Re Verse reading–1 Corinthians 15 (Day Three)
“Then he appeared to James…” The Lord’s brother James mocked Jesus with skepticism-fueled condescension. James and others in the family thought Jesus mentally unstable. Disbelief and disdain marked James’s perception of Jesus. But then James changed. One could say that James suffered from such deep guilt or grief over the death of Jesus that he bought into the myth of resurrection. Certainly some do say this. But to encounter the writing of James in the New Testament, and to read in Acts of his leadership of the church at Jerusalem is to observe a man living from a position of strength, not a position of sorrow. As was the case with the whole church, resurrection provides the best explanation of James’s robustness. The question really isn’t what caused the change; the question is instead: Do you believe the answer?
