Saint James the Apostle

Are You Able? Saint James the Apostle (Matthew 20:20-28)

The calling already contained the cup. When Jesus said, “Follow me,” beside the Sea of Galilee, he was not offering James a safe career. He was calling James into his own path. The boat, the Transfiguration, Gethsemane, the correction, the service, and Herod’s sword belong to one discipleship.

Saint James the Apostle: An Anglican Perspective

James’s life gives the Collect a particularly sharp edge. The man associated in Matthew 20 with the desire for a place beside the throne is remembered liturgically as a model through whom the Church learns that authority becomes true authority only when it is shaped by self-denying service.