Servants who Thunder

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary are chosen to celebrate the feast of St James. The passage from the Gospel of Matthew tells of Jesus response to the request of the mother of James and his younger brother John, the Evangelist, that they have special places in the kingdom being established by Jesus. These men were sons of a successful fisherman of Galilee, Zebedee. Jesus refers (Mark 3:17) to them as the “Sons of Thunder”. The Catholic Encyclopedia provides some comments on the strong zeal characteristic of the Jews of the region of Galilee. James and John are present with Jesus for many of the most transcendent and transformative events in the Gospel. The petition of the mother for recognition of their commitment and devotion is not unusual for our times when the “helicopter parent” advocates the promotion and recognition of their children continuously. The conviction of James and John that they could do all that will be required of them and Jesus and the conviction of Paul in the second letter to the Corinthians which calls out as “I believed and so I spoke” is a laudable Christian characteristic. It is to be accompanied, as Jesus instructs and as Paul experiences with the real transfer of the credit and praise to God for the opportunity to be involved as servant in His great work of making the grace of mercy, forgiveness and charity visible through the lives we lead to all people.