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 This James is
the brother of John the Evangelist. The two were called by Jesus as they
worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had
already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation: Peter and
Andrew. "He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee,
and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he
called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the
hired men and followed him" (Mark 1:19-20).
James was one of the favored three who had the privilege of witnessing the
Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the agony
in Gethsemani.
Two incidents in the Gospels describe the temperament of this man and his
brother. St. Matthew tells that their mother came (Mark says it was the
brothers themselves) to ask that they have the seats of honor (one on the
right, one on the left of Jesus) in the kingdom. "Jesus said in reply, 'You
do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to
drink?' They said to him, 'We can'" (Matthew 20:22). Jesus then told them
they would indeed drink the cup and share his baptism of pain and death, but
that sitting at his right hand or left was not his to giveit "is for those
for whom it has been prepared by my Father" (Matthew 20:23b). It remained to
be seen how long it would take to realize the implications of their
confident "We can!."
The other disciples became indignant at the ambition of James and John. Then
Jesus taught them all the lesson of humble service: The purpose of authority
is to serve. They are not to impose their will on others, or lord it over
them. This is the position of Jesus himself. He was the servant of all; the
service imposed on him was the supreme sacrifice of his own life.
On another occasion, James and John gave evidence that the nickname Jesus
gave them"sons of thunder"was an apt one. The Samaritans would not welcome
Jesus because he was on his way to hated Jerusalem. "When the disciples
James and John saw this they asked, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire
from heaven to consume them?' Jesus turned and rebuked them..." (Luke
9:54-55).
James was apparently the first of the apostles to be martyred. "About that
time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He
had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that
this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also" (Acts
12:1-3a).
This James, sometimes called James the Greater, is not to be confused with
the author of the Letter of James and the leader of the Jerusalem community.
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