#14 – Simon The Zealot, Lk.6:15

 

There are three potential terrorists in the New Testament. The most notorious is Saul, who was in the middle of executing religious persecution when The Lord blinded him on the road to Damascus and then converted him. The second was Herod who persecuted the Jews and Christians relentlessly and was struck dead by the Lord, Ac. 12:23.  The third is less prominent, but immortalized as an apostle in the eternal gospel, Simon the Zealot. We know nothing of his personal deeds, but we do know his ‘kind’, which speaks volumes of the Lord’s will in evangelism today. We don’t know what made Simon set his views so far to the ‘left’, but we know they were set and not to be forgotten. The Zealots were the diehard patriots of the Jewish nation, which in the days of Jesus, aggravated the Romans into Jerusalem’s destruction. They were their own worst enemy politically but very good at guerrilla warfare. They were not opposed to suicide missions and invoked terror on Roman targets. The Zealots stemmed from Judas the Galillean, (Ac. 5:37) who broke into the Roman arsenal of Sepphoris just 3 miles from Nazareth, embarking on a revolution, (10-15 A.D.) but in time the Romans broke Judas, however his followers became known as ‘the Zealots’. The historian Josephus records a description of the Zealots as having an “attachment to liberty, and say that God is their only Ruler and Lord. They do not mind dying any kind of death, nor do they heed the torture of their kindred and their friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord… I am not afraid that anything that I have said about them will be disbelieved, but rather fear that what I have said comes short of the resolution they show when they undergo pain”. (Antq. Of Jews, 18.1.6) What developed from the Zealots during the 20-30 AD years, were the real terrorists, called the Sicarii or ‘assassins’. These men secretly carried little curved swords beneath their clothes to murder Romans by stealth. The Sicarii were not as organized as the Zealots and their brand of warfare was more like pockets of violence, rather than strategic warfare. The main difference between the Sicarii and Zealots was that the Sicarii didn’t mind killing Jews to get at the Romans, whereas the Zealots were more cautious and strategic in their murderous plots. Historically the last of the Zealots were defeated in Masada’s mass suicide, 73AD.

It is not far-fetched to assume that Simon had a hand in murder, before he became a disciple. Proving one point for certain. God doesn’t hold anyone’s past against them, once they are forgiven and named in the Lamb’s Book of Life. He can make a leader in the church from the ugliest sinner in the world. There must not be even a hint of prejudiced attitudes in our fellowship and the church in order for us to have successful evangelism. True teamwork means, we prove Christ’s love between us. This of course reminds us of Matthew the tax-collector,  sin is sin, no matter what the flavor, once God has forgiven us. Jesus points this out in his statement, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod”, Mk. 8:15. Whether or not the sin we commit is from perverted religion or perverted politics, it’s still to be shunned and repented from, so that He can forgive us and heal us. If Simon the Zealot could live at peace with Matthew the tax collector in the apostolic band, then there is no gap or pain between men which cannot be healed when men love Christ.

Simon didn’t mind taking his own life in his hands for a political agenda. Now that he had become a disciple of Christ, he put his life in Christ’s hand. He was sent along with the other disciples in Mat. 10:4-16 & Mk. 6:7-13. They were travelling amoungst the Galilean Jews, and now Simon had Christ’s power to heal, not hurt. Retaliation was out of the question, somehow Simon took this to heart, but Judas Iscariot didn’t. Mark tells us they went two by two and it seems evident that Simon travelled with Judas. They both had a heart for expulsion of the Romans, and pride in Judaism, so why couldn’t Simon influence Judas?  Simon was obviously known as a Zealot and had to rethink his position while in fellowship with Matthew. We might learn to think our past errors out loud, in order to live out changes, THEN we can share the change!