Twelve Ordinary Men, Week 19

He is also called “Simon the Cananite.” That is not a reference to the land of Canaan or the village of Cana. It comes from the Hebrew root qanna, which means “to be zealous.”

zeal·ous - showing great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.

Simon was apparently at one time a member of the political party known as the Zealots. The fact that he bore the title all his life may also suggest that he had a fiery, zealous temperament. But that term in Jesus’ day signified a well-known and widely feared outlaw political sect, and Simon had apparently been a member of that sect.

The historian Josephus described four basic parties among the Jews of that time.

The Pharisees were fastidious about the Law; they were the religious fundamentalists of their time.

The Sadducees were religious liberals; they denied the supernatural. They were also rich, aristocratic, and powerful. They were in charge of the temple.

The Essenes are not mentioned in Scripture at all, but both Josephus and Philo describe them as ascetics and celibates who lived in the desert and devoted their lives to the study of the Law.

The fourth group, the Zealots, were more politically minded than any group besides the Herodians. The Zealots hated the Romans, and their goal was to overthrow the Roman occupation. They advanced their agenda primarily through terrorism and surreptitious acts of violence.

The Zealots were extremists in every sense. Like the Pharisees, they interpreted the law literally. Unlike the Pharisees (who were willing to compromise for political reasons), the Zealots were militant, violent outlaws. They believed only God Himself had the right to rule over the Jews. And therefore they believed they were doing God’s work by assassinating Roman soldiers, political leaders, and anyone else who opposed them.

The Zealots were hoping for a Messiah who would lead them in overthrowing the Romans and restore the kingdom to Israel with its Solomonic glory. They were red-hot patriots, ready to die in an instant for what they believed in. Josephus wrote of them:

Of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the Galilean was the author. These men agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord. They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord. And since this immovable resolution of theirs is well known to a great many, I shall speak no further about that matter; nor am I afraid that any thing I have said of them should be disbelieved, but rather fear, that what I have said is beneath the resolution they show when they undergo pain. And it was in Gessius Florus’s time that the nation began to grow mad with this distemper, who was our procurator, and who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it by the abuse of his authority, and to make them revolt from the Romans.

The revolt Josephus describes “in Gessius Florus’s time” occurred in A.D. 6, when a group of Zealots waged a violent rebellion against a Roman census tax. The Zealots’ leader and founder, also mentioned by Josephus, was Judas the Galilean, who is named in Acts 5:37.

Acts 5:37 ESV

37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

The Zealots were convinced that paying tribute to a pagan king was an act of treason against God. That view found widespread acceptance among people who were already overburdened by Roman taxation. Judas the Galilean seized the opportunity, organized forces, and went on a rampage of murder, plunder, and destruction. From their headquarters in the Galilee region, Judas and his followers carried out guerilla-style warfare and terrorist acts against the Romans. Soon, however, the Romans crushed the rebellion, killed Judas of Galilee, and crucified his sons.

The Zealot party merely went underground. Their acts of terror became more selective and more secretive. As noted in chapter 2, they formed a party of secret assassins called sicarii—“dagger-men”—because of the deadly, curved daggers they carried in the folds of their robes. They would sneak up behind Roman soldiers and politicians and stab them in the back, between the ribs, expertly piercing the heart.

They liked to burn Roman targets in Judea, then retreat to the remote areas of Galilee to hide. As Josephus described them in the quotation cited above, their willingness to suffer any kind of death or endure any amount of pain—including the torture of their own kindred—was well known. The Romans might torture them and kill them, but they could not quench their passion.

Many historians believe that when the Romans sacked Jerusalem under Titus Vespasian in A.D. 70, that terrible holocaust was largely precipitated by the Zealots. During the siege of Rome, after the Roman army had already surrounded the city and cut off supplies, the Zealots actually began killing fellow Jews who wanted to negotiate with Rome to end the siege. They allowed no one to surrender who wanted to save his or her own life. When Titus saw how hopeless the situation was, he destroyed the city, massacring thousands of its inhabitants, and carried off the treasures of the temple. So the Zealots’ blind hatred of Rome and everything Roman ultimately provoked the destruction of their own city. The spirit of their movement was an insane, and ultimately self-destructive, fanaticism. Zealous? Yes. For the right thing? No.

Simon was one of them. It is interesting that when Matthew and Mark list the Twelve, they list Simon just before Judas Iscariot. When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, it is likely that Simon and Judas Iscariot were a team. They probably both originally followed Christ for similar political reasons. But somewhere along the line, Simon became a genuine believer and was transformed. Judas Iscariot never really believed.

When Jesus did not overthrow Rome, but instead talked of dying, some might have expected Simon to be the betrayer—a man of such deep passion, zeal, and political conviction that he would align himself with terrorists. But that was before He met Jesus.

Of course, as one of the Twelve, Simon also had to associate with Matthew, who was at the opposite end of the political spectrum, collecting taxes for the Roman government. At one point in his life, Simon would probably have gladly killed Matthew. In the end, they became spiritual brethren, working side by side for the same cause—the spread of the gospel—and worshiping the same Lord.

It is amazing that Jesus would select a man like Simon to be an apostle. But he was a man of fierce loyalties, amazing passion, courage, and zeal. Simon had believed the truth and embraced Christ as his Lord. The fiery enthusiasm he once had for Israel was now expressed in his devotion to Christ.

Several early sources say that after the destruction of Jerusalem, Simon took the gospel north and preached in the British Isles. Like so many of the others, Simon simply disappears from the biblical record. There is no reliable record of what happened to him, but all accounts say he was killed for preaching the gospel. This man who was once willing to kill and be killed for a political agenda within the confines of Judea found a more fruitful cause for which to give his life—in the proclamation of salvation for sinners out of every nation, tongue, and tribe.

Judas, Son of James

The last name on the list of faithful disciples is “Judas, the son of James.” The name Judas in and of itself is a fine name. It means “Jehovah leads.” But because of the treachery of Judas Iscariot, the name Judas will forever bear a negative connotation. When the apostle John mentions him, he calls him “Judas (not Iscariot)” (John 14:22).

Judas the son of James actually had three names. (Jerome referred to him as “Trinomious”—the man with three names.) In Matthew 10:3, he is called “Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus.” Judas was probably the name given him at birth. Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus were essentially nicknames. Thaddaeus means “breast child”—evoking the idea of a nursing baby. It almost has a derisive sound, like “mamma’s boy.” Perhaps he was the youngest in his family, and therefore the baby among several siblings—specially cherished by his mother. His other name, Lebbaeus, is similar. It is from a Hebrew root that refers to the heart—literally, “heart child.”

Both names suggest he had a tender, childlike heart. It is interesting to think of such a gentle soul hanging around in the same group of four apostles as Simon the Zealot. But the Lord can use both kinds. Zealots make great preachers. But so do tender-hearted, compassionate, gentle, sweet-spirited souls like Lebbaeus Thaddaeus. Together, they contribute to a very complex and intriguing group of twelve apostles. There’s at least one of every imaginable personality.

Like the other three faithful members of the third apostolic group, Lebbaeus Thaddaeus is more or less shrouded in obscurity. But that obscurity should not cloud our respect for them. They all became mighty preachers.

The New Testament records one incident involving this Judas Lebbaeus Thaddaeus. To see it, we return to the apostle John’s description of Jesus’ Upper-Room Discourse. In John 14:21, Jesus says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Then John adds, “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ ” (v. 22). Here we see the tender-hearted humility of this man. He doesn’t say anything brash or bold or overconfident. He doesn’t rebuke the Lord like Peter once did. His question is full of gentleness and meekness and devoid of any sort of pride. He couldn’t believe that Jesus would manifest Himself to this rag-tag group of eleven, and not to the whole world.

John 14:21–22 ESV

21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

After all, Jesus was the Savior of the world. He was the rightful heir of the earth—King of kings and Lord of lords. They had always assumed that He came to set up His kingdom and subdue all things to Himself. The good news of forgiveness and salvation was certainly good news for all the world. And the disciples knew it well, but the rest of the world was still, by and large, clueless. So Lebbaeus Thaddaeus wanted to know, “Why are you going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the whole world?”

This was a pious, believing disciple. This was a man who loved his Lord and who felt the power of salvation in his own life. He was full of hope for the world, and in his own tender-hearted, childlike way he wanted to know why Jesus wasn’t going to make Himself known to everyone. He was obviously still hoping to see the kingdom come to earth. We certainly can’t fault him for that; that is how Jesus taught His disciples to pray (Luke 11:2).

Luke 11:2 ESV

2 And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

Jesus gave him a marvelous answer, and the answer was as tender as the question. “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him’ ” (John 14:23). Christ would manifest Himself to anyone who loves Him.

John 14:23 ESV

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Judas Lebbaeus Thaddaeus was still thinking in the political and material realm. “How come You haven’t taken over the world yet? Why don’t You just manifest Yourself to the world?”

Jesus’ answer meant, “I’m not going to take over the world externally; I’m going to take over hearts, one at a time. If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word. And if he keeps My Word, My Father and I will come to him and together we’ll set up the kingdom in his heart.”

Most of the early tradition regarding Lebbaeus Thaddaeus suggests that a few years after Pentecost, he took the gospel north, to Edessa, a royal city in Mesopotamia, in the region of Turkey today. There are numerous ancient accounts of how he healed the king of Edessa, a man named Abgar. In the fourth century, Eusebius the historian said the archives at Edessa (now destroyed) contained full records of Thaddaeus’s visit and the healing of Abgar.

The traditional apostolic symbol of Judas Lebbaeus Thaddaeus is a club, because tradition says he was clubbed to death for his faith.

Thus this tender-hearted soul followed his Lord faithfully to the end. His testimony was as powerful and as far-reaching as that of the better-known and more outspoken disciples. He, like them, is proof of how God uses perfectly ordinary people in remarkable ways.

John F. MacArthur Jr., Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You (Nashville, TN: W Pub. Group, 2002), 174–180.

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