James Zebedee 

James Zebedee was born in 4 BCE and raised in Bethsaida on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee in what is now Israel. He worked in the family business, fishing, and boatbuilding. Before becoming an apostle, he was married and had four children. He and his younger brother John (inspiration for the Gospel of John and author of the Book of Revelation) were the third and fourth apostles after Andrew and Simon Peter. Andrew, as chief of the apostles, assigned James, John, and Peter as personal aides to Jesus. For four years, these three were the closest witnesses of the teachings and doings of Jesus. James was the first apostle to be martyred after Christian persecutions began. Between the time of Jesus’ death and his own, James unceasingly proclaimed Jesus’ gospel in and around Jerusalem. He was executed by the Roman governor of Judea in 44 CE.

After growing up in the Zebedee household, with his brothers John, David, and their four sisters, James married and had four children. The family business, fishing and boatbuilding, was based in a small village on the outskirts of Capernaum, called Bethsaida, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Before Jesus began his public ministry, he spent a year living at Bethsaida and working with father Zebedee building boats. That is where Jesus and James became friends.

James was a man of strong feelings and two natures. He had a fiery temper and periodically gave in to wrath which he attributed to righteous indignation. Jesus nicknamed James and John “sons of thunder” because they were both quick to anger. And both were somewhat bigoted and intolerant. Once they asked Jesus for permission to rain fire from heaven and kill a group of disrespectful Samaritans. In time, and seeing Jesus’ example, James became slower to anger, more tolerant, and broad-minded. However, his fiery nature did, in the end, cost him his life. James was tried and executed on the order of a Roman ruler of Judea who feared him.

James was brave and determined when aroused. He could be quiet one day and a good storyteller the next. When not emotionally perturbed, he was level-headed and had the unusual ability to see all sides of a proposition. He was also able to appreciate a wide range of human nature. James was a well-balanced thinker and planner; he was energetic but never in a hurry. Growing up, he and John were happy playmates. They were both headstrong but much more tolerant of each other than they were of strangers. They had great affection for one another, even though they did occasionally have their troubles trying to work together.

Because Jesus had spoken favorably of John the Baptist, James and John, before their appointment as apostles, went to John to be baptized. This was in December, 25 CE. The following February the brothers were chosen as apostles.

James, John, and the rest of the Zebedee family came to love Jesus during the year he lived and worked with them (21 CE). When that year ended, Jesus left to travel. When he returned, in 25 CE, he went back to work at the Zebedee boat shop. Father Zebedee and his wife Salome welcomed him and looked upon Jesus as a son. James, John, and David regarded him as a brother, and they often went fishing with him. James was most interested in Jesus as a teacher and philosopher. The Zebedee brothers also knew, and worked with, Andrew and Simon Peter prior to Jesus’ call for the first six apostles.

Just before that call, while Jesus was in the hills for forty days, James and John searched for him in vain. Immediately after returning on February 23, 26 CE, Jesus selected Andrew and Peter as the first apostles. The Zebedee brothers heard about this and were saddened. They went to Jesus asking why they were not the first to be chosen. He told them there was no need. Being his longtime friends and working associates, they were already in the kingdom, and they would have been informed of this fact before Andrew and Peter were chosen if they had not been wasting time searching the hills for one who was not lost.

One of the first events in which the six apostles participated was the wedding at Cana. These new apostles were hoping Jesus would announce he was the expected messiah at this wedding, and when the water was turned into wine, their hopes soared. But Jesus dashed their hopes the next day at one of the most important conferences of his life. At this conference, he told the six who he was and what his mission was to be, and how it might end. They did not understand and held on to the messiah idea no matter how many times Jesus tried to make plain his true mission. And when the other six apostles joined, they too held onto this belief that Jesus was a political liberator and the predicted king.

James was thirty at the time that he, John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel were selected by Jesus to be the first apostles. Very soon after that, Jesus sent the six on a two-week teaching mission, two and two. Before going out, Jesus told them each to choose another one from the early converts to become an apostle. James and John spent this two week training period in Kheresa, a village on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. While there, they met two fishermen, twins named James and Judas Alpheus. James chose James, and John chose Judas, to be the ninth and tenth apostles.

After all twelve apostles had been selected, Jesus asked Andrew to choose three of them to be his personal aides, Andrew selected James, John, and Peter. As Jesus’ personal associates, they seldom left his side. Except on rare occasions, they were close by day and night as Jesus taught, prayed, and worshiped. They were the only apostles with him at the Transfiguration, and the only ones who went with Jesus when he sought to know God’s will before the crucifixion. These three also did most of the public preaching.

On January 12, 27 CE, Jesus ordained his apostles and delivered the beatitudes in his ordination sermon. This sermon came to be called the Sermon on the Mount. During the summer of 28 CE, Jesus set up an evangelist school in Bethsaida. James, Peter, and Andrew were put in charge of admissions. For the five months that this school existed, each of the apostles taught the gospel as they understood it. James and Peter exerted the greatest personal influence as teachers. When the school closed in October, James gave a parting address to the evangelists who were sent to local cities and towns on a preaching tour.

Between January, 28 CE and March, 29 CE, James and the other eleven apostles were sent on three preaching tours. All three were to cities and villages in Galilee. The first tour was to western and southern Galilee and lasted almost two months. On the second tour they were sent to northern and eastern regions of Galilee for about three months. The third tour lasted seven weeks and was in central and southern Galilee. On these tours, they encountered both acceptance and rejection and were thus prepared for the final stages of Jesus' life and teachings.

James and John knew Jesus longer than any of the other apostles. It was because of the Zebedees’ long association with Jesus that their mother Salome requested that her sons be given honored places in the kingdom, one on his right hand, the other on his left. Jesus said he could not do that, declaring “Such honors are reserved for those who have been designated by my Father.” He then asked the brothers if they were willing to “drink the cup” he would very soon have to imbibe. James and John immediately said they were willing, not knowing Jesus would be crucified within a month’s time. Shortly after Jesus refused their thoughtless request, word reached the other apostles about the Zebedee brothers seeking preferred places. They apologized to all and never again asked for preference. Salome, later on, joined the women’s corps.

At the feeding of the five thousand, when the crowd wanted to crown Jesus their king, James and three other apostles wisely voted against it. But James was often perplexed by Jesus’ sayings and doings. When he entered Jerusalem on a donkey, when the throngs surrounded and praised him, James could not understand why Jesus didn’t use the occasion to teach them. He felt it was a wasted opportunity. But James never, in his long association with the Master, thought of abandoning or betraying him. Even when Jesus sought his companionship along with John and Peter while praying to know God’s will about “drinking the bitter cup” and they fell asleep, they only did so because they were exhausted and not because of a lack of loyalty or love.

There were many significant events in which James participated during his four years living and working with Jesus. Early on in their training, Jesus took James, John, and Peter alone on a three-day rest in which he attempted to teach them about his grand mission. Later on, James witnessed the miracles Jesus performed; healings, restoring sight to the blind, raising of the dead, and many others. He was present at the Last Supper, and he was there when Jesus was arrested. And James was in the upper room with the other apostles on the day of Pentecost.

At the Last Supper, and with the other apostles, Jesus washed James’ feet, performed the remembrance supper, then went around the table and spoke final words to each of them. To James he said:

“James, when you and your younger brother once came to me seeking preferment in the honors of the kingdom, and I told you such honors were for the Father to bestow, I asked if you were able to drink my cup, and both of you answered that you were. Even if you were not then able, and if you are not now able, you will soon be prepared for such a service by the experience you are about to pass through. By such behavior you angered your brethren at that time. If they have not already fully forgiven you, they will when they see you drink my cup. Whether your ministry be long or short, possess your soul in patience. When the new teacher comes, let him teach you the poise of compassion and that sympathetic tolerance which is born of sublime confidence in me and of perfect submission to the Father’s will. Dedicate your life to the demonstration of that combined human affection and divine dignity of the God-knowing and Son-believing disciple. And all who thus live will reveal the gospel even in the manner of their death. You and your brother John will go different ways, and one of you may sit down with me in the eternal kingdom long before the other. It would help you much if you would learn that true wisdom embraces discretion as well as courage. You should learn sagacity to go along with your aggressiveness. There will come those supreme moments wherein my disciples will not hesitate to lay down their lives for this gospel, but in all ordinary circumstances it would be far better to placate the wrath of unbelievers that you might live and continue to preach the glad tidings. As far as lies in your power, live long on the earth that your life of many years may be fruitful in souls won for the heavenly kingdom.”

After his arrest and crucifixion, the resurrected Jesus appeared to James and the other apostles seven times. During one of these appearances (April 21, 30 CE) Jesus and James went for a walk. As they walked and talked, Jesus asked him:

“James, do you trust me?” And of course, James replied, “Yes, Master, I trust you with all my heart.” Then said Jesus: “James, if you trust me more, you will be less impatient with your brethren. If you will trust me, it will help you to be kind to the brotherhood of believers. Learn to weigh the consequences of your sayings and your doings. Remember that the reaping is in accordance with the sowing. Pray for tranquility of spirit and cultivate patience. These graces, with living faith, shall sustain you when the hour comes to drink the cup of sacrifice. But never be dismayed; when you are through on earth, you shall also come to be with me.”

Forty days after Jesus’ resurrection, on May 18, 30 CE, the Spirit of Truth was bestowed on the world. From then on, James baptized, preached, and taught in and around Jerusalem, even when it was forbidden by the religious and civil authorities. He lived his life to the full, and when the end came, he bore himself with such grace and fortitude that even his accuser and informer, who attended his trial and execution, was so touched that he rushed away from the scene of James’ death to join the disciples of Jesus.

Herod Agrippa, Roman ruler of Judea at the time, feared James more than any other apostle. Primarily because James was outspoken, also less tactful and wise than his brother John. Herod executed James by the sword in 44 CE at age 48. He was the first apostle to be martyred, fourteen years after Jesus’ death. Years later, his brother John married James’ widow. James’ early death had a positive effect on his brother John in that he became wiser in his speech and more tolerant in his relations.

James was sainted in the Catholic tradition, around 1100 CE. A popular pilgrimage in Europe bears his name, “The Way of Saint James.” July 25 is celebrated as a feast day in his honor in Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and certain Protestant traditions. The Chapel of Saint James the Great is the traditional site of his martyrdom in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem. Also, according to tradition, parts of his body are in Jerusalem (head) and England (hand). The apostles as a group are mentioned in the Quran, although James' name is not.