¾«¶«Ó°Òµ

Sermon preached by Revd Nell Whiscombe (Curate, St John the Evangelist, Cambridge) at Gonville and Caius College Choral Evensong on the eve of the feast of SS Simon and Jude, Sunday 27 October 2024

Deuteronomy 32:1-4
John 14:15-26

‘Judas (not Iscariot) said to him: ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’’

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

This evening we’re celebrating the eve of the feast of St Simon and St Jude, two not-particularly-famous apostles. Both of them stand in the shadow of other disciples with the same names, about whom we know much more. They don’t appear much in the gospels. All we know about St Simon is that he was a Zealot, a member of a revolutionary sect who wanted to kick the Romans out of the Holy Land. St Jude, throughout Christian history, has not even been allowed the dignity of his own name. Matthew and Mark call him Thaddaeus. Luke gives his name as Judas, but the association with that other Judas, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus, meant that in English at least we refer to him as St Jude. John, whose gospel we heard tonight, defines him by who he is not: ‘not Iscariot,’ rather than being honoured for who he is. He’s the patron saint of lost causes.

Both Simon the Zealot and Judas (not Iscariot) find themselves part of that very select company, in the upper room on the night before Jesus’ death, sitting with the other apostles. They are listening as Jesus tells them deeply troubling things: he is going to die. His friends are going to betray him. But he also offers them comfort and hope, and a promise of salvation, in a long discourse in John’s gospel. These men about whom nobody remembers very much are being told the secrets of eternal life.

But the promise seems to be conditional. ‘Those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them.’ Is Jesus saying that only those who truly love Him will receive this promised revelation? What if we are open to love, but don’t know how, or are not sure we’re getting it right?

St Jude believes he’s found the answers to life. He believes that his friend, with whom he has spent many days of work and travel, and probably many late nights drinking and thinking, is the son of God, the one who will make all things right. But he’s still worried about who this good news is for, and what his place is in it. ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not the world?’

We can take this question two ways. ‘How is it that you will reveal yourself to us?’ How will we know? What are you going to do? And Jesus answers this one: if you love me, he says, I will come to you, and so will the Father, and we will make our home in you. You will receive the Spirit of truth. God will be with you.

But there’s another way to ask this question. ‘How is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not the world?’ Why us? Why not them? What have we done to deserve it? What must the world do, to receive this revelation with us?

Jesus’ answer tells Jude and all the apostles what they have to do. Listen to the word of God. Learn it and live by it. In the power of the Holy Spirit, take it out to the world and teach them all they need to know. Jesus promised St Jude that ‘the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.’

This sounds like there’s a secret key to the truth, that once you’ve found it, you’ll have all the right answers, be able to make the right decisions, be assured of your place in the in crowd. And some people, in the world and in the church, will tell you that. You might have met some of them already. You’ll notice that they have one thing in common: they’re all convinced that their version of the truth is the right one. That they’re already in possession of all the answers, and that all you have to do to get it right is to be just like them.

But life is messier, more glorious and devastating and abundant than that. It’s not all about the rules we follow, or whether we’ve memorised the Bible. It’s not about being born into the correct religion, or received into the correct branch of Christianity. It’s about how we love, and how we receive the love of God. The Holy Spirit is the love of God in action, in the world.

Jesus mentions love eight times in the short conversation we heard with St Jude this evening. And for you, loving God might look different to how it looks to your neighbour. In our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, we heard about many different facets of the love of God. Some people love God by praying for others. Some are called to social justice, to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves, or to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Many encounter love by defending the natural world from those who are bent on ignoring and destroying it. These are just a few examples.

St Simon and St Jude spent their lives, as far as we know, fighting to find out the truth about God and to make it known. According to Catholic tradition, both Simon and Jude went as missionaries to Persia, and were killed there. They became saints and martyrs of the church. That was their way of putting love into action, in their time and place. My question for all of us tonight is: what about you? You may not be ready to think about it in the context of God, and that’s fine. But each of us can ask: what am I already doing to love the world and those who dwell in it? What would I like to do, or find out more about? And how can I help to make it a place where the unseen and unnamed are seen and named and honoured; where lost causes are given hope, and where truth and love are known and embraced?

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.