord saves. All of this was done that it might be fulfilled, which is spoken by the Lord through the prophet. So again, they had signals and signs that this would happen.

In Luke chapter 2, let's go now, we see the many signs before Jesus Christ was born. Luke chapter 2 verse 37, it says, And this woman, talking about Anna, who was at the temple, of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, and coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

She said, this is the Messiah. So when they had performed all the things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth, and the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. So this is what it tells us as a young boy. He was close to God. He had that connection. And it tells us that he was not limited to the amount of Holy Spirit he could possess.

And when he was twelve, we have this incident. Verse 41, his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the Feast. When they had finished the days as they returned, the boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother did not know it. But supposing him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey.

So, of course, there were so many people going to Jerusalem at that time. Hundreds of people from that town of Nazareth, which is the most probable number, they thought, well, he's with some other cousins. And everybody was kind of interrelated there, because they married into the families. So, after a day's journey, they sought him among their relatives and acquaintances.

So when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. Now, so it was that after three days, they must have been very desperate. You can imagine what a mother feels like when their child is all of a sudden gone. You think the worst things. There was kidnapping in those days, too. So you can imagine how they were. They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. Twelve years old! And he already knew the Scriptures and could basically par with any of these. So when they saw him, they were amazed, and his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us?

Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously. And he said to them, Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? But they did not understand the statement which he spoke to them. Why? Because they were typical Jews. No, they weren't converted. They didn't have God's Spirit. They were still following their old lifestyles and just following along.

And they didn't realize that Jesus was the Messiah. Even with all the signs that they faced, remember the angels announced it to the shepherds when he was born. The star that was there, probably an angel that was shining brightly, that led the wise men over this house where they worshipped Jesus and gave him gifts. So there was a lot. But you know, it's hard to break the mindset at that time. They were going to the synagogue. They had the scribes, they had the Pharisees, they had the Sadducees, the priests, teaching them.

And none of them recognized that Jesus was the Messiah. And so they didn't understand it either. Notice what it tells us in Mark 6 about Jesus' human family. Mark 6, verses 1-3, talking about Jesus. Then he went out from there and came to his own country, talking about Nazareth, and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing him were astonished, saying, Where did this man get these things?

And what wisdom is this which is given to him that such mighty works are performed by his hands? Is this not the carpenter? That was his office. That was his profession. Just like his father Joseph. And the term here, teknos, has to do more with like a craftsman. They not only worked with wood, but they worked with stone. They were builders of many things. This is not the, should be the builder, the craftsman, the son of Mary.

Notice that Joseph is not mentioned anymore, so suppose that he also suffered the loss of his father. Now, Mary was with all of these kids. The son of Mary and brother of James. Apparently, that was the next brother after Jesus was born. Joseph, Judas, and Simon. So here, Jesus had four, what turns out to be half brothers. And are not his sisters here with us. We don't have the names of these sisters, but there had to be at least two because it's in the plural.

So they were offended at him. And so they didn't think, how can he be the Messiah? We've seen him. He's a village craftsman. He does these things. So Jesus had a very hard time convincing even his human family. Notice, he began his ministry around 30 years old. According to Luke 3 verse 23. You can just jot it down. And when he began his ministry at around the age of 30, wouldn't have been great to at least have some support of his own human family during his ministry?

It was not to be. That prophecy about that tender plant, about him humbling himself to that point, was fulfilled. So he didn't have the backing of his own family. Not even his mother supported him when he began his ministry. And she didn't think he was a Messiah. The problem was that new wine, as Jesus Christ said, cannot go into old wineskins. And she had that old mentality.

She couldn't break away from it. Have you ever had a person that just can't break away from that mentality they've been raised? I know in my own family it's that way. You cannot break that mentality. Whatever the religion was there that they learned, they're stuck with it. It's hardened. There's no way to change it in this present life. And let's go to Mark chapter 3 verse 20.

See some examples that not even his mother backed him up. Mark chapter 3 in verse 20 and 21. It says, then the multitude came together again so that they could not so much as eat bread. So many people were after Jesus Christ, especially, wanted to be healed. And it says here, Jesus and the disciples didn't have a time to have a meal.

But when his own people, talking about his own human family, heard about this, they went out to lay hold of him. For they said, he is out of his mind. How would you like somebody, your family members, to say, you are out of your mind? And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, he has Belzebub, and by the ruler of demons, he cast out demons. So he called them to himself and said to them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan? So he not only had the religious leaders accusing him of having Satan in him and all of this, but his own family said, this is something, some type of possession has taken hold of him.

Very sad, but it's true. It's in the Bible.

And then it goes on in verse 31 of the same chapter. It says, then his brothers and his mother came. We already know he had at least six of them, six brothers and sisters. And standing outside, they sent to him calling him. They were concerned. They thought, oh, this man is not normal. We used to know him. He was more of a gentle person. And now he's doing all of these mighty works and miracles. And they thought something's in him. And an multitude was sitting around him, and they said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. What did he answer? But he answered them, saying, who is my mother or my brothers? And he looked around in a circle at those who sat about him, those that were learning from him, that did accept him as a Messiah, as a teacher, and said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother. And what is he implying there? That my mother and brothers and sisters, they're not following the will of God, like these people that are my disciples. In the parallel account of this, in Luke 8, 19-21, it says, then his mother and brothers came to him and could not approach him.

And they said, your mother and brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you. They were going to probably censure him, because they did not believe in him. And it was told him by some who said, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you. But he answered and said to them, my mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do. They're carrying it out. And he is implying, my mother and brothers and sisters, they are not hearing the word of God. They are not carrying out doing the things.

In Matthew 12, 50, it's a little bit different. It says, for whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. So they weren't doing God's will, as I brought out. In another comment, seeing how difficult it was to have a family that was antagonistic toward him, in Luke 11, in verses 27 and 28, there was another comment about his mother not believing what he said. In Luke 11, verse 27, it says, And it happened, as he spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you. But he said, More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it, saying, My mother isn't doing this. So again, it's not something to raise Mary to such a level. He was saying, It's more important those that are following me, that are my disciples, who are doing these things.

In John 7, verse 2, we see his brothers, probably it includes the sisters as well. John 2, because the term Adelphoi can mean brothers and sisters. John 7, verse 2, It says, Now the Jews' feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to him, Depart from here and go into Judea, that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no one does any thing in secret which he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in him. So this is a clear expression that here all this life, and they still had that old mold, they could not break that mold of their Judaism, of their ideas, just like people have their mold of life. They can't break that old mold to follow the truth.

Now, one of the worst moments, of course, in Jesus Christ's life, was when he had to die in front of his own mother. In Matthew 27, verse 55, you can imagine how humiliating that is. And his mother was sure that he was not the Messiah.

After all the miracles, after all the signs, she was still doubtful. That hurt Jesus Christ. In Matthew 27, verse 55, it says, And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. So it talks about the women who did believe, who were following Christ. Now, Mary was there as well, but she's not included in this list. Rather, in John 19, it does mention her. John 19, verse 25. John 19, verse 25, it says, When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, that was John, the author of this book, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home. So John took her because she no longer was going to be sustained. Jesus Christ could not continue helping the family out there. But notice, it doesn't say, Mother, behold your son. It says, Woman, to the very end, Mary did not believe.

But, hey, there's a happy ending. Something happens.

After his resurrection, it all changed. When he appeared to one of his brothers, the resurrected Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 7, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 7, Paul mentions about the different people that saw the resurrected Christ. And he says in verse 7, And after that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. James was his half-brother.

And after that, James believed. He was called by God. And he went to his own brothers and sisters, and to his own mother, and said, I have seen Jesus Christ, the resurrected. And they believed. And then the scales fell from their eyes, and they saw the truth. And they became part of the brethren. And so we have in Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter 1 and verse 12, a description of Jesus' followers. It says in Acts chapter 1 verse 12, Then they returned, talking about the apostles, to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying, Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the zealot, and Judas, the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Again, the term is much broader. It just talks about the Adelphoi, which means included here. The family didn't exclude anybody from it.

Verse 15, And in those days Peter stood up, in the midst of the disciples. Altogether the number of names was about 120. So here Jesus' family finally made it into the faith. But only after the resurrection. He didn't do much good during Jesus' lifetime. He had opposition. He had unbelief. He had humiliating circumstances.

And then, in chapter 2, verse 1, When the day of Pentecost had fully come, They were all in one accord, in one place, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, As a rushing, mighty wind, And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, As a fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, Began to speak with other tongues, other languages, As the Spirit gave them utterance. So here was Jesus' family, part of the initial church. And we know later James was the one that wrote the epistle of James. And then we have Judas, another brother of Jesus, Who wrote the epistle of Judas.

And so, there is a happy ending. And we know that some of the brothers of Jesus Christ, In their ministry, had wives to accompany Him.

You can look it up in 1 Corinthians 9-5. It says, do we have no right to take along a believing wife, As do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord in Cephas? So it mentions that they also had wives. All this is to show how much God the Father and Jesus have suffered. They've been put through so much humiliation. They paid the ultimate price just to carry out their loving plan of salvation. This should comfort us and cause us never to believe God does not know What suffering and pain are all about. We should trust in the ultimate purpose that God one day will personally reveal to every one of us the pain and suffering we have gone in our lives and to wipe the tears from everyone's eyes. There will be no more pain, suffering. All of those past events will pass away, as it says in Revelation 21.4. So we need to have faith. I'd like to end with John 3, verse 16. There's a lot more here than just repeated, but we can appreciate so much more God the Father's sacrifice and Jesus Christ as well to help us be part of that coming kingdom. John 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And so that's the story of Jesus Christ, human family, in the trials and sufferings that He went through for all of us.