SAINT JAMES

The patron saint of our church is St. James the Greater; Apostle and Martyr. In the Gospel of Mark 1:16-20, it says that Jesus, while walking along the Sea of Galilee, called Simon (later named Peter) and Andrew and then a little further down called James and John, sons of Zebedee, all out of their fishing boats. They all immediately followed Jesus. It is believed that James was called the Greater because he was either older or possibly taller than James the Lesser. This did not mean he was better than the other James, it was just to differentiate between the two. James and John were called the “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus. (Mark 3:17) possibly because they offered to call down fire from heaven to consume Samaritan villagers when they did not welcome Jesus (Luke 9:51-56). James, John, and Peter were a part of Jesus’ “inner circle”. They were chosen to accompany the Master on the occasions of key events that the other disciples did not witness. These were the raising of Jarious’ daughter who had recently died (Mark 5:35-43, Luke 8:40-56), the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36), and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42). James was the first apostle to be martyred and the only one whose death was recorded in the Bible aside from Judas Iscariot (Acts 12:1-2). Herod Agrippa I, King of Judea A.D. 41-44, had James killed in an effort to crush the organization of the Christian church.