matamoros & boanerges

[Donald Schell]

Dear Maryjane,

I like these Biblical observations quite a lot:

>It should be remembered, that the Matamoros image did not develop ex-nihilo.
>James and his brother John were given the name "Boanerges" (sons of thunder;
>Mark 3:17) by Jesus in the following NT passage: (Luke 9: 51-56)...when his
>disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid
>fire come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked
>them. And they went on to another village.
>
>Also in Mark 10: 35-40 James and John, not so humbly, go to Jesus and ask
>Him to grant their one request--that they will be allowed to sit "one at
>your right hand and one at your left, in your glory". Not such humble guys,
>and they certainly stirred up the wrath of the other disciples with this
>request.
>
>So it seems to me that the "re-framed Santiago" is actually reframed back
>into Christ's image, rather than the other way around. The "matamoros"
>imagery is perhaps truer to James' original nature / image than the peaceful
>pilgrim.

And where we go from there is that James died a martyr, not a warrior fallen
in battle. The Gospels give us warriors or guerrilla soldiers among the
disciples (Simon the Zealot) and Peter's offering Jesus swords to fight
their enemies.  You are quite right that Son of Thunder to peaceful pilgrim
is a conversion.  So was Son of Thunder to apostle/martyr.  I think many of
us experienced something of how that conversion happens as we followed a Way
together and found in our shared labor that accidental fellow travelers
become companions - those with whom we broke pan/bread.  As I think your
note implies, pilgrimage, in part, is about the conversion of our original
natures.

love,
donald