THE MASTER’S MEN: JAMES, THE SON OF ZEBEDEE
Matthew 10:2
So far we have learned some valuable lessons from two of the Master’s men, namely Simon Peter and Andrew. We now come to third man on the list – James, the son of Zebedee. Like before let me do a brief family sketch, then something about his call to follow Christ, and then something about his weakness and strength.
I. His Family
We first met James, along with his brother John back in Matthew 4:21.
· NAU Matthew 4:21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
James is the English name for Jacob, whereas John is the English name for the Hebrew form Johanan. Based on Matthew 4:21, both James and his younger brother John were fishermen because their father was a fisherman. In those days the sons usually followed the same vocation as that of their father.
Zebedee, their father, was apparently a well to do fisherman, because according to Mark 1:20, he had other hired-hands who helped them with their fishing business. In fact, according to Luke 5:10, one of the hire-hands was Simon Peter, who was more likely a friend to Zebedee’s boys since all of them is from the same town. Hence by the time Jesus appeared into the scene, Zebedee and his sons (James and John) were living better economically than most people.
Some scholars believe that Zebedee was married to Salome, the sister of the mother of Jesus, Mary (because of what is indicated in Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25).[1] In other words, that would make James, the son of Zebedee, a cousin to Jesus. In fact it is fair to say that James is also known because of his mom, who in Matthew 20 asked Jesus if he could put her sons to sit at his right and left hand.
II. His Call
We can read of his call to follow Christ in Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20. What is interesting in both texts is the repeated emphasis on James’ seriousness to follow Christ. And it is described by both Gospel writers with the word “immediately.”
The immediacy to remove himself from the family and vocation clearly speaks of his ultimate priority, namely that Jesus takes precedence over livelihood and family. And to leave his fishing nets for another type of fishing does speak of the change in his lifestyle.[2]
As he obeyed the call to follow Christ, we then find him in the main circle of the core group that was very close to Jesus, namely with Simon Peter, John (James’ brother) and him. It is interesting to observe in the Gospels that his name always gets mentioned before than his brother John. Perhaps this is to show that James is older than John.
Another interesting observation is that during the earthly ministry of Jesus, he often took his core group (which includes James) to places that other disciples were excluded – e.g., when he went up to the mountain to pray he took with him Peter, James, and John; and also at the Mount of Transfiguration.
III. His Weakness
According to Mark 3:17 the two sons of Zebedee were given a nickname by Jesus – i.e., Boanerges, which means sons of thunder, which by the way was a reflection of their character, namely a quick judgmental spirit. With that in mind, would you please turn your Bible with me to Luke’s Gospel? Let me draw your attention to chapter 9, verses 51 to 56. Let me make some observations from this passage:
1. Their zeal for Christ, specifically, how they were greatly offended because they witnessed the mistreatment that their Lord received from the Samaritans, is much to be commended. Honestly, I wish more professing Christians would express righteous anger than sitting neutral on the fence when Christ is defamed and the gospel is erroneously proclaimed. I have learned that what people get mad and what they don’t get mad tells a lot about them.
There are men in the Bible who possessed thunderous personalities as leaders. For instance, the prophet Elijah in the OT was like that. In the NT, John the Baptist had a fiery personality. And now we are reading about James, who too had a thunderous and passionate personality like those men.
I don’t know how many of you have considered this, but did you know that Scripture commands us to be angry? Right’s right. The Bible commands us to be angry. A case in point – would you please turn your Bible to Ephesians 4:26? It states:
· NET Ephesians 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on the cause of your anger.
The phrase “be angry” in Greek is in present imperative. In other words, this is not a suggestion but a command. And the context in which this text is found, namely the membership within a local church (v. 25), this strongly implies that Christians are to exercise a righteous anger over sin in the midst of the redeemed community. Contrary to a popular belief amongst Christians today, the context here strongly implies that confronting sins within the membership of a local church is a loving duty of a church member. So it is completely biblical to be angry over legitimate reasons. In fact, I believe that the cause for James and John’s anger was very legitimate. They were far from sitting on a neutral stance about what they witnessed about their Lord.
But what went wrong is the transition between the cause to their conduct. And this is where many of us struggle and sometimes fail. The fundamental problem in their conduct was that they were acting and behaving as though it was their job to condemn and to execute God’s judgment when those things belong to God alone.
Sometimes our pride, uncontrolled passion, and personal vendetta take best of us and we become self-deceived to think that we are actually doing something glorious for God under those pretences. In other words, we use righteous anger as an excuse to carry out our personal revenge, agenda, and pride-driven passion.
2. Passion or zeal alone is not sufficient. Perhaps this was James’ greatest weakness – that is, he had zeal without knowledge. J.C. Ryle wrote the following words:
It is possible to have a great deal of zeal for Christ and yet display the most unholy and unchristian actions. It is clear as daylight, from this and other cases related in the Bible, that it is not enough to be zealous and well-meaning. Very grave faults are frequently committed with good intentions. We must have knowledge as well as zeal. Zeal without knowledge is an army without a general, a ship without a rudder. We must pray that we understand how to apply Scripture correctly. The Word is undoubtedly a light to our feet and a light to our path. But it must be the Word rightly handled and properly applied.[3]
James should have paid a little more attention to one of the Hebrew proverbs:
· NET Proverbs 19:2 It is dangerous to have zeal without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily makes poor choices.
But it is precisely a prideful person who thinks that such proverb applies to other people, except him/her.
· ESV Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
Another example of his zeal without knowledge is depicted in Mark 9. Please turn there and let me draw your attention to verses 35 to 40. I want to point out a few important lessons here.
1. The dangerous ambition for position in the kingdom or in the church.
2. Overconfidence in one’s self may literally lead to death.
IV. His Strength
What Jesus said in Mark 10 about James came to its fulfillment, namely James indeed drank the cup of death and baptized with death. In fact James was the first amongst the apostles to die as a martyr. With that in mid, would you please turn your Bible with me to Acts 12? Let me draw your attention to verses 1 and 2.
This is not the same Herod who killed John the Baptist and put Jesus on the trial. That was Herod Antipas. This Herod is Herod Agrippa I, the nephew of Herod Antipas. And it is he who killed James. It is interesting to note that James is the only apostle whose death is actually recorded in the NT. We’re not certain of all the details surrounding his death.
But what is safe to assume is that James, more likely, died because of his zealous passion for Christ. And it is safe to assume that by the time of his death he, more likely, had gained and possessed powerful saving knowledge of Christ that he lacked before. Now, it wasn’t simply a mere passion, but now passion and zeal with saving knowledge. And when truth and passion become one, such power becomes unstoppable. I pray that we as Sovereign Grace Bible Church become a church that strives for such beautiful combination – truth and zeal.
[1] For example, D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, PNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 615-16.
[3] J.C Ryle, Luke, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, edited by Alister McGrath and J.I. Packer (Wheaton: Crossway, 1997), 133.
