Mark 3:17, commentary and pictures

James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James are named among the twelve in the first step of organizing the church to represent Christ on earth after His departure, set apart for the gospel work to be with Him, learn from Him, and become witnesses who would continue His work. The calling took place with no costly sanctuary, under the trees on a mountainside a little distance from the Sea of Galilee, in the retreat He loved where the sermon on the mount was given, so that mountain and vale and sea were forever linked with that sacred experience. The quiet of fields and hills was chosen over the confusion of the city and over the temple or synagogues as more in harmony with lessons of self-abnegation, because they were favorite resorts for teaching under the open sky, no synagogue could have received the throngs that followed, each quiet retreat in nature was loved as a sacred temple, and surrounded by the works of His own creation He could turn thoughts from the artificial to the natural.

Jesus Himself surnamed James and John Boanerges, meaning sons of thunder, as an example of His choosing disciples with diverse characters. The verse itself does not explain the surname or its meaning. The name described their natural character as impetuous and forceful rather than meek and yielding or gentle and dreamy, violent in spirit with evil temper, resentment, desire for revenge, a critical spirit, pride, self-assertion, ambition to be first and for honor, and a proud, ambitious, combative nature, so that any slight shown to Him aroused their indignation and combativeness. Beneath those faults was discerned an ardent, sincere, loving heart.

He worked to transform them through rebuke, warning, caution, disappointed ambitions, and tests of faith, while revealing the beauty of holiness and His transforming love and power, holding before them day by day His own tenderness and forbearance and His lessons of humility and patience, and He did not withdraw from them because of weakness and errors. By opening the heart to divine influence, choosing Jesus, continuing to the end to share His trials, beholding Him and learning the lessons of His life, John became not only a hearer but a doer of His words, with self hid in Christ, learning to wear His yoke and bear His burden, shaped into a loving disciple who reflected his Master's character, and with the other widely differing disciples they were transformed in character and brought into unity of faith, doctrine, spirit, mind and judgment, with Christ as the center abiding in the heart and His love leading to love for one another. The name applies to clergymen who zealously advance their own religious sect while rejecting abstainers from wine.