Luke 9:54 - James the windbag

When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

In three verses in the gospels, James (and John) are shown in a not so flattering light. In Mark 3:17, Jesus calls them both Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”, I did a little research on this name and "sons of thunder" may not be a perfect translation for Boanerges. It may means something closer to Thunder Boys or Bunch of Windbags or Busy Lowing Oxen. No matter the translation, it wasn't good. In Luke 9:54 (above) the brothers are bold enough to call down fire from heaven to destroy a village. First of all, that is not how Jesus rolls. Second, they have the audacity to call down fire from heaven. Elijah, a prophet, is the only person in the Bible who does this. The third verse is in Mark 10:35-37 when James and John ask to be at the right and left side of Jesus in glory. Jesus and the other apostles did not take kindly to this political positioning from the brothers.

The last mentions of James in the Bible restore him as a great man of God regardless of his shortcomings.  Acts 12:1-2 states :It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.  He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. James was faithful to the end and in Galatians 2:9, he is esteemed as a pillar of the church.

Lord, Thank you for giving us examples of imperfect Christians. Please help us to grow and improve in our manner and conduct. Amen.

Matthew 20:20 - James' parents

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

Many of the biblical references to James refer to his parents. Part of this may be because this is how people were identified with so many similar names.

According to Wikkipedia which can always be trusted (cough) here is some insight in to John's parents:

His parents seem to have been people of means. Zebedee, his father, was a fisherman of the Sea of Galilee, who probably lived in or near Bethsaida, present Galilee, Israel, perhaps in Capernaum, and had some boatmen or hired men. Salome, his mother, was one of the pious women who afterwards followed Christ and "ministered unto him of their substance", and his brother John was personally known to the high-priest, and must have had wherewithal to provide for the Mother of Jesus.^[1]

The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him. Matthew 4:21-22 Mark 1:19-20

James' mom, Salome,  is mentioned many times in the gospels, including at the cross. She is probably most remembered for asking Jesus if her sons, James and John, could sit at the right and left side of Jesus. Not a good idea.

The verses including the family of James, make it appear that the family of Jesus and the Zebedee family were very close and were an important part of Jesus ministry.

Lord, thank you for giving us examples of parents, the good and the bad. Please help us to be Godly parents. Amen.

Matthew 4:21-22 - James...really

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Ok, I really need to study these guys (James and Andrew) because I got them confused yesterday and listed a verse which spoke of Andrew not James. And, he is John's brother (John the apostle, not to be confused with John the baptist). So...we have two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew then James and John. Duhhh. That is how they were called and how the song goes. This shouldn't be tough.

Lord, thank you for your word. Please make it clear to me. Amen.

Matthew 4:18-20 - James

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

I am starting a study on James and Andrew for a class in a couple weeks, so my morning blog entries will reflect this. So this morning, beginning my study on James, I found out there are a lot of guys named James in the Bible. This guy was an apostle and was the brother of Peter (aka Simon). Oh...and there is another guy who is an apostle named James and there is James the brother of Jesus. Hopefully by the end of this study we will have this James figured out.

Lord, thank you for giving us your word so we can learn about people of faith who worked with Jesus on the earth. Please help us to gain wisdom and insight from this study. Amen

James 1:2 - Joy in times of trial

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  

As humans, life is not always perfect. In fact we will always have trials. If asked every person I came across today, I am sure everyone would have something they are struggling with. So, we will have trials, the question is how do we deal with them? Can we really be joyful in the face of trials? Absolutely. As we said, we are always facing a trial so if we allow ourselves to take time off from joy when there are trials in our life, we will never be joyful.

Lord, thank you for giving us the spirit of joy. Please help us to joyful always and in all circumstances. Amen.