Saturday, February 8, 2014

James and John: The Sons of Thunder (Part 2)



Background Information

It is important to know a little about the background of these two men.

James

It is thought that James was the eldest of the two brothers. He was a fisherman by trade. We read of his initial dealing with Christ in Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11. Each passage shares an interesting tidbit about what occurred. Matthew and Mark speak of Christ telling the men to follow Him in order to become fishers of men. Luke records more of the occasion in which this statement was made. Christ was at the lake of Genneseret (Sea of Galilee) and saw the two ships of these fishermen (Andrew, Simon, James, and John). He called out to Simon and asked him to go out some and cast the net into the waters. Peter obliged even though nothing had been earlier caught. There was so much by the way of fish that the nets began to break. After this occurred Christ gave them the famous promise. “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men” (Luke 5:10b).

James has an interesting death when compared to the rest of the apostles as his is actually recorded in the Bible. Out of the apostles, he is first to be martyred. “Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword” (Acts 12:1-2).

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