El Camino de Santiago - The Way of James

Today the Church throughout the world celebrates the Feast of St. James, one of the original four disciples of Jesus who left their lucrative business of fishing on the Sea of Galilee to join this unusual teacher from Nazareth. The Gospels are all rather matter of fact about the call: Mark and Matthew only record Jesus’ invitation and the rapid response of Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John. The brothers James and John are noted as mending the nets in their boat with their father Zebedee: they immediately rise, leave their father and follow Jesus. Luke, as he is ever prone to do, provides more elaborate information, involving Jesus sending the fisherman back out after a completely unsuccessful fishing session only to find their nets overwhelmed with a catch at the instruction of Jesus.

James is one of these first four, and was also one of the few disciples to receive a nickname from Jesus: he and his brother were dubbed boanerges or “Sons of Thunder.” This is a pretty evocative nickname! And it seems to be an inherited trait. The gospel reading annually read on this July 25th feast records from Matthew’s gospel the request that came from the mother of James and John that they be seated directly beside Jesus in his kingdom, one on the left and the other on the right. Talk about the original power mother! Jesus very diplomatically defers to a higher authority and indicates that this is not a decision he can make: it must be left to his father in heaven.

Whew – dodged bullet. Jesus does point out the bad news that his followers will have to “drink the chalice that I am going to drink” indicating that the future of his earthly ministry was not going to end up as the triumphant 'Messiah Super Tour,' with wowed crowds in every city and village and the promise of fame and success at the side of this Master Teacher and Healer. No, Jesus knew that this would not be an answer to the challenges of human life and that a successful Messiah as they conceived success would not save the world.

St. James has suffered the centuries in much the way our own patroness has in that there is a great deal of legend and superstition that has accumulated over almost two millennia, making it a challenge for us today to intelligently consider what we can learn from this early follower. We know that he continued his apostolic work, and there are strong indications that he travelled to the very Western edge of the Roman Empire to work in what is modern day Spain. St. James is the inspiration for the very famous pilgrimage to his place of burial at Santiago de Compostela, and the pilgrimage route known as the Camino de Santiago. The pilgrimage route is included among UNESCO’s world heritage centers.

Perhaps two simple things can be learned from our remembrance of St. James. First, because we are a community of humans, there are bound to be difficulties in relationships. Power mothers or not, we can expect the ride to be a little bumpy at times. And let’s face it: there have been times when all of us have wanted special recognition or a seat at the right side of the fashionable, popular and powerful. Whether leaky butlers, factions of various kinds, or the overstepping of boundaries, these are all part of the human adventure and they will be present in the life of the church.

Secondly, when it comes to the following of Jesus, worldly success cannot be a primary criteria. This does not give us license to be sloppy or careless in our work in support of the many efforts that we make as a church throughout the world. However it is fair to say that the disciples are never happy throughout their three-year ministry with Jesus when Jesus points out that the ‘Messiah Super Tour’ is not going to have a happy ending. When Jesus lets them in on the secret of his impending suffering and death, Peter is so incensed that he takes Jesus aside to scold him for such negative and depressing talk.

As followers of Christ, we are called to be agents of his mercy. This will not generally mean fame, success, wealth and power. We have tried all of this, and it has not generally achieved much when it comes to solving the world’s difficult problems. As we remember one of the “Sons of Thunder” today, maybe we should consider this other way, the way of Jesus of Nazareth, which became the Camino de Santiago or way of our brother James.