| James and John |
| James and John were brothers. They were always noisy and bossy, and they got worse as they got older. James always had to be head of everything. John helped his brother be head. He would tell bad things about other boys who wanted to be head so they'd want James to lead them. James and John were not always nice. But they did have a nice side too. They went to church ~ what Jews called synagogue ~ and tried to learn to do right. Their cousin was Jesus. Growing up they always knew he was different even though he was a lot like other boys. James and John never tried to boss him. Jesus was a natural-born leader. When grown, James and John became fishermen like their father. Their cousin, Jesus, became a carpenter like his father Joseph. However, Jesus said he had another father in heaven. Once when John and Andrew went to see John the Baptizer, he announced a big surprise. He announced that Jesus was going to become king some day. Were they ever surprised! When Jesus started healing people, they knew he would be a different kind of king. Jesus said his real father was not Joseph, but God. James and John began to believe that. So James and John quit their jobs as fishermen and began traveling with Jesus as he told everyone how much God loved them and wanted them to live a good life. James and John continued to be best friends with Jesus. One time he took them with him to the top of a mountain. They saw Jesus become a glistening as the sun. Finally Jesus said it was time to go to Jerusalem where he would become king. James and John asked Jesus if they could be second and third in command over everyone in the kingdom. They still did not understand Jesus wanted to be king of our hearts and rule from heaven. One night Jesus became scared because he knew he would be killed in a few hours. He went to a garden to pray and took Peter, James and John with him to help him. Three days after Jesus died, he came back to life. And 40 days later they saw him actually rise to the sky among the clouds to go to heaven. James started telling everyone to believe Jesus was really the Son of God. Some people didn't want to hear it. Bad King Herod didn't either, so he had James killed. John learned a lesson and didn't force people to hear about God. He wasn't so bossy any more, and lived to be nearly 100 years old. In his quiet way he convinced people Jesus was the Son of God. |