Even His Brothers Didn’t Believe In Him

Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, where your followers can see your miracles! You can’t become famous if you hide like this! If you can do such wonderful things, show yourself to the world!” For even his brothers didn’t believe in him. John 7:1-5

JESUS HAD FAMILY MEMBERS who didn’t believe in him. They had lived with him for thirty years yet stubbornly refused to recognize him for who he really was. In fact, they were embarrassed by his actions and his words. They just wanted to get rid of him.

Perhaps sibling rivalry got in the way. It must have been very hard to have Jesus for a brother. He always did the right thing. He always obeyed his parents. He always acted out of humility, putting others first. It must have made his siblings increasingly self-conscious of their own sinful motives and actions. Perhaps Mary and Joseph treated Jesus differently from his siblings. When family stories were being swapped, it would have been hard to compete with a star appearing at your brother’s birth.

Those of us who wonder if our family members would put their faith in Christ if only we were a better witness, if only we had the words to convince them, if only we were all-around better Christians, can find consolation as we look into the unbelief in Jesus’ own family. Evidently having a perfect witness in the household doesn’t guarantee that our loved ones will see and embrace Christ.

But we can also find hope as we consider the rest of the story. While it must have seemed unlikely that Jesus’ brothers would ever become his disciples, after his resurrection, they did! In Jesus’ own family we find hope for our own as we see that long-term resistance to Christ can give way to a glad embrace of him as Savior.

Lord, we sometimes grow weary in our prayers for those in our family who remain far away from you. We sometimes think it is going to take a bigger miracle on your part to save our unbelieving family members than it took to save us —that somehow we were more inclined toward you, an easier project on the sliding scale of salvation challenges. We repent of our arrogance and prayerlessness and hopelessness. We ask you to do for our family members what you did for the members of your own family —open their eyes to see and believe in you.