Matthew 4:21

And going on from thence, he saw two other brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they straightway left the boat and their father, and followed him.

James was the first apostle to suffer martyrdom, and John was the last to die. These extremes suggest a mystical fulfillment of the request their mother made of Jesus that one of them should sit on the right hand and one on the left hand in his kingdom (Matthew 20:21). Both James and John belonged to that inner circle within the Twelve who were permitted in the bed chamber when Jairus' daughter was raised (Mark 5:37), on the mountain of transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), and with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37).

Zebedee ... was the brother-in-law of the virgin Mary, according to H. Leo Boles.[9] The inference is from Matthew 27:56 and John 19:25. Although some have disputed it, Alford, Meyer, and others have received this deduction as true. This would make James and John cousins of our Lord, their mothers, Mary and Salome, being sisters. Zebedee is never mentioned as a disciple.