The Disciples: The Zealots

Kent Miller: I am Simon the Zealot. So-called because of my former allegiance to a group of bloody revolutionaries known as the Zealots. We were all about armed rebellion against Rome. We believed that by crushing our enemies beneath our heels, we could return to the ancient glory of Israel. Glory that was hers in the days of David and Solomon. We prayed that the coming Messiah would be a great warrior who would help us to conquer the Romans. Jesus, though he spoke of another kingdom; the kingdom of the heart where love reigns supreme. Since hearing him I have changed my mind and also my allegiance. Jesus has told me that the conquest of the heart is the only true sincere and lasting conquest. To put it in military terms, I have completely and unconditionally surrendered myself to him to think as he thinks, to love as he loves, to obey as he obeys, to serve as he serves. This surrender has not imprisoned me. In fact, it has set me free for the first time in my life. I am not afraid of Rome any longer. Rome is mighty, but God is almighty. He has taught me that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Grace, peace, and love to each of you in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Lisa: It takes a very powerful message to tame a heart like Simon's. Simon the Zealot. Zealots were a Jewish resistance movement that lived during the time of Jesus. They believed Israel was under Roman occupation and they believed that Israel should be ruled by God alone. And so, they were to resist. They were fiercely nationalistic, willing to be violent to overthrow Rome and they could do it any time by rebellion. They wanted to reestablish David's kingdom, his line, the heir from David back to the throne in Israel. Paying taxes to Rome was sinful. They hated the tax collectors. They believed that armed rebellion was obedience to God and that martyrdom in battle was honorable. Every time the 12 are listed, he is listed as Simon who was the zealot and his label showed that he had strong revolutionary leanings way before he ever met Jesus. This mindset set helps us to see why sometimes the scriptures would tell us that people wanted to take Jesus and make him king by force. Why the disciples kept asking Jesus over and over again? Is it time now Jesus for you to become the king of Israel? and why Jesus’ refusal to use violence was often confusing and disappointing to many of them. He would say things like, “My kingdom is not of this world and love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and give to Caesar what is Caesars's and give to God what is God's.”

Jesus offered what we might call the third way. If the first way was just to submit to Rome and to just be passive and the second way was to rebel, Jesus offered a different way. This spiritual kingdom that transforms hearts rather than transforming the government by force, that it redefined Jesus redefined what the God's kingdom would look like. It wasn't armed revolt or nationalistic power or political domination. It is repentance and enemy love and spiritual rebirth and God reigning in human hearts. Simon was a fighter. He was bold and passionate and intense, and he carried this fire of resistance deep in his heart. But Jesus didn't crush Simon's zeal. Instead, he redirected it towards the kingdom. Because Jesus doesn't waste our passions, he reshapes them for his purpose and for his kingdom. Sometimes following Jesus means rethinking our priorities. True freedom doesn't come from overthrowing governments. It comes that we are truly free no matter who is in power. True freedom comes from forgiveness of sin and a relationship with God. Jesus calls us to love others. We, even when it's hard to put God's mission above our own. Simon the Zealand is not one of the most famous of the 12 disciples. There are no specific stories about him, but his life speaks very loudly to us. Despite his own zeal and his desire for an earthly militant Messiah deliverer that would deliver the people right then and now, Simon later embraced Jesus’ mission as divine suffering servant and savior of the world. It's said that Simon traveled to difficult regions that he faced persecution and he gave his life as a martyr for the right cause. Simon's courage that was once used for political battles was ultimately used to stand firm for Christ.

Now, when the 12 disciples are listed, there's another one that's listed. We've now talked about all 11. The last one is Judas. Judas, it's thought, was also a zealot. But every time he's listed, that's not said about him in scripture. What it said about him every time in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke, in Acts was that Judas was a traitor. That he was the betrayer. That he was the one who betrayed Jesus.

And we know that about him, right? If we know anything about Judas's Iscariot, it was that he was the one who betrayed Jesus with a kiss. He's one of Jesus’ most famous disciples and sadly not for a good reason. But how did Judas Iscariot become Judas the betrayer? He's part of the 12 disciples. He walked right alongside Jesus. He witnessed some of the same miracles that the others witnessed. It's thought that Judas Iscariot may have been a zealot. Not confirmed in scripture. But this may help a little bit to explain some of the decisions that he made. When the 12 disciples were sent out to share the good news and to be apostles and to preach and to teach and to heal, Judas's Iscariot was sent out too. He was on the inside. He was a trusted part of the team. Jesus treated Judas Iscariot just like the others. In fact, he had a special job. He oversaw the group's money and he would take care of the group's money for the others. Outwardly, Judas looked just like the rest of the disciples. But inwardly, Judas had a problem.

And it started, as our scripture passage today that Heather read for us indicates, it started with greed. It was six days before the Passover. So, it was six days before Jesus would die and Mary came to anoint Jesus with spikenard, a very fragrant, beautifully smelling perfume or cologne or oil that was probably something very expensive that she was saving for her dowery. But she poured it out on Jesus' feet, and she wiped them with her hair. Judas believed the oil to be worth 300 denarii which would have been a year's wages for the common working man.

Now this passage really contrasts Mary's extravagance with Judah's greed. Mary valued Jesus where Judas seems to have no sense at all of what God values. Mary gives a simple and peaceful and powerful display of love. And this contrasts heavily with the dark feelings that Judas has at the time. Envy, greed, and wish he could take that and sell it and have the money. Mary has a humble offering of devotion to Jesus. She lays at his feet, and she pours out her oil on his feet. But this makes Judas betrayal with a kiss look even more dark and sinister. John points out that Judas would take money out of the bag. At the time they didn't know it. They didn't know it till sometime later, but by the time John wrote this, he knew it. Judas would take money out of the bag. What's done in secret will always be brought to the light. The beauty of this moment is broken by Judah's harsh criticism of Mary. His greed or his discontent that's deep in his soul allow the devil to gain a foothold in his life to come in and speak into him the way the devil does. “Did God really say?” - the way he whispers to us. Jesus defends Mary, but Judas begins to look for a way to portray Jesus.

And that's often how sin works. It's not just that one day we do a big sin. It's usually these little choices that add up and bring us to the point where we are open for the devil to come in and create something bigger in our lives. Cheating on a test, lying to avoid trouble, taking something that isn't ours. Little actions that work to harden our hearts and make those bigger failures or sins possible. That's what happened to Judas. A little bit of money out of the bag here, a little bit of money out of the bag there. A little bit of questioning, is this really the Messiah? And pretty soon he's open to a bigger suggestion. There's a song by Casting Crowns that talks about a slow fade. It says it's a slow fade when you give yourselves away. Flirting becomes adultery. Entitlement becomes stealing. White lies become deception. Judas goes to the chief priests, and he offers to turn Jesus over to them. Did he do it out of greed? Maybe. Did he do it because his love for money outweighed his love for Jesus? Maybe. Did he do it because Jesus isn't acting the way Judas thought he should and he wanted him to act faster or to do something bigger? Maybe. Force. Did he want to force military action? Force Jesus to be king. It's possible. But two places in the scripture, they tell us in Luke and in John that Satan entered Judas Iscariot. Satan doesn't have a way to enter if we don't give him a way to enter. Judas gave him a way to enter. It begins for Judas with watching for an opportunity to give Jesus away. And that opened the door for Satan to work.

The night of the last supper, John tells us about it. Jesus predicts that Judas will betray him. And Judas Jesus says, “I will identify him.” In fact, John leans back and says, "Who is it that's going to betray us?" And Jesus says, “The one I dip the bread and hand the bread to will be the one.” So, he hands the bread to Judas. And Judas takes the bread. And John tells us in John 13 verse 27, "As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him." Judas opened the door and allowed Satan to come in. And Jesus said, “What you're about to do, do quickly.” And Judas went and betrayed him to the to the chief priests. And he brings them to the garden. And then he betrays him as we know, with a kiss.

After Jesus is condemned, Matthew tells us that Judas is overcome with regret. He's full of remorse but not repentance. He's sorry for the result of the sin but not for the sin itself. Because there's a big difference of being sorry about sin and sorry for sin. He threw the money at the chief priests in the temple. He tries to implicate them in his crime. He says to them, “You are guilty of this also.” And he declares that Jesus was innocent because Judas had lived with Jesus. He'd walked with Jesus. He had nothing to accuse him of. The priests treated Judas very badly because tempters are never good comforters. They took the money and they bought a field and they used it to bury foreigners.

Instead of seeking forgiveness, Judas gave into despair. In fact, the tragic part of Judas's story is not that he betrayed Jesus. As sad as that is that he did that, that's not the tragic part of his story for Judas. Jesus would have been on the cross, no matter what Judas chose. The sad and tragic part of Judah's story is that he didn't turn back to Jesus for mercy. Regret and remorse can be a good thing, to feel badly, but only if it leads to repentance of our sins. It's beyond repentance - beyond feeling badly. Repentance I've heard described and you've heard it too that you're going in one direction towards sin and you turn and go 180 degrees in the complete opposite direction. But that direction has to be back towards Jesus. It's beyond feeling bad. You have to turn around, come back, try to put things right. Judas fell short of this. He fell short of returning to Jesus. And the real tragedy for Judas is that he quit too soon.

All 12 of the disciples show us the truth about following Jesus. Judas shows us it's possible to be numbered among the followers of Jesus without being fully committed or surrendered to following Jesus. Matthew knew he was sick and needed a savior. Judas was sick and he needed a savior, but Judas did not surrender his life to Jesus. Peter fell short and he denied Jesus three times. He was sorrowful and he turned back to Jesus and the relationship between them was restored. All of them scattered. All of the disciples, when Jesus died, but they found each other and they clung to each other until they knew what to do.

Like them, we may fail Jesus. We may fail one another. But it's important to remember that we can always repent. We can always turn back. That it's never too late in our story to turn around and go back to Jesus and restore the right relationship. We're about to head into the season of Lent. Lent is a really good time to take stock of where we are. Do we have sin in our life that we need to repent of? Maybe you've never turned to Jesus. If you've never turned to Jesus, there's no better time than the day that you realize that you are sick with sin and that you need something different in your life and that you can turn away from that sin and that sickness and that you can come towards the great healer, the one who will set you right with God, the only one that can. Lent is the perfect time. If in some ways you've gotten off track, Lent is just the right time to take a look inside yourself and realign yourself back to the mission of God and back to what Jesus offers us to do.

We'll have Ash Wednesday. On Wednesday night, we'll take the ashes and then we'll spend six weeks heading towards the cross and the resurrection together. So, I invite you to take that time to explore yourself and explore yourself with God's help. Is there something that you need to give over to him? And if there is, now is the right time to do it.

Let's pray. Our Lord and our God, we thank you for the disciples. We thank you for all that they show us about how you can use any of us. And how you do use any of us, that you call us with different gifts. And different passions and that you use us, you disciple us, you teach us, and then you send us out to do your work. Father, we thank you and praise you for the opportunity. We just pray that if there's someone here that doesn't know you, Lord, that you would help them to turn to you now. That you would help them to sense their need for a Savior. That you would help them to realize that their life is going in the wrong direction and it needs to turn around, 180 degrees back towards you. Father, we thank you and praise you that you always give us opportunities. Even Judas would have had an opportunity, Lord. He gave up too soon. Help us to not give up too soon. In your name we pray. Amen.