THE WORD AND THE SAINTS
October 28, 2022: Celebrating Apostles Simon and JudeEphesians 2:19-22; Luke 6:12-16
You are no longer alien, no longer strangers, you are part of the family that the Apostles belonged to, the family that was initiated as the starting point of the Reign of God. This familiarity is the greatest gift according to Paul, as he insists that we could have been no people, but God made us God's people through Christ. That is what we are, God's people!
Of Simon and Jude whom we celebrate today, Judas Thaddeus, is said to be close to Jesus in his family ties and in his appearance. However, Jesus would not have made a big issue of it - for him those who listen to God's word and put it into practice are more familiar than anyone else! There is a tendency everywhere, when we have the possibility of doing some favour to someone, we have a very narrow way how we pick and choose, as to whom to extend that favour to! May be it is important to evaluate that.
Simon was called the zealot... someone who belonged to the group which believed in getting things right through force and exertion, much more than conviction and coversion. Certainly Jesus would have had a tough time to get him change his mind, but he never gave up! And today we have Simon in the ranks of the Saintly Apostles. A point of evaluation here is to check how readily we give up on persons and judge them out of our minds!
Simon and Jude, as all other apostles, teach us the lesson that Jesus wants us so much to learn: it does not matter which nation, or tribe, or clan or caste I belong to - the only thing that matters is that I belong to God and I form part of the family of God, the family of the Apostles!