Simon the Zealot

9.30am Sunday 3 August, 2008

Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10; Mark 3:13-19; Galatians 1:11-24 TNIV

It is fascinating to examine the names and descriptions of the twelve men Jesus chose to be at the forefront of his mission. One could not imagine a more diverse group. There were no Pharisees, the religious elite, among them, nor were they theologically educated as ministers are today or as rabbis were in their day. For the most part they were ordinary people in whom Jesus saw qualities and potential that under the empowering of the Holy Spirit would turn the world upside down. These ordinary men, apart from Judas, did extraordinary things because they served an extraordinary God. It is encouraging to know this. God can use anyone for his service. Even the most unlikely people can be effective in mission. If God can use anyone, he can certainly use you and I. All it requires is a willingness to respond to his call to 'follow' him.

This morning we are going to look at just one of the disciples Jesus called, "Simon the Zealot." He was probably called this to distinguish him from the other Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter. Being described as "Simon the Zealot" brings certain connotations with it. He was obviously a person who was passionate about what he believed in. There were no half measures for Simon. He may well have been something of a hothead or firebrand, the kind of person that takes some reining in. We do not know for sure, but we can assume that he was one who would give everything to a cause. Zeal, enthusiasm, passion and energy are admirable qualities when channelled in the right direction, and harnessed to promote a worthy cause. And Jesus saw these qualities in Simon and was directing them towards the cause of God's kingdom. But these same qualities - zeal, enthusiasm, passion and energy - can be lethal, as we will see in a moment, when directed towards evil ends.

But first, let us put this calling of "Simon the Zealot" in its context. It is significant that in Matthew's Gospel, the account of the naming of the twelve comes immediately after the passage where crowds surrounded Jesus. Matthew tells us that Jesus was moved with compassion as he looked upon all the people. He saw them as being "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." His heart went out to them. Their needs were great but there so few to help. It was impossible for one person to meet the need alone. He turns to his disciples and says, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."[1] What is unique in Matthew's account when compared to the other Gospels is that in the very next verse he calls the twelve disciples to him and sends them out on a preaching and healing mission. Note what Jesus did. He was answering his own prayer by sending out workers himself, and by doing so identifies himself as "the Lord of the harvest." It brings home the truth that there is a job to be done and Jesus immediately enlists people to do it. And note also what the twelve are sent to do. Exactly as Jesus did, "drive out evil spirits and heal every disease and sickness."[2] Mark's account is almost the same. He says, "He appointed the twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons." Mark is the only Gospel writer who tells us that Jesus called them to "be with him." These were the men into which Jesus was to pour his life for the remainder of his days. They never left him. They were always at his side, except for the times he sent them out on a mission. That promise of his presence was continued after his resurrection through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to his disciples just prior to his crucifixion, "If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth."[3] If you are a follower of Christ, that promise is yours, too. Jesus' call to discipleship is always a call to be "with him."

But note also that his reason for calling them was "that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons." As we saw last week, healing for Jesus went hand in hand with proclaiming the good news. Healing is evidence of the good news. Luke in his account of the sending out of the twelve is a little more specific about what they were to preach. He says Jesus "sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God,"[4] and both Matthew and Luke specify healing the sick of every disease and illness.[5] Evidence of the presence of God's kingdom in their midst was seen in the authority over unclean spirits. The reasons for calling the twelve were very clear. There was a task to be done, and Jesus equipped them with the authority they needed to do that task. That task has been handed on to us who are his followers today.[6] We go in the name of the one to whom "all authority in heaven and on earth" has been given. (Blank screen)

Now one of the twelve, as has been mentioned was one named "Simon the zealot." Who was this person, and what is there about this man that can be a word from God to us today? Let us see what we can learn from this disciple. First, in seeking to understand Simon, it is helpful to have some background as to how this term "Zealot" came into being. Its roots go back to God's desire for the exclusive worship of his people. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, part of what he said in giving the second commandment was, "You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." He gives the reason why they are not to do this. He says, "...for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God..." To make such an image would be to break the first commandment, "You shall have no other Gods before me."[7] Israel was a holy people, and the Law had been given to keep Israel holy.

It is also helpful to know that the word for 'jealous' and 'zealous' come from the same Hebrew root. It is the word used to describe Phinehas in the Book of Numbers when he took a spear and thrust it through both the man and the woman who had brought sin into the Israeli camp. As a result of his action the plague that had broken out on God's people was stayed. The Bible says, "The Lord said to Moses, 'Phinehas ... has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was (and translating the Hebrew literally) zealous with my zeal among them so that I did not consume the sons of Israel in my jealousy." Numbers goes on to read, "Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honour of his God and made atonement for the Israelites."[8] From that time onward Phinehas was held up as the model among God's people for all who sought to be zealous of God's Law, 'the zealot prototype par excellence,'[9] as one person put it. A Zealot thus became a strict interpreter of the Law, and was willing to follow the way of "zeal for the law of God of Israel" even to death. That is, the "Zealot" was willing, not only to kill a Gentile, or to lay down own life rather than transgress the law, but he was quite prepared to take the life of a fellow Israelite, if necessary, out of his zeal for the law." The apostle Paul, before his conversion, is a prime example. In his defence to the crowd in Jerusalem that were howling for his death he said, "I was just as zealous for God as many of you are today. I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison."[10] After he became a Christian he put the same fervour into his work as an apostle to the Gentiles, and the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire owes a great deal to his work.

In the centuries before Christ the term 'Zealot' was used for the more radical and warlike Jewish rebels against foreign rule. It was this 'zealot' mindset that inspired those who fought against the Greeks during the time of the Maccabean revolts. For example, so strict was their observance of temple worship, that the priests would still offer the morning and evening sacrifices even when the temple was under bombardment from enemy fire. It was this zeal for the law that motivated the party of Zealots founded by Judas the Galilean who led a revolt against Rome in AD 6. This party opposed the payment of tribute to a pagan emperor on the ground that this was treason to God, Israel's true King. When that revolt was crushed, its spirit was kept alive for 60 years. Zealots were active throughout the war between Rome and the Jews AD 66-73, and would have been amongst the hard core of national resistance at that time. They would never, ever contemplate surrender to Rome, and anyone who suggested such they killed. When Jerusalem fell in AD 70, the Zealots who escaped gathered at Masada, the last zealot stronghold, and for four years they managed to hold off the Romans. This fortress had been built earlier by Herod the Great, and had an amazing system set up that kept the fortress supplied with clean drinking water. When the rain came, which was very rarely, the water that fell on the surrounding countryside was channelled into canals that fed large cisterns within the fort itself. With the stores they had, they kept the Romans at bay until the ramp which the Romans built at the only point where it was possible to attack the fort, had reached a point where they could set fire to the fortress gates. With the gates gone, those within Masada realised that they could not hold out any longer, and rather than surrender to the Romans, they all committed suicide. When the Romans stormed the fortress the following day, all they found were dead bodies. These are some of the stones the "Zealots" used to knock down their fellow-countrymen who were forced by the Romans to built the ramp from which the otherwise impregnable fortress could be scaled.

Returning to our text, the name Simon the zealot, can mean one of two things. Either that he was zealous of the Jewish Law, just as the apostle Paul described himself as being a religious zealot.[11] Or that he actually belonged to the party of the Zealots established by Judas the Galilean. The fact that the Greek here for Mark 3:19 should be strictly translated 'Cananean,' which is derived from the Aramaic word meaning 'zealous,' indicates that it is more likely that the latter is the correct interpretation. Simon belonged to the party of the Zealots. I have elaborated on this because there is a very important truth here. Zeal, as was said earlier, is a positive attribute when channelled in the right direction. However, there much zeal present in the world today that is misdirected, and as we know full well from the Muslim extremists that masterminded 9/11 it can have tragic consequences. Today is 'Peace Sunday,' and Christian World Service is encouraging us to remember the plight of the Sudanese people in Darfur. What has been going on there for the past five years has been horrific, with an estimated 450,000 killed. Enclosed in your bulletin this morning is information about this need. The following is a brief Power Point display that has been prepared by Christian World Service to highlight the needs of the Sudanese people. (CWS Slides)

This is an example of misdirected zeal and the tragic consequences it can have. But is 'zeal' therefore to be despised and avoided at all costs. No. Jesus himself was 'zealous.' When he drove out from all the temple courts the sheep and the cattle, and overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins everywhere, and told those who were selling doves to "Get out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a market!" his disciples remembered the words of the Psalmist: "Zeal for your house will consume me."[12] We know from his words to the Laodicean Church in Revelation that lukewarm devotion makes him sick. He would much rather have us either hot or cold.[13]

Zeal is not something to be despised, or to be avoided at all costs. How zealous are you for God? How jealous are you that God's name and his Word are given the honour they are due. How committed are you to Christ's cause? I am not meaning that we take up arms like the Zealots of Jesus' day were prepared to do to defend God's name. The reality is that for many people God has become God 'all-matey,' rather than God 'almighty,' which conjures up in people's minds the picture of a benign old man in a long, white robe with a long, flowing beard sitting on the clouds, watching over the affairs of humankind, turning a blind eye to the evil that is amongst us. Nothing could be further from the truth. It grieves the heart of God that his children act the way they do. Many of those slaughtered in Sudan were Christians, and God will not turn a deaf ear to the cry of his persecuted people. Last week we saw that 'we must know Jesus rightly before we make him known. God is holy, and he wants his children to be holy, too.[14] Duncan Campbell, the man who was at the forefront of the revival that swept the Western Isles of Scotland last century, said, "A baptism of holiness, a demonstration of godly living is the crying need of our day." The Bible says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow."[15] When we revere God's name, that is, his character which is all-together good, all-together pure, all-together just, and all-together merciful, and what we say, what we think, what we do, reflects the character of our holy God as revealed in Jesus Christ, then we will reap a harvest of righteousness to the glory of his name. Let us never be ashamed to call ourselves 'Christian,' and live God-honouring lives, for it is his honour that is at stake. God wants us to be zealous, zealous for his kingdom.