Discussion Questions

1. If you are not familiar with the epistle (letter) of James in the Bible, take a few minutes to read it. What themes from the epistle has the author woven into this novel about James? Do you like the way they are incorporated? Why or why not?
2. James struggles to accept that his brother Jesus is truly acting in the will of God. Have you ever faced a similar challenge with someone you love? What is the best way to approach such a situation? How does James deal with it?
3. Many people wanted Jesus to be a different kind of deliverer than he turned out to be. In what ways do people still try to overlay God’s plans with their own motives and goals? How have you seen this in the lives of people you know?
4. Joseph, who has died before the novel begins, continues to have great influence in the lives of his children. How have your parents or grandparents impacted your life in ways that will continue —or have continued —even after their deaths? How can you have this kind of influence over younger members of your family or circle of friends?
5. What did you think of Annika? Have you ever known someone like her? What are some of the important roles such people fill in our lives?
6. Various characters in the novel experience a specific calling from God: Seek James. Did this seem realistic to you? What are some of the ways God might call or direct a person today? How have you experienced his direction?
7. How does Nathanael’s opinion of religious people change as he gets to know James and his family? What are some of the differences between an outward display of religion and true faith? Can the two coexist?
8. Nathanael reflects that “it was not Mother’s fault she was the way she was. Nathanael was very sure she would be . . . different today . . . if her own mother had been like Mary. Or Annika. . . . A pity, that one could not choose one’s own grandparents.” Do you agree that our choices are largely determined by our upbringing? How does personal responsibility come into play? Do we have more control over our lives today than Nathanael’s mother would have had in her time and place?
9. Nathanael says, “It is much to ask,” referring to the command “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might.” Why was James shocked by Nathanael’s reaction? What was it about Nathanael’s perspective that prompted his question? What are some beliefs or assumptions that we take for granted, which might strike the uninitiated more forcefully?
10. Later Nathanael says, “It makes you wonder if [God] loves us the way we are supposed to love him. . . . Does he have a mezuzah in his doorway in heaven? . . . Does he wear things on his arms and forehead? . . . Does he love us?” How would you answer Nathanael’s question? (If you need help, read some of these passages from the Bible: Isaiah 43:1-4, 49:15-16, 54:10; Lamentations 3:22-24; Jeremiah 31:3.)
11. Why does James tell Nathanael the story of Jesus and the woman caught in the act of adultery? What effect does it have on Nathanael?
12. What does it mean to James when he discovers the box inlaid with lapis lazuli? Has God ever used something like this to reveal truth to you —something that was there all along, but the significance of which you never saw before?