Audio recording Sermon manuscript: July 25 is the day that has been set aside in the church calendar to commemorate James the Elder or James the Greater. Calling him the elder or greater differentiates him from James the Younger or James the Lesser. There are two men named James in the New Testament who are rather important. The James who is commemorated today is one of the twelve apostles. The other James is known as the brother of Jesus. He ends up becoming the bishop of the congregation in Jerusalem. This other James is also the author of the book of James. But today we are focusing on James the Greater. Let’s begin by briefly reviewing what we know about James. James was one of the twelve. He was also part of that inner circle among the twelve who were with Jesus on a few occasions where the other nine were not. The other members of this inner circle were John, his brother, and Peter, his cousin. Peter, James, and John were all called to be apostles at the same time as we heard several weeks ago. They were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus ushered the fish into Peter’s nets so that they began to break, it was James and John whom Peter called out to in order to help him. After that all three of them dropped their nets and followed Jesus. James and his brother, John, were sons of a man named Zebedee. They also got the nickname of being sons of thunder. It is believed that they got this nickname because they were exceedingly earnest and zealous. One time when they came upon a village that did not receive Jesus they asked him if they should call down fire upon it. Also in our reading today they ask Jesus if they can sit at his right and his left—a rather cheeky thing to do, which we will speak more of in a minute. Obviously these two were not wilting daisies. In our first reading today, from the book of Acts, you heard about how James died. James was the first of the twelve who was martyred. He was executed by King Herod. This might have been as soon as only a couple years after Pentecost. Jesus had asked James whether he was able to drink the cup that Jesus drank, and to be baptized with the baptism Jesus was baptized with. So it happened. James died because he testified that this world is evil, God is good, and Jesus is the Savior of sinners. For disrupting the party, which all the Herodians seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed, he was put to death. And yet, even though he has died, he lives. Whoever lives and believes in Jesus never dies. Whenever the Christian church commemorates the saints it is different than when the world remembers someone. For the world, when someone dies, that’s it. Fiery James, faithful unto death, is alive with his soul with Jesus. His body awaits the great Day of the Lord. Whatever fame or recognition he might have from men is unimportant. He has received his reward from God. There is nothing better that any creature could hope for than to hear these words from the Creator: “Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your master.” Now let’s turn to our Gospel reading where we heard about this interaction between Jesus and the brothers James and John. Mark tells us that James and John came to Jesus with an unusual request. Let me quickly note that Matthew adds a significant detail. Matthew tells us that James and John came to Jesus by sending their mother—which is what the art on the cover or our bulletin depicts. Sending your mother as an ambassador only makes the situation more unusual when they say: “Teacher, we want you to do whatever we ask.” Whenever a conversation begins that way, you can be sure that something unusual is about to happen. “Make it so that we sit at your right and your left in your glory,” they say. Something we might expect is that Jesus would not be pleased with such an idea. The world is always hungry for glory and honor. The Bible teaches that this honor and glory belongs to God. We are told over and over again in the Scriptures that God opp