The Twelve: Simon the Zealot

Simon the Zealot

Name meaning: We had that name before, his name literally means “the one who was heard.” To some extend it is a reflection on the suffering of matriarch Leah who said “[God has] heard...” when she conceived and bore the second boy (Genesis 29:33). There are two things in this “zealot” addition. First, the Gospel authors wanted to separate him from Simon that Jesus renamed into Peter. Second, there is an identity “marker” behind this word, which is accompanied with a very loaded meaning. Let's talk about the meaning.

Life story: The last apostle (before Judas Iscariot) has almost NO story. He is mentioned in the list of the 12 disciples (Matthew 10:1-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:12-16; Acts 1:13). And apart from that we have no mentioning of him at all.

So, what can we learn from the fact that his not mentioned?

First, he should not be confused with Simon Peter. What do we know about Simon Peter? He stands out for his many of his qualities, but the main one is “jumping the gun.” Sometimes it is good – he was the first to confess Jesus as Christ, the Son of God, the Living One (Matthew 16:13-20). Sometimes it is not so healthy – everyone remembers the situation at the Last Supper (Mark 14:26-31). So, it is possible that Simon the Zealot is distinguished from St. Peter because he thinks through, not making rush decisions, calculating every step of the way.

Second, the importance of “zealot” designation. Zealots were a terrorist organization founded 6AD by Judas of Galilee. They would not refrain from violence. Their “methods” were based on Numbers 25:1-15. They were fighting for the independence of Israel from the Pax Romana – Roman rule in Mediterranean world. What is interesting is the fact that he did not have a single argument with Levi Matthew – the tax collector [for the Roman government]. The presence of Jesus united those who had opposed political views in the civil realm. They both made a choice of a better and more important part of their lives – being the apostles of the Savior of the world.

Third, St. Paul wrote to Titus about being zealous for good works (Titus 3:14). A few verses prior St. Paul talks about being saved by grace which was given to us in the Sacrament of the Holy Baptism. At the same time, he encourages the believers to be fruitful in their lives. In a sense, he points toward St. Simon – he was called from being a terrorist to the preacher of the Good News of Jesus. St. Paul invites the pastor and his congregation on Crete island to follow his example of being zealous for the LORD.

Tradition: Death and symbol. Traditionally, St. Simon is pictured with a saw in his hand, for his martyrdom was achieved by being sawed in half.

Date – as talked about this last time – the date of commemoration for St. Simon is the same for St. Jude, October 28.

Prayer: Almighty God, You chose Your servants Simon and Jude to be numbered among the glorious company of the apostles. As they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so may we with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The Twelve: St. Thaddaeus or St. Jude

St. Thaddaeus or St. Jude

Identity: Before we start to talk about the meaning of the name and life story, we need to identify who he really was. Modern scholarship (especially secular) make a big deal out of “confusion” with three lists of the apostles we have in the Gospels of Matthew (10:1-4), Mark (3:16-19), and Luke (6:13-16). Luke gives one more list in the Book of Acts (1:13). While Matthew and Mark talk about Thaddaeus, Luke mentions Judas the son of James in both of his books. Along with this John mentions Judas (not the Iscariot) as a part of the fellowship at the Last Supper (John 14:22). We also have the Letter of Jude – the last of the 7 General or Catholic Epistles. Therefore, if we believe that the Apostles and Gospel writers knew what they were talking about. We just need to assume that Judas, Jude, and Thaddaeus is the same person. This should not surprise us for we have multiple instances of people having more than one name – Simon being also called Peter would be a parade example.

Meaning of the name(s). Let us start with Thaddaeus. Depending on the origins it can mean “courageous heart” (if derived from Aramaic), or “gift of God” (if derived from Greek).

Judas – Greek form of Hebrew name Judah – means “praise the LORD.” It was the name of the fourth son of Jacob by Leah (Genesis 29:35). As you might remember Leah and Rachel got into to a racing competition for the love of their husband. Bible simply states that Jacob loved Rachel – it was the love from the first sight, and he was ready to serve seven years for her (Genesis 29:20). Leah was trying to gain Jacob's love by bearing him sons. First came Reuben, then Simon, then Levi – every time she hoped and hoped... Then Judah was born, and she praised the LORD. She finally can to the ultimate type of relationship – relationship with God. She stopped bearing.

Story: Part of the Twelve. We don't have many stories for Judas (Jude), but the fact that Lord Jesus Christ selected him to be one of the Twelve means something. What were the criteria? Apart from personal assessment of Jesus, St. Luke left us the list of features the apostles paid attention to when they replaced the traitor. In the first chapter of the Book of Acts the apostles are looking for someone else to be “on the team.” Let's see what they considered right to be qualified. There are two basic conditions: (1) be with the group from the very beginning (from the baptism of/by John [Baptizer]) (2) until the day of Jesus's ascension. Covering the time-span of the ministry of Jesus. But within this the apostle should be a witness of resurrection. For sure, when Jesus selected the Twelve, they didn't have the resurrection yet. But what we can certainly know is he was with the disciples from the time of Jesus being baptized by John. This means that he heard the voice from heaven: This is my beloved Son, in Whom I'm well pleased (Mark 1:10-11).

Conversation at the Last Supper. We also see Judas as an active participant at the Last Supper (John 14:22). It is very interesting that Judas listens very carefully, takes his time to process a very rich “spiritual food” of Jesus' sermon, and then asks the question. His question related to what the Lord said a couple sentences prior. But he didn't want to leave it alone, having “I'll ask later” attitude. And Jesus response to his question, taking him very seriously. The distinction between the disciples and the world is maintained by faith through the reception of the word, the word that came through the Son from the Father. When the disciples will receive the word and follow Jesus' commands, the love of Jesus will be manifested among the disciples – that's how the world will know about the Savior (John 13:34-35). This was the driving force for Jude's ministry – be it writing his Letter or preaching of the Gospel to unknown lands (Armenia included).

The Letter of Jude was written around 60AD. The apostle encourages the church not giving in to the evils of the world as it tries to penetrate the church and corrupt the church from within. But imminent judgment on the ungodly IS coming. Though it looks like the wicked prevail (at times and places), there is a greater judgment that is ultimately coming to the world (cp. Ps. 73).

As long as the Church is present on earth, the forces of evil will attack her from the outside and try their best to penetrate corrupting from the inside. The Letter of Jude is very helpful with the identification of these attempts, encouraging the “beloved” to hold fast to faith once delivered to the saints. Also, regardless of the difficulty and severity of the spiritual and life combat, we eagerly await the Second Coming of Christ which will complete the ultimate deliverance.

Tradition: Commemoration date for Jude and Simon (the Zealot, we'll talk about him next week) is October 28. Traditionally, the symbols for St. Jude is ship – for traveled extensively – or a spear – reflecting of the record of St. Michael's spiritual engagement with the devil.

Prayer: Almighty God, You chose Your servants Simon and Jude to be numbered among the glorious company of the apostles. As they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so may we with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Jude

 Letter of St. Jude   

Title: There are a few Judas in the NT. Curtis P. Giese provides a helpful layout to all the possibilities for the authorship (2 Peter and Jude, CHP, 2012, pp. 16-18). He settles on the Jude, brother of James, and, actually, a half-brother of Jesus. Yet, being reluctant to claim his special relational connections with the LORD, he identifies himself as a brother of James (Mt. 13:55; Mk. 6:3).          

Date of writing: It is one of the later epistles. The conundrum that should be solved is the relationship between Peter and Jude. Different schools of thought give priority to one over the other (See Giese, pp. 1-6, 11-12, 17-18). IMHO – I believe that Jude “polishes” the statements of Peter, therefore, Jude should be written around 64-65 AD or ca 68AD (as TLSB and TLRB [The Lutheran Reader’s Bible] states).   

Structure:

a. 1-2, Greeting

  b. 3-4, beloved, hold faith once delivered to the saints

    c. 5-7, 3 negative examples from Biblical history

      d. 8, takeaway 1

        e. 9-11a, Positive example (Michael)

     c’. 11b, 3 negative examples

       d’. 12, takeaway 2

         e. 13-16, Positive example (Enoch)

  b. 17-23, beloved, hold to the prediction of the apostles

a. 24-25, Conclusion with Doxology

Main themes: Not giving in to the evils of the world. It tries to penetrate the church and corrupt the church from within.

Imminent judgement on the ungodly. Though it looks like the wicked prevail (at times and places), there is a greater judgement that is ultimately coming to the world (cp. Ps. 73).   

Main Characters: Jude and the beloved

Negative examples	Positive examples
(1) Unbelievers in the time of Exodus, Fallen angels, Sodom and Gomorrah; (2) Kain, Balaam, Korah	Michael   Enoch

 

Reflection in other parts of the Bible: Angelic rebellion is presented in Job 1 and 2: Isaiah 14:13-15; Zech 3:1-2. Comparing the last passage with Jude might help us to identify the figure of Michael – the one at the right side/hand of God – as the second person of the Trinity.

Importance the apostolic authority in the Church over self-achieved “intimate relationship with God”. Same as 2 and 3 John – theme of “face to face”.

Jude brings up 8 examples from the Pentateuch assuming that his readers and listeners immediately catch the connection for a deeper reflection. He simply mentions them without any long description. 

Lutheran teaching: The Book of Concord quotes Jude [11] only once – discussing the Third use of the Law (FC SD VI:16). Authors of the Formula made a connection between Pauline usage of “works of the Law” (Rom. 3:20) as “works of the slaves”.   

It is not a “Lutheran teaching” per se, but for many years the President of the LCMS A.L. Barry would sign his devotional remarks in every issue of Lutheran Witness with the concluding words of Jude v.24-25.

Lutheran hymnody:

LSB 518:28 – For All the Saints in Warfare (v. 28 – St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles)

LSB 508 – The Day is Surely Drawing Near

Relevancy of the Book: As long as the Church is present on earth, the forces of evil will attack her from the outside and try their best to penetrate corrupting from the inside. The Letter of Jude is very helpful with the identification of these attempts, encouraging the “beloved” to hold fast to faith once delivered to the saints. Also, regardless of the difficulty and severity of the spiritual and life combat, we eagerly await the Second Coming of Christ which will complete the ultimate deliverance.   

Memory verses: 20-21: But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourself in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.