Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

 Lectionary: 666

When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles... Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James...

Last year, on this feast day, I wondered why Simon and Jude are so often coupled together. Many churches are called "Saint Simon and Jude," and they share this feast day. Beyond their names, we know little about them. Simon was called "the zealot," and Jude is the patron saint of lost causes.  

This year, as I reread a passage I've read many times before, I think I see why they're listed together. It's because they're the third and second last named of the twelve apostles in Saint Matthew's gospel, before the last, who betrayed the Lord. 

We remember the apostles of Jesus because, despite their human frailty which is so apparent in the gospel accounts, the Holy Spirit used them as willing channels of grace and mercy to all the world. The entire gospel depends upon their integrity, which might seem an uncertain foundation but it has stood firm for these twenty centuries. 

Perhaps we also honor Saints Simon and Jude for their obscurity. They remind us that, a hundred years from now, not many will remember us. Parents with prolific grandchildren might be remembered but most celibates can be virtually certain that their names will be noted only in old graveyards. If some few are remembered in 2124, they'll certainly be forgotten by 2224. 

Simon and Jude kept the faith in a difficult time and announced the gospel to an indifferent world. Perhaps they set their world ablaze. Or not. In any case, their Gospel set the world ablaze. 

What matters, as Saint Paul said from his jail cell, is that the name of the Lord is proclaimed, as he explained to the Philippians; 

I want you to know, brothers, that my situation has turned out rather to advance the gospel, so that my imprisonment has become well known in Christ throughout the whole praetorium and to all the rest, and so that the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly.

Of course, some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, others from good will. The latter act out of love, aware that I am here for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not from pure motives, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment.

What difference does it make, as long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed? And in that I rejoice.