July 5 - Acts 12

Apostles James, John and Peter

Recently I had noticed that in the Gospels, whenever the Apostle James is mentioned, it is noted that he is John's brother (haven't checked yet to see if it is every time or just most of the times).  This struck me since I figured that the readers of the Gospels should have been aware of James, and not needed the extra words.  However, when I read Acts 12, I understood.  James was martyred.  The first readers of the Gospels still could go talk to all the other Apostles, except James.  They could only go speak with his brother to verify the account.  Which is about the only way I see this insight as applying to our lives today, other than it shows some maturation in my reading of the Scriptures as I did not just ask "Where does Acts 12 touch my life?" but clearly saw where it touched the lives of the first hearers.

The Collect references James the Just, but quite appropriate too is stanza 21 from "By All Your Saints in Warfare":

O Lord, for James, we praise You, 

Who fell to Herod's sword;

He drank the cup of suff'ring

And thus fulfilled Your word.

Lord, curb our vain impatience 

For glory and for fame,

Equip us for such suff'rings

As glorify Your name.