Simon is not mentioned by name in the New Testament except on these lists. Some modern writers have used his surname as the basis for conjectures associating him, and through him Jesus and all His original followers, with the Zealot movement described by Josephus, a Jewish independence movement devoted to assassination and violent insurrection. However, there were many movements that were called Zealot. It’s very difficult for us to tell which one Simon was involved with.

After the Last Supper it was Jude who asked Our Lord why he chose to reveal Himself only to the disciples. He received the reply: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (John 14:22f)

The Apostle Jude here is not the same one we call Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord. This Jude was most probably the brother of James and the writer of the Book of Jude, the second to last book of the Bible (though we don’t know for sure).

Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there. If this is true, it explains, to some extent, our lack of historical information on them and also why they are usually put together. But this is probably not true.

There are some who say that St. Simon died a martyr’s death. There are other accounts that say he died peacefully. Some say that St. Jude was a martyr, but the Greeks say that he fell asleep in peace – but the next month he was hanged on a cross and run through with javelins.

It’s hard to tell what is accurate. It’s hard to tell what ties these two Apostles together, other than they were Apostles. The Epistle text from 1 Peter chapter 1 doesn’t even have anything in common with these two faithful men – except one thing. This Word from our Lord sets forth the common Gospel of HOPE which they preached and in whose joys they shared.

St. Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” As creatures of God, all people are God’s children. But as Christians we are God’s children in a special sense which applies to Christians only. We have inherited eternal life that comes only by grace through faith. In just a couple of days that will be the theme for our Reformation Day Service. The emphasis that we have hope only in the work of Christ apart from anything else is central to the Christian faith.

And it’s for that reason we don’t focus solely on mere men, even when we do remember their lives on such a day as this. It’s not man’s work. Oh sure, men are doing the work – but man has nothing to do with where it comes from. Man is merely the tool, the instrument, the means by which our Lord carries out good deeds and acts of service for our neighbor. The credit does not lie with the tool. How many times have you heard about Tiger Woods and how great a golfer he is? How many times have you heard about Stan Musil or Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth and how great they performed in the batter’s box at home plate? Yet I have never heard anyone say, “Tiger won that tournament because he had better clubs.” I have never heard anyone say that The Babe, Stan the Man or Hammering Hank were better hitters than everyone else because they had better bats. It’s not the tool – it’s the one who works the tool.

And for that reason we remember the message of hope and salvation that men like St. Simon and St. Jude professed and call to mind how God used these tools to share the truth that did not waver. It’s God’s truth and God’s tools. There is no doubt that St. Simon and St. Jude were great men. Were they greater than you and I? I’m not sure. I know nothing about them – other than the Bible lists them and they were among the faithful. They may have had uglier skeletons in their closet than we do. They have done the unthinkable in society and yet we will never know. They may have very well called themselves exactly what Paul would call himself when he wrote to St. Timothy, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” And all of us could stand in the mirror and see the same person – “Chief of Sinners.”

That is what you are and what I am – Chief of Sinners. We are the people who don’t give God the proper credit. We are the ones who elect not to listen to our Lord commands. We are the ones breaking commandments one through ten each and every day. We are the one that our Lord looks down from heaven upon and says, “You vile contentious, lover of the world and all that is against me. You deserve nothing but condemnation. You have broken my commandments and are not worthy to be called saints.”

And we are not worthy to be called saints – for good reason. You know those reasons and so do I. But I will tell you who else is not worthy to be called “saints”. That would be Simon and Jude who we remember today. Yet we call them saints and we remember their faith in the message of hope shared with us in 1 Peter. Why? Who cares about sinners? Who would want to remember people we don’t even know much about and who, for that matter, were probably just as bad as you and I? I will tell you who – Our Lord.

Why? Because our “Inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading is kept in heaven for us, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Could this be true? We are being “guarded through faith?” Absolutely! Just as Jeremiah in the Old Testament text for today was guarded by our Lord in preserving through truthful message from those who desired to put him to death – we too are guarded. With the precious blood of a Savior who loves us so much He would shed it on a cross for you – we are guarded. Our Lord preserves and protects us. He washes us clean from all our sins. We, the tools and the instruments, are turned, lead, and guided in the right direction – not only in our good works as He uses us for our friends and family and even strangers – but for souls. He reaches into our lives and gives us what we don’t deserve. He gives us life and by that the right to be called what we are – saints.

Former Lutheran Hour speaker Dr. Oswald Hoffman once said that “There are two kinds of people in the world: sinners who think they are saints, and saints who know they are sinners. Saints are sinners who also know they are saved, their sins forgiven through Christ’s atoning death.” A true saint knows that they are the tool used to create and not the “creator” himself. A true saint knows that there is hope in a lost world – that there is life where there is so much death. A true saint can be like Simon and Jude, ordinary men the world doesn’t know much about.

We live in a world that doesn’t care much about the ordinary. The world wants superstars. Beloved in the Lord, if all we think is important in life is for other people to know us and to stand out in a crowd, then think about Simon and Jude. We really know next to nothing about them – but they were God’s superstars. They were the tools of the Craftsman that weren’t well known but were used to spread the message essential to life.

True superstars are the tools. God’s tools. When you make a difference in someone’s life, you are more valuable than Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez. No one knows, but that’s not what matters. Today we hear about superstars – Simon and Jude. Not because of who they were – but because whose they were and what they did. Beloved in the Lord, that’s what makes us superstar tools. The world may never know who we are or ever hear our name. But we have it all. We have life because of the greatest superstar of them all. Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.