Daily Devotional | Appearing to James

Adi Dassler began a shoe company in 1924. A few years later, his older brother Rudi joined him. In the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens won numerous events wearing the Dassler brothers’ shoes. A feud began that led to a split of the company. Adi renamed his company Adidas by combining his first and last name. Rudi renamed his company Ruda and later Puma. The brothers never reconciled and were buried at opposite ends of the cemetery.

James and Jude did not always believe in Jesus. They assumed He was interested in becoming famous at best (John 7:2–5). At worse, they believed He had lost His mind. Mark tells us, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:20–21).

It is not too far-fetched to think that James and Jude didn’t believe Jesus during His entire earthly life. They may have watched their brother die on the Roman cross not understanding why. They may have felt anger, sadness, or a mixture of both. Perhaps they thought, “Why couldn’t he just be like the rest of us?” But aren’t you glad that was not the end of the story?

First Corinthians tells us that Jesus appeared to James after His resurrection! In the list of people to whom Jesus appeared, only two are listed by name. The first is Cephas (Peter). The second is James (1 Cor. 15:7). In the upper room on the Day of Pentecost we see Jesus’ disciples praying and waiting as Jesus had instructed them. In addition, there were “the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his [Jesus’] brothers” (Acts 1:14). James and Jude believed!