Why James

Scripture Reading: Luke 8:49-56

While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.” ⁵⁰ But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” ⁵¹ When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. ⁵² Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” ⁵³ And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But He ^[d]put them all outside, took her by the hand, and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” ⁵⁵ Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. ⁵⁶ And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.

The book title “The Training of the Twelve” best describes the way I was taught to think about Jesus’ dealings with His disciples. (It’s a great book, by the way). What I mean is that my inclination is to view everything Jesus did with His disciples as a means to a future end. He was intentionally training them, shaping their views of Him and the way they should think and act as His followers.

It is not a mistake to think that is what was happening. That is at the core of what it means to be a disciple. We transfer that way of seeing life into our own experiences when we ask questions like, “What am I supposed to learn from this?” Or, “What is God teaching me through this experience?”

Those are not bad questions to ask.

I just don’t think they give the complete picture.

Peter, James, and John were Jesus’ inner circle, the disciples that were the closest to Him. They were the ones who, like in this story, were always chosen to go with Jesus for important moments. For example, they were the three chosen to go up with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

Now, if the idea that everything Jesus did with His disciples had a utilitarian purpose, why include James? James was going to be killed very early on after the formation of the church. He wasn’t going to be around long like Peter and John.

Why did Jesus invest so much time into James knowing he wouldn’t live long enough to put much of that into use? And Jesus did know you know.

I would suggest that Jesus did it for James. In other words, He wasn’t always thinking about how James would take what he learned and implement it in some ministry, or even how James might use his experiences to pass it along to someone else. Now, none of that would be a bad thing. What I am suggesting is that sometimes God isn’t doing something in your life to teach you a grand lesson that will be used in some future ministry opportunity. Sometimes God is simply blessing you.

We don’t always have to be trying to figure out what the lesson we are supposed to learn is. If there is a lesson to be learned, God will probably make it obvious. The best response to some experiences we have is just to say, “Thank you, Lord, for including me.”