Sibling Rivalry
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Sibling Rivalry
St James & St John 25 July 2010
The Revd Jenny Wilkens
- Acts 11:27-12:2
- Matthew 20:20-28
http://wellingtoncathedral.org.nz/index.php/Sermons
Today in the church's calendar we commemorate St James and St John, the two sons of Zebedee and Salome and two of Jesus' first chosen disciples. Those of us with brothers and sisters of our own may have been relieved to hear in our reading from Matthew's gospel that sibling rivalry was alive and well in Jesus' time, even among those of the new family Jesus was creating around himself.
What do we know of James and John? They were fishermen on the sea of Galilee, living near Capernaum, and were called by Jesus at the same time as Simon Peter and Andrew. In fact Luke (5) tells us they were partners with Simon Peter in the fishing business. James and John also worked with their father Zebedee, and we're told when they left to follow Jesus, they left behind Zebedee and some hired men, so it was obviously a prosperous enough fishing business for them to employ some others (Mk 1).
Their mother is Salome, and she may have been Jesus' aunt, his mother Mary's sister, making James and John the cousins of Jesus.
James is always mentioned first of the pair of brothers, so we can assume he was the elder of the two, but he is only ever mentioned with John, and indeed seems overshadowed by his younger brother, a common pattern we've heard in recent weeks in the tales of Jacob and Esau.
The only time James appears alone in the Biblical record is the account we heard of his martyrdom in the book of Acts. James was the first of the apostles to be martyred, by Herod Agrippa in the early 40sCE so clearly he was considered to be a significant leader in the early Church. And he is now called by the title James the Great, to distinguish him from some of the other James who turn up among the followers of Jesus.
But to go back a bit, while James is not a solo voice, he did form part of a noteworthy trio among Jesus' disciples. James is grouped together with Peter and John, to form an inner core of disciples whom Jesus invited to accompany him at some of the crucial moments of his journey. Peter, James and John join Jesus when he raises Jairus' daughter from death. They are there when Jesus is transfigured before them in glory on the mountain. They are there too when that glory turns to agony as Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, and they ingloriously fall asleep.
So Jesus did want them there with him in moments of testing, in moments of privileged revelation, in moments where he wanted to teach them and lead them further on in their journey of faith and discipleship.
Just what sort of personalities did they have? This is where it gets interesting, because we get different perspectives from the different gospel records. In the first three Synoptic gospels, James and John come across as somewhat over-confident, quick-tempered, explosive characters - indeed Jesus nicknamed them Boanerges, the sons of thunder. (Mk 3:17) They ask Jesus whether he wants them to call down fire on a Samaritan village which declines to offer Jesus hospitality, just as the prophet Elijah had 'zapped' those who opposed him. But Jesus rebukes them. (Lk 9:52-55)
John even comes across as a rather whinging tell-tale sort of character - he complains to Jesus about a man casting out demons in Jesus' name, we tried to stop him because he's not 'one of us'. But Jesus in response turns round the usual 'whoever isn't for you, is against you' into the much more challenging 'whoever isn't against you, is for you' (Lk 9:49, 50). Look for allies, not enemies!
Then we come to our Gospel reading for tonight which attributes a good deal of ambition to James and John, or at least in Matthew's version to their mother who comes with her sons to Jesus asking for them privileged places in his kingdom. It is interesting to read Mark's parallel version of this story where it is the men themselves and not their mother who come to Jesus with this request. It is thought that Mark's version is the original one, and that Matthew writing some decades later, at a stage when the apostles' mana was considerably enhanced, decided to tone down this rather unflattering portrait of two ambitious young men, and ascribe ambition rather to their mother - and poor Salome has had to wear it through the ages since!
So much for the Synoptic gospels, but when we come to the 4th gospel, traditionally attributed to John, we get a very different picture of John, though he never appears by name in this gospel.
Instead there appears in places where we might expect to have John's name, the mysterious character called the Beloved Disciple, or 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. Traditionally this has always been seen as a code-name for John, with John humbly leaving his name out of the story. But other characters have also been suggested to be 'the disciple whom Jesus loved' such as Lazarus or even Judas Iscariot!
There is also the question of whether John the apostle, the fishermen of Galilee, the son of thunder, became the writer of the Gospel, John the evangelist, who saw furthest into the mysteries of heaven, in writing rich with symbolism, imagery and narrative power. Did the Son of Thunder also write the 3 Epistles of John, with their focus on love of God and of one another in the Christian community? Did the Son of Thunder become the apostle of love? Did the Son of Thunder end up exiled on the Greek island of Patmos and receive visions from Jesus which came to form the book of Revelation?
Many scholars today would say that all these Johns are different individuals so that we end up with John the Apostle, brother of James; John the Evangelist, author of the 4th gospel; John the Elder writing the epistles, and John the Seer writing the book of Revelation. Or even that some of these writings might be the production of the Johannine community, those who were disciples of the original John, and who carried on his teachings within their church community, applying them to issues of later times. It's a pity John was such a common name!
Having said all this, there is of course strong church tradition that John the apostle was there beside Jesus at the last supper, that John was there at the cross and received into his care, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that John took Mary to Ephesus, where she died and he lived to a ripe old age, eventually dying about 100CE - the only apostle it is thought to die peacefully in his bed!
It was interesting recently to visit the ruins of ancient Ephesus in Turkey with the pilgrimage group, and to visit the little chapel built over the ruins of an ancient basilica in turn built, it is said, over the house of the Virgin Mary. The devotion in which this sacred place is held by both Christians and Muslims to this day is palpable.
We too visited among the ruins of Ephesus the bath-house and the multi-seater public latrines. I was reminded of the rather humorous story that has come down to us about John from the church historian Irenaeus. He tells us how on one occasion the aged John entered the public baths in Ephesus, presumably to have a nice refreshing dip before lunch and a bit of socialising as you did at the time. But no sooner had he gone in the door, than he noticed the gnostic teacher Cerinthus already there in the baths. It’s said that John rushed as fast as he could from the baths in a theatrical display of horror and panic, “Quick, he said, run for your lives, the bath house is about to fall down. Cerinthus, the enemy of truth is inside!”
There’s also the rather lovely story told by Jerome of John in his old age in Ephesus, who when he became so weak with age that he could no longer preach, would still be carried out into the congregation to give just a word of encouragement. “Little children”, he would always say, “Love one another.” Eventually his hearers grew tired that he always gave the same message, and asked him why he always said the same thing. John replied, “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if this is all you do, it is enough.” A bit like the preacher who always preached about loving one another, till the congregation got sick of it and complained. The preacher replied when you start doing it, then I’ll move on to something else!
What about James, who in contrast to John, makes such a hasty exit from the New Testament record? Well, the church historian Eusebius tells the story that when James' prosecutor heard his testimony, he was so moved that he was converted to Christian faith. So they were both led away together and on the way, he begged James to forgive him. James said 'Peace be with you and kissed him, and they were both beheaded together.
Of course later tradition links St James with Spain, it is said he went and preached Christ in Spain prior to his execution by Herod. After his death his body was taken on board a ship at Joppa, and the ship miraculously appeared off the coast of Spain the next day! Wonderful miracles were worked through his body, which was eventually taken to Compostella, the name a corruption of Ad Sanctum Jacobum Apostolum, and which is a place of pilgrimage for those who take the pilgrim trail there to this day. James' symbols in art are the pilgrim's staff and scallop shell - the same shell which we used for baptism this morning as we welcomed new pilgrims into the church family.
James and John - today we thank God for them, for their faith, their humanity, their love of Christ and of Christ's church. Amen.
