Ref: Mt 10:3, Mk 3:18, Lk 6:15, Acts 1:13
James the son of Alphaeus is perhaps the disciple we know the least about amongst the twelve. He only appears in the 4 lists of the twelve found in Gospels and Acts. In all of these lists he is numbered in the ninth position in a quartet that includes the three least known apostles and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. All we know of James (or more properly Jakob to give him his Hebrew name), is that he was the son of Alphaeus and that he was one of the twelve disciples.
It is possible that this is the same person as James the Less mentioned in Mark 15:40. If so he is probably called James the Less simply to differentiate him from James the son of Zebedee. James the Less had a brother Joses (or Joseph) who is not counted amongst the twelve and they are both the sons of Mary. This Mary was one of the women who witnessed the crucifixion at a distance, observed where Jesus was buried and later went to the empty tomb (Mark 15:40-41, 16:1, Mt 27:55-56). As Mary is one of the women from Galilee who supported Jesus’ ministry, it makes sense that one of her sons would have been one of Jesus’ disciples. However there is no way for certain to identify James the Less with James son of Alphaeus. James the Less may simply have been another of the wider circle of Jesus’ disciples.
There are accounts of the martyrdom of James son of Alphaeus, however these are the result of confusing the apostle with James the brother of Jesus. Though sadly we know so little for certain about James there is something to be said for his seeming anonymity. John the Baptist when the crowds were going after Jesus, remarked that "he must increase I must decrease". He compared himself as the friend of the bridegroom and Jesus as the bridegroom (John 3:22-31). Ultimately the focus of the gospels is Jesus and not his followers. They play their part and share in his joy, but their role like John the Baptist is to point to Jesus. In the same way as believers in Christ, our job is not to gain attention for ourselves, but to tell the world about our saviour. The World might never recognise us, but one day we will hear the words “well done good and faithful servant”.