The Zealot & The Tax Collecter
Luke 6:12-16 - “In these days he went out to the mountains to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles…Matthew [a tax collector]…and Simon who was called the Zealot…”
If there were two people in early Christianity that had more potential for conflict, I’m not aware of them. As a tax collector for the Romans, most Jewish people would have thought that Matthew was at least dishonest if not a complete traitor to his Jewish heritage. And Simon, who is identified as a zealot in two different places (Luke 6:16 & Acts 1:13), was part of an extreme element within Judaism that fiercely opposed anything and anyone that diminished their culture, religion or their desire for self-government. In so many ways, these two men were like oil and water. Yet, they both followed Jesus and were selected to serve together as eye-witnesses to the Christ. I wonder if Jesus paired these two men together we he sent the 72 disciples to the surrounding towns (Luke 10:1)?
What brought such polar-opposites together? And more importantly, what kept them together? I imagine there must have been some tense moments throughout the ministry of Jesus where introductions like these happened with increasing frequency. What can we learn from the unity that these wildly different men experienced in Christ?
Unity, not Uniformity
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn. 17.20-21).
As Jesus prayed for his disciples the night of his betrayal and arrest, he pleaded for the unity of his future disciples. He prayed that our unity would mirror the unity enjoyed between the members of the godhead and that our unity would be a witness to the world for the lordship of Jesus. From that prayer there is one thing I would like to point out.
What exists between the godhead is unity, not uniformity. They are united, but they are still separate individuals with unique roles and personalities. What Jesus prayed was that his disciples would experience the same! Consider Matthew and Simon, they didn’t have to share a brain, have identical opinions, like the same foods and lose all sense of identity. They didn’t have to be on the same page politically to place their trust in Jesus as the son of God.
The work of uniting people with such outstanding differences is something only God can accomplish and is highlighted throughout the NT. Every NT letter address the topic of the unity we share in Christ (Rom. 12:18-21; 1 Cor. 1:10-17; 2 Cor. 5:11-6:13; Gal. 5:13-15; Eph. 2:11-22; Phil. 2:1-4; Gal. 3:5-17, etc.)!
Unifying Attitudes
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3).
Paul described the attitudes that will promote unity between unique people:
Humility - I need to think less of myself and more about the other person. I need to be more like Christ. Pride is at the heart of every division!
Gentleness - I need to learn to interact with others carefully. Learning to listen and try to see things from another point of view.
Patience - Unity doesn’t happen overnight. But it can disappear in a heartbeat. We need to slow down and take our time with each other. Remember that we should be “quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God'“ (Jas. 1:19-20).
“Bearing with one another does not mean convincing each other that we’re right about something. It means being in relationship with each other despite our differences because of our love for Christ and one another.”
Bearing with each other in love - John Stott explained that bearing with each other, “speaks of that mutual tolerance without which no group of human beings can live together in peace.”
Bearing with one another does not mean convincing each other that we’re right about something. It means being in relationship with each other despite our differences because of our love for Christ and one another.
Eagerness - What disciples of Jesus should be eager to do is maintain the unity that the Spirit of God has created! What Simon the Zealot learned to do what shift his zeal from a desire to promote a sovereign state of Israel to maintaining unity with the brothers that his Jesus died for, even a tax collector like Matthew!
Unifying Facts
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6).
What every group has to do is agree on what core ideas bring them together in the first place. What Paul did for the Ephesians is list seven core truths that unite every Christian with one another:
One body = We are united in affiliation
One Spirit = We are united by who we are listening to & the manner of life the Spirit instructs
One hope = We are united in our ultimate purpose & goal
One Lord = We are united under the authority & leadership of Jesus
One faith = We are united by our doctrinal beliefs
One baptism = We are united by how we were added to Christ’ body (1 Cor. 12:13)
One God = We are united by being adopted into God’s family, under God’s authority & worshiping God
As individuals, we will disagree over which automaker is best (Ford or GM), we’ll disagree over which conference or sports team is superior, we will have different political opinions, but those differences pale in comparison to the spiritual truths that unite us! We need to keep coming back to what unites God’s people.
Unifying Gifts
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Eph. 4:11-14).
There are so many things in life that do not happen automatically. For example, none of my children turned five and magically acquired the skill to ride a bicycle. None of them began kindergarten and by default began reading. There are some skills that take instruction, imitation and practice. Maintaining unity is one of those things. Left alone, our selfishness and pride will elevate our thoughts, opinions and desires above those of another. To address that, Jesus gave his people inspired apostles, prophets, evangelists, elders/shepherds and teachers to equip his people and help them mature. The gift of these roles is fulfilled when these people use the gospel of Jesus to convict, instruct and inspire.
Pianos
A few years ago, I came across a powerful illustration that really helped me catch a vision for the unity that Christians share in Christ.
“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship” (A.W. Tozer).
If our unity were based on getting every individual in a group to be and think the same thing as each other, we would sound like a bunch of out of tune pianos. But if we all strive to tune our lives to the tuning fork of Jesus Christ, unity will naturally result. Let’s all seek to do our part to fulfill Jesus’ prayer for unity among God’s people! If a zealot and a tax collector can learn to follow Christ together, then so can we.
