OLDER BROTHERS - JESUS WAS ONE

I am a first-born, an older brother. My two sisters, Gaye and Karen, and my younger brother Mark, had to put up with me (and still put up with me). Being very conscious of my own inadequacies as a person and my sometimes selfish motives, I sometimes carry guilt about the missed opportunities of being a good older brother. Fortunately, they don't remember me as harshly as I remember myself. Maybe that's the forgetfulness of true forgiveness.

Jared Wilson writes in his blog, THE GOSPEL DRIVEN CHURCH about the contrast between so many older brothers in scripture and history and Jesus who is "the first born of creation" (Col. 1:15). I suspect a lot of us older brothers (and sisters) might profit from his words.

"But not Jesus. Where disobedience and disregard ruled the roost of the firstborn, Jesus obeys the Father perfectly, submits to the eternal cause of the glory of the Father completely, and cares for and rescues and sacrifices his own well-being for his younger siblings to the utmost.

"Jesus is the older brother who will not trade his birthright for a bowl of soup. Jesus is the older brother who will not trade his siblings into slavery.
Jesus is the older brother who leaves the comfort of his Father's estate to seek out his lost brother among the brothels and pigsties and actually rescues him from the degradation of the mud and dresses him in the Father's robe of his own accord.

"To borrow from Sinclair Ferguson, Jesus is the "true and better" older brother.

"To borrow from a favorite line in a favorite movie, Jesus is the older brother who does his job. Everybody else is the other guy.

To read the rest of this article go to GOSPEL DRIVEN