Blog

by Katie Erickson

Duplicate names seem to be quite common among Jesus’ disciples. We’ve already discussed James and James the Less, and Judas and Jude. Today, we look at the second Simon - not Simon Peter, but Simon the Zealot.

Unfortunately, not much is known about this Simon. He is listed as a part of the Twelve disciples in the lists in Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, and Luke 6:13-16 of course. He is also listed among those disciples who were together after Jesus’ ascension in Acts 1:12-14. In all of those lists, he is referred to as “Simon the Zealot,” which is likely to differentiate him from Simon Peter.

But what does that designation of “Zealot” mean? In the original Greek of Matthew’s and Mark’s lists of the disciples, the word “Kananaion” is used to describe Simon. While this does look similar to the word for “Canaanite,” it does not mean that he was a native of Canaan. Instead, it’s derived from the Aramaic word “Kanean” which was the name of a particular sect of Jews. This sect is also known as the Zealots. In Luke’s list of disciples both in his gospel and in Acts, the word “zealot” is used instead.

But what is a zealot? This Greek word is defined as, “zealot, enthusiast, adherent, one who has the feelings or attitudes of deep commitment to a person or cause; in the New Testament this can technically refer to a person who belonged to a nationalist Jewish group that sought independence from Rome.” This word can be used in the general sense to describe a person who adheres to a particular cause, but we see that it can also refer to the particular group of the Jews who were seeking to be independent of the rule of Rome.

Was Simon a member of this Jewish group? Unfortunately, we do not know for sure. Scholars haven’t found a list of members of the Zealots that includes his name or anything like that. In fact, other than these lists, we have no outside record of Simon being a part of this group. So, scholars don’t know for sure.

We see no other references to Simon the Zealot in the Bible. But we do see him mentioned in other works from that time period outside of the Bible. It is believed that he preached the gospel in Egypt and likely joined Jude in Persia to further the gospel message there. A writing titled “Acts of Simon and Judas” indicates that Simon the Zealot was killed for his faith by being cut in half with a saw. But according to 4th-century writer St. Basil the Great, Simon the Zealot died peacefully in the ancient city of Edessa.

So, what can we today learn from this man who we know so little about? The first important thing to learn is that we don’t all have to be famous. We know that Simon the Zealot was one of Jesus’ disciples, so along with the rest of the Twelve, he followed Jesus faithfully during the time of His earthly ministry. Simon also went on to share the gospel of Jesus in various places throughout the Middle Eastern world at the time.

Many people today do things so that they become well-known. This is why social media, YouTube, etc. have become so popular - we all want to get our voice out there and have people know us. Almost countless numbers of YouTube videos have been uploaded simply with the hope of it going viral, so the “star” even gets a few minutes of fame. People have done lots of crazy things just to become famous and well-known, even for a short time.

Simon, however, risked his life for the gospel message of Jesus Christ - all so that history has nearly forgotten who he was. We know he existed, but we know very little about his life and work. The message he proclaimed of Jesus being God, coming to earth to live in human form, dying a terrible death, and being raised again is SO much more important than most of what we see on social media today. Yet we know so much more about people with messages that have so much less true meaning to them.

Following Jesus is not about being famous or well-known at all. It’s about proclaiming His Gospel Truth in whatever way God wants us to. That may mean becoming well-known on some level, or it may mean that history will all but forget us. Either way, that shouldn’t matter to us; what matters is that we are faithful to the calling God has for us, whatever that looks like.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.