Today is the Festival of Simon and Jude, two of the Twelve who were called by Jesus. Problem is we know almost nothing about Simon and what little we can guess about Jude is utterly confused. Simon is called the Cananite by Matthew and Mark and the Zealot by Luke to distinguish him from the more famous Simon Peter. Whether zealot means a member of a party within Judaism or simply someone who is zealous is disputed. That’s all we know about Simon.

Jude is more of a problem first because his name doesn’t appear in all the lists of the Twelve. Luke calls him Jude of James. Mark and Matthew list a disciple Thaddeus instead of Jude. Are they the same person? Maybe. There’s more confusion because Jesus had a brother named Jude to whom a book of the New Testament is attributed. Is this the same Jude as the apostle? Well, if the identifier Jude of James means Jude the Son of James, then it can’t be the same person. If it means Jude the Brother of James, then maybe.

Actually, I rather glad that we don’t know much about these two men. We remember them solely because Jesus called them to follow him. And that brings me to the a verse in an old Sunday School song:

Jesus calls us, too. Jesus calls us, too.
We are his disciples. I am one, are you?

Years from now nobody will know who we were, but if we were Jesus’s disciples, that’s all that will matter.

Read Luke 6:12-16 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne