 The Rt Rev Jack L Iker, SSC, Bishop The Rev Mark A Stockstill, SSC, Vicar Office 325.356.2997 Vicarage 325.356.2198 Cell 325.330.2411 mstockstill@fwepiscopal.org |
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Jude is so
named by Luke and Acts. Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus. He is not
mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels, except, of course, where all the
apostles are referred to. Scholars hold that he is not the author of the
Letter of Jude. Actually, Jude had the same name as Judas Iscariot.
Evidently because of the disgrace of that name, it was shortened to "Jude"
in English.
Simon is
mentioned on all four lists of the apostles. On two of them he is called
"the Zealot." The Zealots were a Jewish sect that represented an extreme of
Jewish nationalism. For them, the messianic promise of the Old Testament
meant that the Jews were to be a free and independent nation. God alone was
their king, and any payment of taxes to the Romans—the very domination of
the Romans—was a blasphemy against God. No doubt some of the Zealots were
the spiritual heirs of the Maccabees, carrying on their ideals of religion
and independence. But many were the counterparts of modern terrorists. They
raided and killed, attacking both foreigners and "collaborating" Jews. They
were chiefly responsible for the rebellion against Rome which ended in the
destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.