Even Jesus' Own Brothers Did Not Believe in Him

Even Jesus' own brothers did not believe in Him. (John 7:5)

And sometimes they thought Jesus was crazy. 

Jesus entered a house. Again a crowd gathered. It was so large that Jesus and his disciples were not even able to eat. His family heard about this. So they went to take charge of him. They said, "He is out of his mind." (Mark 3:20-21)

That is a reasonable reaction.  How would you feel if your brother said things like:

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

But after Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, we see that His brothers changed their opinion about Him.

The apostles... all came together regularly to pray. The women joined them too. So did Jesus' mother Mary and his brothers.  (Acts 1:12,14)

What caused their change in attitude about their brother Jesus?  Paul gives us a hint in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.

What I received I passed on to you. And it is the most important of all. Here is what it is:

• Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said He would.
• He was buried.
• He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said He would be.
• He appeared to Peter.
• Then He appeared to the Twelve.

• After that, He appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time...

• He appeared to James.

• Then He appeared to all the apostles.

Who was that "James"?   ...  

James was the brother of Jesus, he later became the leader, the bishop, of the Jerusalem church.

After Paul became a Christian, he went to Jerusalem to meet the two chief Christian leaders -- Peter and James, "the Lord's brother."

...I went up to Jerusalem. I went there to get to know Peter. I stayed with him for 15 days.  I didn't see any of the other apostles. I only saw James, the Lord's brother. (Galatians 1:18-19)

Several stories in the New Testament describe James' leadership role in the Jerusalem church:

Acts 12:17Acts 15 (see verse 13)
Acts 21:18
Galatians 2:11-12

James had a top leadership role in the Jerusalem church.  So we may safely assume that the author of the New Testament letter of James was written by Jesus' younger brother.

I, James, am writing this letter. I serve God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
I am sending this letter to you, the 12 tribes that are scattered among the nations. (James 1:1) 

Click the link below to read the whole article.
http://www.christdeaf.org/bible/BrothersOfJesus.html