Day 57 (8) – Santander

Today is a day of rest along with time to explore this great city. Our bikes are delivered and we are experimenting in getting used to them for the bike portion of the Camino in the days ahead.

We decided to head to the outskirts and check out the farthest light house point that we could go. Touring along the city parks we climbed up to the castle and then trekked out to the village and off-roading rocky trail on the coast. We were challenged with big rocks, narrow trails, and some good climbs. All the muscle groups got a good warm up. Burn baby burn. Merritt was all joy as he is enjoying being on two wheels versus just two feet.

Back in the city we navigated the heavy traffic and narrow one ways and then stopped for a great lunch at the Cathedral Tavern. The hospitality culture here is in hyper-drive with cortados and beers and pinchos flying every which way.

After dropping off our bikes we then marched around on foot to get our local Camino passport stamps and see the historic Mercado. That proved challenging but we finally accomplished the task after a few extra miles of walking.

We’re closing out the day washing clothes at our hostel – hydrating – and repacking for the next phase that starts early tomorrow morning.

We also took some time today to refresh on the disciple James.

James the Great was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was the second of the apostles to die after Judas Iscariot and the first to be martyred. Saint James is the patron saint of Spain and, according to tradition, what are believed to be his remains are held in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

James was born into a family of Jewish fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. His parents were Zebedee and Salome. Salome was a sister of Mary (mother of Jesus) which made James the Great a cousin of Jesus. James is styled “the Greater” to distinguish him from the other apostle James “the Lesser,” with “greater” meaning older or taller, rather than more important. James the Great was the brother of John the Apostle.

James is described as one of the first disciples to join Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels state that James and John were preparing to fish with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow him.

James, along with his brother John, and Peter, formed an informal triad among the Twelve Apostles. Jesus allowed them to be the only apostles present at three particular occasions during his public ministry: the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the transfiguration of Jesus, and Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. James and John or, in another tradition, their mother) asked Jesus to grant them seats on his right and left in his glory. Jesus rebuked them, asking if they were ready to drink from the cup he was going to drink from and saying the honor was not even for him to grant. The other apostles were annoyed with them. James and his brother wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan town, but were rebuked by Jesus.

The Acts of the Apostles records that “Herod the king” (usually identified with Herod Agrippa) had James executed “by the sword”. Henry Alford suggests that he was probably beheaded. Nixon suggests his death may have been triggered by James’ fiery temper, from which he and his brother earned the nickname “Sons of Thunder”.

In the coming days we will re-read the book of James as we journey down the road.

How is Jesus calling us to follow him today and into the future?