Simon and Jude

Midweek Vespers Homily
Sts Simon and Jude, Apostles

A Reading from John’s Gospel:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us be on our way.”

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Homily:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for You know his sins are great.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today the Church commemorates the witness of the Apostles Simon and Jude: two of the Twelve, of the Jesus’ inner circle; who, after our Savior’s Resurrection and Ascension, traveled into the East, spreading the Good News of forgiveness, liberation, and eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

And that’s about it. That’s about all we know of them.

Oh, there are plenty of stories, of course. The fewer details given by the Bible, the more legends rush in to fill up the gap. And that’s half the fun, really. But unlike Peter, Paul, John, or James, these two—Simon and Jude—remain a mystery. They are said to have traveled together, even to have been martyred together. And obviously here they share a holiday. But beyond this, the only bits that we can glean, of who they were and what they did, come from their names.

Simon is called the Zealot; in part probably to distinguish him from the other Simon, Simon Peter; but perhaps in part to indicate his background. The Zealots were a group of freedom fighters, small bands resisting the occupying Roman Legions. Were they around today, Rome would surely label them terrorists. If Simon were indeed a Zealot of this stripe, it only adds to the ragtag nature of the Apostolic band, made up as they were of fishermen, tax collectors, and quite possibly one formerly militant fundamentalist. What a motley crew.

Jude has the unfortunate distinction of sharing a name with Judas Iscariot, the notorious traitor amongst the Apostles, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Because of this, John goes out of his way to call him “Judas-Not-Iscariot,” while Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus, which appears to be a Greek variant of his name.  Even in English we say Jude, rather than Judas, so as not to confuse the two.

This has led to Jude’s unique role as the patron saint of lost causes and last resort. See, Christians throughout history have asked others to pray for us, including saints in heaven, and the Apostles are typically considered intercessors par excellence. But nobody wanted to pray to St Judas, for fear of getting the wrong guy. And so Jude was historically invoked only as a last resort, only by the desperate. Thus, the patron saint of lost causes, of impossible cases.

And what a wonderful role for him to have. Bring me your desperate, your hopeless, your huddled masses yearning for Jesus Christ, for the Truth that sets us free.

Ultimately all we know about Simon and Jude is that they gave people Christ. They went out and bore witness to the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, empowered by His Holy Spirit, sent forth by His living Word.

And honestly I cannot think of a better legacy to have. Simon and Jude are not commemorated today because of their dashing good looks or brilliant minds or clever tongues. We don’t know if they were particularly intelligent or charismatic or strong. All we know is that Christ chose them—normal people, strange people—and Christ made them holy, made these sinners into His saints, purely by mercy, purely by grace.

And then they were sent out to be Christ for a world still very much in need of Him; as are we all.

If there is any other healthy speculation to be had regarding this Apostolic duo, I think it simply this: that they stood together in life, in witness, in death, and in all that came thereafter. They are for us a model of friendship, of partnership. They are a reminder that Jesus sent out His disciples two-by-two, like animals on the Ark, to support one another, strengthen one another, and forgive one another.

Friendship is one of the deepest of Christian loves, yet all too often overlooked and undervalued. In some ways it is the least natural—we do not have the same instinctive drives toward friendship as we do toward romantic or filial love. But it is also the least jealous of the loves, for true friendship delights in finding more true friends. C.S. Lewis wrote that friendship begins as both surprise and relief, when we look to one another and say, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.” And therein we find immense solidarity, and peace.

When I became a pastor, a husband, a father, the greatest sacrifice, the greatest loss, was in leaving my friends, those five or six people who in my twenties were closer to me than any brother or sister I’d known. I still love them, still miss them. And the holiness that I experienced in those friendships—that I will carry with me throughout this life and into the next. Never underestimate the love between true friends. It is indeed a rare and holy thing. Friends show us the face of God.

So let us be as Simon and Jude, my brothers and sisters. Let us stand strong together. Let us go out into the world and bring it Christ. And when we die, may the world we leave behind say of us, first and foremost even to the exclusion of all else: “They gave us Jesus. And for that, above all, we give thanks to Him through them.”

Saints Simon and Jude, ora pro nobis.

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.