Divided Disciples with the Master

The Holy Land in Jesus’ time has been called a land of conflict.  People were divided by the wars, religious groups, and political parties.  The Roman occupiers were the latest oppressors.  Jesus chose 12 disciples to mentor and send to preaching and healing missions; numerous women also followed Jesus and were devoted to his teaching and work.  Four disciples left the fishing business behind.  Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot are the only disciples identified by their past.

Matthew the tax collector was apparently a wealthy man and was hated by almost all Jews because he collected heavy, unfair taxes for the despised Romans.  Matthew was one of those who sat at the tax booth (Matthew 9:9, Mark 2:14) and collected customs or tolls at ports and city gates on goods passing through.  They were hated because they cooperated with the Roman oppressors and because they were usually fraudulent crooks.   He would have been politically conservative because his lucrative position depended on the Romans’ control of Israel.

Simon the Zealot was named so because of his radical views (and possibly his actions) before he became one of Jesus’ disciples.  “The Zealots” were a fanaical Jewish patriots who wanted to restore Israel to glory by brute force.  Some of them carried large knives or short swords hidden in their cloaks.  They would work their way through a crowd to get close to an official and fatally stab him.  Have you ever heard of “cloak and dagger?” They were willing to die to further their cause because they were zealous for Israel’s glory. 

So we have the only 2 disciples who were labeled by their previous lives.  One’s title represented greed and cooperation with an occupying foreign government.  The other’s title represented violence and hatred for the same government.  Can you imagine a tea party person sitting down to eat with someone involved in the Occupy movement without some tension and sparks?  Why did Jesus chose such radically diverse disciples?  There must have been times when Matthew and Simon argued about their views. 

Jesus demanded total allegiance from the disciples.  He required a forsaking and radical break from the past.  From the stories about Matthew, we can see that he did forsake his former ways and used his wealth to introduce his friends to Jesus (Luke 5:27-29).  We only assume the same for Simon.

Today we have the Culture Wars in America.  Christ-followers are divided along economic, political, and moral issues.  We have Christians on the right and on the left.  We even question the faith of those who disagree with us.

I suspect it was that way among the 12.  Jesus probably had to squash such talk.  It’s difficult to get conservatives and progressives to sit down together and discuss their beliefs, but Jesus somehow persuaded them to accept his teaching and work together for God’s Kingdom.  Despite their differences, Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot are both able to live together with the rest of the 12.  After Jesus’ ascension, in Acts 1:13, both are listed with the other disciples in Jerusalem. 

In these weeks leading up to the election, I hope we can recognize that some things are more important than our political differences, and that following the Master is one of those.  If a tax-collector and a Zealot could get along well enough to serve together in God’s Kingdom, why can’t we do the same?