“So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

I don’t think I ever told my brother that when we were kids ours was a far more competitive relationship than I would have preferred.  Not being raised as Christians, our family growing up had its own share of idiosyncrasies and quirks that didn’t honor the Lord.  Lots of sins of omission as well as commission.  Despite being 11 months older than my brother, I took my firstborn status in the family quite seriously.  And I really struggled inside about the competition from my brother.  Little did I know that that’s a tendency of second-born same-sex siblings.  That’s why more firstborn’s enter the ministry and more second-born’s are car salesmen.  (No, my brother doesn’t sell cars, new or used!)  Then when my brother hit his growth spurt before me and got bigger — in more ways than one — everyone thought he was the firstborn.  Talk about indignity!  Firstborn readers know what I mean.

But when we come to Jesus being our brother, we’re talking about so much more than just a sibling thing.  Before we go there, however, it would be good to remember that Jesus had literal brothers and sisters.  Matthew 13:55 records the doubting questions of Jesus’ identity nagging the locals: “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?  Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  Aren’t all his sisters with us?  Where then did this man get all these things?”  Clearly Jesus was the firstborn in a family of at least 8 children — “all his sisters”, not both.  And to briefly digress even further, can you imagine what life was like for Jesus’ brothers and sisters having a perfect older brother?  Can’t you hear their mother saying something like, “I wish you’d all just be like your brother Jesus!  He’s such a good example for the rest of you!”  How’s that for spreading some sibling animosity in a family?

We find our text above in Hebrews 2.  The whole of verse 11 says, “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of he same family.  So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.”  This is truly a most remarkable thing.  “Of the same family”?  “Brothers” with God incarnate?  How can this be?  In answering this, we might remember something Jesus said earlier, also found in Matthew’s gospel.  “While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.  Someone told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’  He replied to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’  Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’” (12:46-50).  I see a room filled with astonished faces.  What must have gone through the minds of those disciples when he said that?    “Do the will of his Father?  That makes me his brother (or sister)?  I don’t get it.”

They couldn’t have understood then, not until Jesus died and rose.  That’s what he indicated to Mary Magdalene when he said that resurrection Sunday morning, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.  Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17).  There it is again: “brothers…my Father and your Father,”  the same family.  Hebrews explains for us how it is possible: “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.”  In other words, we are of the same ‘stuff’ — holiness.  We know this has to be a work of God.  A simple illustration will do.  Wash your very dirty hands in a bowl of clean water.  The result may leave your hands clean, but not the water.  The water has been soiled in the process.  But not Jesus!  When he made us holy, he himself remained holy.  While he took our sins on himself on the cross, in his nature and character he remained spotless, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18).  He always is and has been and will be righteous.  His holiness and power took away our sins without defiling him who is “the firstborn of many brothers” (Rom. 8:29).  Amazing, the work of God!

So when Jesus says he is our brother and we are his siblings and family, he wasn’t kidding.  Because of what he has done for us, we actually belong with him and the Father in heaven.  Sure, it is our tremendous privilege and incredible blessing, but it is our right!  It is more sure than you taking your next breath right now.

Are you enjoying fellowship with your perfect older brother?  Are you following his example?