Have you been to a reunion...happy to see an old school mate, a member of a sports team, or a college friend? You greet one another, hug, and sit and catch up on all the latest news about families, employment, where they live, etc.
How about Jesus...and His close friends?...the 12 disciples...did they have a reunion? Well, yes they have...but it is a little different than what we think of reunions. The reunion of Jesus and His disciples didn't take place...till after they had all died. The 12 disciples...whom I will call "The Original".....
"Where did the Apostles go?"
" The Sacred Scriptures only record what happened to 2 of The Original, one being Judas Iscariot and we know of his hanging himself after taking the money from Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and led them to the "Night of Betrayal".
The other apostle...his name is James.
In church history, we have a number of historians that report of what happened to The Original. Early Church Fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, Origin of Alexandria, and Alexander of Jerusalem wrote of what may have happened. Although their Christian beliefs varied, there are common denominators that appear in their early writings that seem to give a little light to what may have happened to these men...who answered the call "Follow Me".
James was the first martyr of The Original, and the second martyr recorded in the Scripture after the death of Stephen...for making Jesus their Lord.
James was not only one of The Original, he was one of what many historians refer to as "the inner circle", 3 disciples that seemed to have a close relationship with Jesus that included James, his brother John, and Peter.
James was fishing with his brother John on the Sea of Galilee when he heard those words.."Follow Me". James was probably the older brother of the two simply because his name is mentioned first before John.
Because of James being a part of "the inner circle", he saw things others did not. He saw the daughter of a man named Jarius...raised from the dead ( Mark 5:37-47). He saw The Transfiguration in Matthew 17: 1-3, and he was there at the Garden of Gethsemane on the Night of the Betrayal (Matthew 26: 36-37).
Yet, not unlike any one of us, James had issues as well when it came to following Jesus...he didn't always "get it". In the Scriptures there is a story about a village in Samaria who did not want to follow Jesus, so both James and John thought Jesus should "call down the thunder"...right on this Samaritan village. They wanted Him to call on Heaven to make one straight shot...from Heaven to this Samaritan village because they refused Him. In fact James and John got a nickname from their outburst...they were called "the sons of thunder".
Yet it was James, after the death of Stephen that was first to say "good-bye" to this world. James had become a leader in the Early Church in Jerusalem, and spoke boldly about Christ Jesus. The Jewish community was extremely upset for him continuing to spread "this heresy", the Jews thinking Christianity would die off after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus...but it did not, instead, it spread throughout the countryside. King Herod Agrippa I ordered James to be put to death by the sword in 44 A.D., a time when the Early Church was beginning to be hated by many...because in their belief that "Jesus is their only Lord".
The death of James is recorded in Acts 12:1-2.
The Early Church had begun...and there was much more to come....
How about Jesus...and His close friends?...the 12 disciples...did they have a reunion? Well, yes they have...but it is a little different than what we think of reunions. The reunion of Jesus and His disciples didn't take place...till after they had all died. The 12 disciples...whom I will call "The Original".....
"Where did the Apostles go?"
" The Sacred Scriptures only record what happened to 2 of The Original, one being Judas Iscariot and we know of his hanging himself after taking the money from Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and led them to the "Night of Betrayal".
The other apostle...his name is James.
In church history, we have a number of historians that report of what happened to The Original. Early Church Fathers like Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea, Origin of Alexandria, and Alexander of Jerusalem wrote of what may have happened. Although their Christian beliefs varied, there are common denominators that appear in their early writings that seem to give a little light to what may have happened to these men...who answered the call "Follow Me".
James was the first martyr of The Original, and the second martyr recorded in the Scripture after the death of Stephen...for making Jesus their Lord.
James was not only one of The Original, he was one of what many historians refer to as "the inner circle", 3 disciples that seemed to have a close relationship with Jesus that included James, his brother John, and Peter.
James was fishing with his brother John on the Sea of Galilee when he heard those words.."Follow Me". James was probably the older brother of the two simply because his name is mentioned first before John.
Because of James being a part of "the inner circle", he saw things others did not. He saw the daughter of a man named Jarius...raised from the dead ( Mark 5:37-47). He saw The Transfiguration in Matthew 17: 1-3, and he was there at the Garden of Gethsemane on the Night of the Betrayal (Matthew 26: 36-37).
Yet, not unlike any one of us, James had issues as well when it came to following Jesus...he didn't always "get it". In the Scriptures there is a story about a village in Samaria who did not want to follow Jesus, so both James and John thought Jesus should "call down the thunder"...right on this Samaritan village. They wanted Him to call on Heaven to make one straight shot...from Heaven to this Samaritan village because they refused Him. In fact James and John got a nickname from their outburst...they were called "the sons of thunder".Yet it was James, after the death of Stephen that was first to say "good-bye" to this world. James had become a leader in the Early Church in Jerusalem, and spoke boldly about Christ Jesus. The Jewish community was extremely upset for him continuing to spread "this heresy", the Jews thinking Christianity would die off after the crucifixion of Christ Jesus...but it did not, instead, it spread throughout the countryside. King Herod Agrippa I ordered James to be put to death by the sword in 44 A.D., a time when the Early Church was beginning to be hated by many...because in their belief that "Jesus is their only Lord".
The death of James is recorded in Acts 12:1-2.
The Early Church had begun...and there was much more to come....
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