The Brother's Keeper

The sons of Joseph run a successful carpentry business in Nazareth. At least, it was successful until the oldest brother, Jesus, left home to tell the world he will forgive their sins and save their souls. Now everyone is hearing outlandish reports of healings and exorcisms. Business is suffering: not many people want a stool made by the family of the local crazy man. When one of his brothers starts listening to Jesus’ troubling speeches and fanatical Zealots descend on Nazareth to convince his family to join their fight against Rome, James wants nothing more than to shut out these rumblings and have a normal life. But normal walked out the day his brother did. James knows that this year’s Passover pilgrimage will be more important than ever. Hearing about a possible plot against Jesus, he must find him and talk some sense into him before it’s too late. And he must decide for himself who his brother really is. But on the dusty road to Jerusalem, more than one faction has murder on its mind. . . .

NOT EVEN HIS BROTHERS BELIEVED IN HIM.

Thirty years after he followed a star to Bethlehem, one of the Magi is back on another mission. This time, he is sent not to an infant “king of the Jews,” but to the king’s brother James.

The sons of Joseph run a successful carpentry business in Nazareth. At least, it was successful until the oldest brother, Jesus, left home to tell the world he will forgive their sins and save their souls. Now everyone is hearing outlandish reports of healings and exorcisms. Business is suffering; not many people want a stool made by the family of the local crazy man.   

James wants nothing more than to shut out the strangeness and have a normal life. But normal walked out the day his brother did, and strange things keep happening. One brother starts listening to Jesus’ troubling speeches. Fanatical Zealots descend on Nazareth to convince the family to join their fight against Rome. An eerie visitor with a foreign accent tells James to “consider it all joy.”

James knows that this year’s Passover pilgrimage will be more important than ever. He must find Jesus and talk some sense into him. He must warn of a possible plot against Jesus. And he must decide for himself who his brother really is.

What James does not know, on the dusty road to Jerusalem, is that more than one faction has murder on it’s mind...

TRACY GROOT is a part-time writer, full-time mother, and co-owner with her husband, Jack, of a coffee shop in Holland, Michigan.

 

His name is James. He was the brother of Jesus Christ. The Brother's Keeper is a story imagined from the few known facts of the life of a real man. The book tells the story of the latter part of Jesus' ministry, up through his death and resurrection, as seen through the eyes of His own family. Tracy Groot takes readers, with James, on a journey from unbelief to belief as James grapples with the question of who Jesus is. This imagined tale based on the few known facts from the life of James, the brother of Jesus, tells the story of the latter part of Jesus' ministry, up through his death and resurrection, as seen through the eyes of His own family