Peter, James & John

An apostle is one who is sent - an ambassador or a messenger. The Lord chose twelve apostles. These twelve apostles were given the power to preach the gospel, to heal the sick and to cast out devils (Mk 3:13-15). They followed Jesus and witnessed the resurrection of the Lord.

Of the twelve, three were specially close to Him. They were Peter, James and John. When Jesus went to Jairus’ house to pray for his daughter He only took Peter, James and John with Him (Mk 5:35-43). When Jesus was transfigured only Peter, James and John saw it (Mt 17:1 -9). On the night of His betrayal, the Lord brought with Him Peter, James and John to pray in the garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26:36-46).

We may learn from the above incidents that the three apostles were very dose to the Lord. This was an honour to them. But why were they specially favoured by the Lord? They were so much closer to the Lord compared to the other disciples. How did they come to believe the Lord? how did they conduct themselves and what were their parentage?

Peter

The word Peter” means “stone”. The name was given by the Lord after his conversion. Before that he was known as Simon (Jn 1:40, 42). Peter’s father was John, a fisherman living by the Sea of Galilee in Bethsaida (Mt 4:18). Peter was married before his conversion (Mt 8:14). Later he brought his wife along with him on his missions (1 Cor 9:5). In his letter sent from the church at Babylon he mentioned Mark as his son. Mark probably was not his natural son, but a “son” born of the gospel (1 Pet 5:13). It was his brother, Andrew, who brought Peter to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said to Peter, “Thou art Simon the son of Jonah : thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone” (Jn 1: 35-42). Then he went to a marriage feast in Cana with Jesus and also to various parts of Galilee and Judea (Jn 2: 12, 4:3-4). After that Peter went back to Bethsaida. He stayed with his father and continued to he a fisherman. Later, when he saw Jesus performing a miracle, he forsook everything and followed Jesus (Lk 5: 1-11). Peter became a useful vessel of the Lord and he was made an apostle and ranked chief among the apostles (Mt 10:2; Ac 1:13, 15). He was one of the three pillars of the apostolic church (Lk 2:9).

Although Peter was chosen to he an apostle during the ministry of the Lord Jesus, it was only after Pentecost when he received the Holy Spirit that he was transformed into a great man of God. Before Pentecost, he was a man of little faith (Mt 14:31, 25-30); had little faith (Mt 17:14-21); and followed the Lord from afar and then denied the Lord three times (Mt 26:58, 69-75). After Pentecost, he became a man of strong faith (Ac 2:14, 32, 36, 4:12); had great faith (Ac 3:2-8, 5:1-10); and witnessed for the Lord bravely (Ac 3:11-16; 4:8-20).

Before Pentecost, he belonged to the flesh and desired to be the greatest amongst the apostles (Mk .: 33-34, 10:33-45). He had a hut temper and was easily provoked (Mk 10:41) to the extent of wielding a sword (Jn 18:10). After Pentecost, he became humble and gave all glory to God (Ac 3:12, 16, 4:8-10, 10:25-26). He became a meek person (Gal 2:11; 2 Pet 3:15), enduring mockings and beatings (Ac 5:40-41).

Before Pentecost, he was lazy to pray (Mt 26:36-45, 69-75). After Pentecost, he became diligent in prayers (Ac 3:1, 10:9). He prayed constantly and he also prayed for others (Ac 4:24, 8:14-17, 2:1 -4, 14, 18-20, 5:26-32).

His death was prophesied by Jesus. The Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” (Jn 21:18-19). The Bible makes no mention of the later part of Peter’s life hut from his first epistle it is evident that he moved to Babylon - the nickname for Rome at that time (1 Pet 5:1 3). In the year AD 67, Emperor Nero persecuted the church greatly. Many Christians were killed. It is believed that Peter was crucified upside down by Emperor Nero. He died a martyr for the Lord whom he loved.

James and John

James and John were brothers. James was the elder. They were the sons of Zebedee from Galilee (Mt 4:18-21). Their father was a rich fisherman who had many hired scrvants (Mk 1:20). Their mother was Salome (Mt 27:56; Mk 15:40, 16:1). She was probably the younger sister of the Lord’s mother, Mary (Mt 27:56;Jn 19:25). Salome was a good mother (Mt 7:55, 20:20-21).

John was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. One day John the Baptist pointed at Jesus and said to his disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sir of the world”. Then two of John’s disciples followed Jesus. One of them was Andrew and the other was John (Jn 1:29, 35-40). Then John went hack to his fishing. After some time Jesus called him the second time by the shore of Galilee when he and his brother, James, were mending their fishing nets. Both he and his brother left their boat and their father and followed Jesus (Mt 4:21-22).

Later both he and his brother were made apostles of Jesus (Lk 6:13-14) and were very close to the Lord, particularly John who was known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. This was mentioned no less than five times (Jn 13:23, 19:26, 20:2, 21:7, 20).

He was the only disciple who saw the Lord suffering on the cross (Jn 19:26, 35). And he accepted the Lord’s commission to take care of Mary, the Lord’s mother (Jn 19:26-27).

After James and John were converted, the Lord called them “Boanerges” which means “sons of thunder” (Mk 3:17). It was probably because they were hot-tempered. When John saw a person casting out devils in the name of the Lord hut the man did not follow Jesus he became angry and forbade the man from doing so (Lk 9:49). When the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus, James and John requested the Lord to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them (Lk 9:51-56). After Pentecost they were filled with the love of God. The epistles of John were devoted to the exposition of the love of God.

The death of Jaines was also prophesied. The Lord said to James, “Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptised withal shall ye be baptized” (Mk 10:39). This was fulfilled in AD 44 when King Herod persecuted the church and killed many believers including James. So James became the first apostle to die a martyr (Ac 12: 1-2). Tradition has it that when James was persecuted, he undauntedly witnessed for Christ. Herod’s judge was so moved by James’ testimony that he accepted and believed Jesus immediately. Eventually he was killed together with James.

John accompanied Peter to witness for the Lord. Together, they healed the sick, cast out devils and fortified the faith of the believers (Ac 1:13-14, 2:14, 3:1-4, 22, 8:14). In AD 70 the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. John went to Ephesus and pastored the church there. In Ephesus, John wrote the gospel and the three epistles. Later he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos where he received prophetic revelations from the Lord and wrote them down (Rev 1:9). John was later allowed to return to Ephesus where he continued his ministry till he died at the age of about 100 years old. According to tradition John also died a martyr’s death.