Cousins

 How far would you go to defend an untenable position? What lengths would you go to in order to convince people that kale tastes great or that bellbottoms are a good idea? I guess it all depends on what’s at stake. If it was just a question of personal preference, you might voice an opinion or two, but at the first sign of pushback or evidence to the contrary, you’d let it go and try to deflect, redirect, or diffuse the situation.

Now imagine that there were billions upon billions of dollars at stake, an entire city with golden domes and golden crosses, real estate holdings throughout the world, prestige, and a couple of billion people hanging on your every word. How far would you go to defend your position then?

People will perpetuate deceit for a lot less, so it’s no surprise that no one is willing to have the conversation about Jesus and his half-brothers and sisters and what that implies in real-world terms.

I have cousins, and I have brothers. I’ve never referred to my cousins as my brothers, nor have I ever referred to my brothers as my cousins, but these are the lengths to which some will go to maintain that Mary did not have a relationship with Joseph after the birth of Jesus, resulting in offspring.

When you have to butcher the Bible to maintain your assertions as valid, you’ve got a problem on your hands. It’s the kind of problem no amount of backpedaling or propaganda can fix, either.  

This is why the foundation of something matters. It is, in fact, paramount. If the foundation is slanted or built upon shifting sands, no matter how opulent or grandiose the edifice, it is still compromised and uninhabitable. You’ll always have the sword of Damocles hanging over your head, ready to drop when you least expect it. It may not be visible to the naked eye at first, but build it tall enough, and you have the leaning tower of Pisa where you can’t help but notice it’s askew.

How long do you think it was before someone noticed the tower was leaning to one side? However far along they were, someone deemed it too expensive to tear down and build it anew. They’d invested too much money and time, so good enough would have to do. In all fairness, it is said the tower didn’t lean initially, but even so, it is foundational issues that caused it to lean eventually.

That in itself is a learning lesson worth pondering. Everything seemed fine until pressure was brought to bear, and because the foundation was not built solidly enough, once the weight of the tower bore down on it, it began to slip.

Whether or not Mary had children with Joseph after the birth of Jesus matters because clearly the Bible says she did, and two of the epistles within the New Testament were written by men whom those of their time knew as half-brothers to the Christ.

It was not something in dispute during the time they were alive. It was only much, much later that fanciful notions of what the word brother means began to be floated about. There’s a cascading effect that occurs when you call into question this one central point, which goes to undermine the credibility and validity of the whole. If James and Jude were not the half-brothers of Jesus, then we can ignore the things we don’t like in the things they wrote and not feel so bad about it.

What would they know of walking in the way of truth if they were just a couple of guys who got bored one day and decided to write letters?

Why would the twelve tribes scattered abroad pay this man James any heed if he were just another Jew?

The familiarity with which James writes to the twelve tribes undergirds the historical records that tell us he was a devout Jew, well known among the Pharisees, and a letter from him declaring unashamedly that he was a bondservant of Christ would have thrown a wrench into the narrative being formulated that Jesus was just another grifter and that it was His disciples who stole his body from the tomb.

It’s one thing to get a letter from a cousin twice removed and another to get one from a man’s half-brother, who, up until recently, was doubtful of his claims. Close family is usually the hardest to convince of something, especially if their first inclination is not to believe you. They’re around you all the time, can detect any inconsistency, and if they’re set on dismantling your narrative, if you’re not wholly truthful and honest, they will find a way.

Always be wary of anyone who tries to contradict or dispute the Bible while claiming to be an adherent of it. There’s always an agenda behind it, always some vested interest that they’re trying to keep hidden lest the individual they are attempting to convince sees through their intent.

The pacifists among us are quick to say that as far as they’re concerned, it doesn’t matter if James and Jude were cousins of Jesus or half-brothers. It doesn’t take away from who Jesus was, after all. All that may be true, but one is the truth, and the other is a lie. One is fact; the other is a fiction created by men because it allows them to be the gatekeepers to grace, forgiveness, salvation, and heaven.

Jesus said, let he who thirsts come to Me and drink. He never mentioned a middleman you’re supposed to go to who will tell you the hoops you must jump through in order to find Him. There are no gatekeepers. Jesus is waiting; it’s just men’s desperately wicked hearts keeping them from seeking Him out.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.