Lives of Scripture

James, son of Zebedee and older brother of John, was mending nets with his father on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus called him; he "immediately left the boat and his father, and followed Him" (Matthew 4:21-22). Jesus nicknamed James and John "Boanerges," or "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17), a name that fits their temperament: they once asked Jesus to call down fire on a Samaritan village that rejected Him (Luke 9:54), and James and John themselves asked Jesus for the two highest seats in His coming kingdom, provoking the other ten disciples' indignation (Mark 10:35-41). Yet James belonged to Jesus' innermost circle: with Peter and John, he alone witnessed the raising of Jairus's daughter (Mark 5:37), Jesus' Transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and His agony in Gethsemane (Mark 14:33), being asked there to "remain here and keep watch" -- and falling asleep instead. James became the first apostle martyred for the faith: Herod Agrippa I "had James the brother of John put to death with a sword" to please the Jewish leaders (Acts 12:2), fulfilling Jesus' earlier warning that James and John would indeed drink His cup of suffering (Mark 10:38-39). Ambitious and imperfect, James nonetheless followed Christ to the point of death.