James, the brother of John

There are three individuals called James who were leaders in the New Testament church. There is James, the son of Alpheaus, who was one of the apostles, but very few details are given about him. A second James was the brother of Jesus who was converted after the resurrection of Jesus, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15. He became a leader in the church in Jerusalem and later he wrote the epistle of James that is included in the New Testament. The third James is the brother of John, the apostle who wrote several of the New Testament books.

Who was he?

The father of James was Zebedee and he ran a fishing business with his sons James and John. They also had a partnership with Andrew and Simon, although we are not told if James and John came from Bethsaida, the place where Andrew and Simon came from. James was probably the oldest of the two brothers because his name is placed first when they are mentioned together.

The mother of James was Salome. Depending on how one reads the lists of women who were at the cross of Jesus when he died, it is possible to say that she was a sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus. One list says that the sister of Mary was there at the cross and another list says that Salome was there. If Salome and Mary were sisters, it would mean that James and John were cousins of Jesus. 

James was one of the earliest disciples of Jesus and he was one of the inner three disciples, along with his brother John and Peter, to whom Jesus gave special privileges. A few years after Jesus ascended to heaven, James was the first of the apostles to be martyred for the faith. His death is recorded by Luke in Acts 12:1-3. The ruler who arranged for his death was one of the Herods.

His character – a son of thunder

We are told this about James in Mark 3:17: ‘James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder).’ In that list of the apostles, they are placed between Peter and Andrew. I suppose this nickname suggests that they were fiery and impulsive. Thunder makes a loud noise, so they would always be heard when they spoke. 

Did this feature show itself while they were following Jesus? There are two occasions when it probably did, and both occurred on the final journey of Jesus to Jerusalem, after they had been his disciples for over two years. The first involved their response to the inhabitants of a Samaritan village who refused to show hospitality to Jesus and his disciples (Luke 9:51-56). Hospitality is usually a given in the Middle East, so it was an unusual refusal. Luke tells us it was because they saw that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to attend the Passover. So it was religious bigotry that was at the root of the refusal.

James and John responded to this insult immediately and wanted the Samaritans to be punished by God with fire from heaven. They imagined that they had the authority to tell heaven what to do. We could say that religious bigotry was at the root of their response. How unlike Jesus they were at that moment! He was on his way to the cross to save sinners by dying for them and they wanted sinners to be destroyed, sinners like themselves.

The second occasion involved them and their mother Salome asking that they could have the two prominent places in the kingdom of Jesus that they imagined was about to be set up. Jesus told them that they did not know what they were asking. He informed them that the path to glory for him was through great suffering. Bizarrely, they affirmed that they were prepared to suffer for him. Jesus told them that eventually they would suffer for him, and we know that James was martyred and John was imprisoned. 

Two features of the kingdom of Jesus are mentioned by him. One is that the places of honour in his kingdom will not be given on the basis of merely asking for it. It will be given, as Matthew 25 indicates, to those who serve Jesus through changed lives. The other feature of his kingdom is the necessity of humility. The way for us to get a high place in the kingdom of glory is to take a low place in the kingdom of grace, and this low place includes serving everyone. Those who serve Jesus must be like him in attitude.

His call

The first mention we have of James is when Jesus calls him and his brother John to leave their boat and follow him. What happened to his brother previously was probably true of James. They were influenced by the preaching of John the Baptist and were looking for the coming Messiah. Having found out that Jesus was the Messiah, they had been with him on the journey round the country described in the early chapters of John’s Gospel, which included activities in Judea, Samaria and Galilee. Now about a year later they were called by him to become apostles, the special delegates of Jesus. This call would involve different experiences for the apostles, and one of the experiences of James was that he along with Peter and John became the inner three who saw things about Jesus that the other apostles did not see.

His privilege – one of the inner three

The house of Jairus

The first experience they shared with Jesus was observing him raise the young  daughter of Jairus from the dead. We can read about this miracle in Mark 5:37-43 and Luke 8:49-58. Since they were in the process of learning about Jesus, we should consider what they would have learned about him from this incident. 

The first detail to note is that Jesus urged the disconsolate parents to trust in him as being able to solve the terrible disaster that had occurred. He asked them to believe that he would do what he promised. Although they were grief-stricken, they could still trust in him.

A second detail is that the disciples saw that Jesus had no time for shallow involvement, as seen in his dismissal of the traditional mourners who had gathered to lament strongly the death, especially as they soon showed their shallowness in their laughter at his claims. How pointless was the meaningless tradition in that home! What comfort could it give to the mourners?

Third, they saw the gentleness of Jesus in the way that he spoke to the dead girl and held her hand – we should remember that touching a dead body rendered a person unclean at that time as far as the temple worship was concerned, but Jesus was willing to put compassion before ceremony. Moreover, how wonderful for the young girl to see the face of Jesus and feel his hand as she awoke! She would never have forgotten her experience. Nor would the three apostles.

A fourth detail is that Jesus only did what they could not do – which was to raise the girl from the dead; he expected the family to do what they could do, which was to feed the girl. This is sometimes a hard lesson to learn because often we want Jesus to do everything. 

The fifth detail is obvious – Jesus possessed divine power, although it is likely that he raised the girl by the power of the Holy Spirit as evidence that he was the Messiah.

The Mount of Transfiguration

The second experience of the three apostles occurred on the Mount of Transfiguration. We can think of the passage in Mark 9:2-10 that describes what took place. What did they learn about Jesus from this incident? 

It was night-time when this happened, but light shone from Jesus that was as bright as the sun, which means it was not dark on the mountain top. Obviously, they saw that he is the possessor of uncreated light, that he is divine. We should remember that it is John who says that the inhabitants of heaven don’t need the light of the sun because the Lamb is the light of the city. 

A second detail is that Jesus is more important than eminent persons in heaven, even more than Moses and Elijah, two important figures from Jewish history. Connected to that, they would have noticed that the inhabitants of heaven were very interested in the work of Jesus on the cross because their salvation depended on him. They discussed his Exodus that he would perform in Jerusalem.

Third, they would have learned from Peter’s response that there are some situations in which silent observation is much better than inappropriate suggestions. Of course, since each of the three was told to listen to Jesus by the Father, the command implies that each of the three was not paying full attention.

Fourth, they discovered what God the Father thought of Jesus and how he wanted them to respond to Jesus. He is the beloved Son and they are to listen to him because he was explaining to them what he would do on the cross.

The garden of Gethsemane

The third occasion when the three apostles had a privileged experience occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane on the evening of the arrest of Jesus (Mark 14:32-42). They were asked by him to watch with him because of what was about to happen to him. Jesus already was ‘greatly distressed and troubled’ at the prospect of the cross and they were given the amazing and singular experience of observing how he responded and to express sympathy for him. What did they learn from this experience? After all, in one sense, they were with him in the garden; but in another sense, they were not.

First, they would have learned that prayer may not be answered according to the request. They had heard him pray that if it was possible the cup would be taken from him, but it was not possible. 

Second, they would have heard the degree of the submission of Jesus in that he was willing to drink the unmovable cup. How much would he take? All that was in it. What was in it? The atoning sufferings of the cross when he would pay the penalty for sin.

Third, they discovered their weakness since they could sleep soundly in the most profound of situations. They also observed that heaven could provide a comforter (the angel) when the earthly comforters failed (Luke 22:43). 

Fourth, they saw the determination of Jesus to go to the cross in the way he responded to the arrival of the gang sent to arrest him. The arresting party may have imagined that those giving them their orders were in charge, but Jesus knew that the One who had sent him was in control of all events.

There are other instances in which James is mentioned. He was present when Jesus healed the mother-in-law of Peter after he had healed the man in the synagogue in Capernaum. And he was one of the disciples whom Jesus cooked a meal for after he rose from the dead (John 21). But what lessons can we learn from our study of James?

Lessons

The obvious lesson is that Christian experience varies between believers. It even varied between the apostles. Some believers know Jesus better than others do. Sometimes, this depth of love seems to come from within them because they spend more time thinking about his grace. At other times, God arranges it. But there are degrees of difference.

A second lesson is that Jesus can change the most hardened of characters. The man who wanted fire to come down from heaven on to some opponents of Jesus became a loving presenter of the gospel, even willing to travel distances to declare it. The son of thunder was changed by the power of grace.

A third lesson is that James eventually experienced what Jesus had said would happen to him regarding suffering. He became a witness who was faithful unto death. Thus he received a crown of glory, a crown far greater than he imagined when he made his request for a place of honour when he was still a son of thunder.