Simon The Zealot The Twelve Apostles Sermon Series Part 12 of 14

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for being with us today.

We are on number 12 of a 14-week sermon series. So if you’ve been with us the whole time, thanks so much for continuing to come back. Only a few more, so hang in there.

If you’re new here, then that’s great. Hit the subscribe button. Hit the like button. Follow us on social media so you can continue to be updated with the rest of this sermon series. In addition, check out a playlist.

There will be a card here in the YouTube video. Otherwise, you can navigate to our channel or our website where you can find the playlist called “The Twelve Apostles” and get caught up on all of the other apostles that we’ve gone over.

Today we are going to be talking about Simon the Zealot. Not Simon Peter, we talked about him a long time ago. We’ve gone through Simon Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Judas Thaddaeus, and today it is Simon the Zealot.

So share this. Share it with someone else because Simon the Zealot is someone that a lot of people can probably relate to and they would like to know more about him.

In addition, share the playlist so that they can find whatever apostles they relate to and they can identify with and then they can learn how to apply that in their lives and live for Jesus even more.

Wouldn’t – that would be great. Isn’t that something that you would want to see in this world – More people out there living for Jesus? If so, then help them do that. It’s up to you. Help them do that.

Tell them about Jesus. Show them Jesus. Share Jesus with them in any way. You can be like these apostles who never stopped teaching others about Jesus. You can do it. Step into your calling. It’s been a kind of a recurring theme here.

But let’s talk about Simon, Simon the Zealot. He’s only mentioned four times throughout the Bible and it’s only in lists so we really don’t know much about him. Well, how can we talk about him for 20 minutes then? You just wait and see.

Nothing is known about Simon. Literally nothing is known other than the fact that he was a zealot. Now you say, “What’s a zealot?” In addition, he was also known as a Canaanite. But there’s an interesting caveat or an asterisk about the Canaanites.

So, let’s first go to the proof that he was a zealot. Matthew Chapter 10 Verse 3, this is one of the places he is mentioned. Chapter 10 Verse 3 (Matthew 10:3), check it out, “Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him.”

So that’s one of the lists of the disciples. Mark 3:18 is another list so let’s read that one real quick. Mark 3:18 says, “Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot.”

So every time Simon is mentioned — that’s only two, there are two more, I mean we could go through them but that is okay, there are two more — every time Simon is mentioned, he’s called Simon the Zealot. Interesting. So that’s how we can learn a little bit more about him; about Simon the Zealot.

Now sometimes, he is called Simon the Canaanite and people believe that he lived in Cana, which is part of Galilee. However, that is simply untrue. Now you say, “Wait a minute. The Bible says so.” No, the Bible doesn’t say so correctly.

There was a translation error when Saint Jerome and some others, they mistranslated Simon’s title. See, in the books of Matthew. In The Book of Mark, they referred to him as a Canaanite and that’s what the translations say now. Simon the Canaanite.

However, this is incorrect, because the translation had an error. “What was the error?” You say. Well, some translations still preserve that error out of respect for Saint Jerome.

Now you could say this is a catholic cover-up, so famous by the catholic church, or the Vatican, always covering up things or hiding things. And whatever you choose to believe, that’s your prerogative.

But do some research if you want to challenge me on this. It was indeed an error in translation. Saint Jerome mistranslated the Bible and called Simon a Canaanite when that’s incorrect. You see Matthew and Mark, you’ll read those.

Some translations say he’s a Canaanite, but that’s because when Saint Jerome translated the Bible, or others around that time period translated the Bible, there was a word called “Kananaios” and it kind of looked like Canaanite or Cana.

It was with a K, “Kananaios.” That meant — they thought it meant, Canaan. They thought that meant, “Oh, he’s from Cana.” A town in Galilee. So he was a Galilean like the other apostles. I mean it makes sense, it’s a simple reasoning chain.

That, hey, if I presented that to you, you’d probably believe it because some of the other disciples were from Cana and Galilee and the apostles were Galileans. And why not? Simon the Zealot could’ve definitely been a Galilean from Cana.

And if it had Kananaios in pre-translation then sure, that could definitely mean Cana. But really Kananaios translates as Zealous One. And so, when Matthew and Mark were telling us about Simon the Zealot. When they said Simon Kananaios, they meant “Simon the Zealous One.”

Simon the Zealous One. That’s what he is. Now we call him a zealot because it’s shorter and it’s easier, but Simon the Zealous One is really the literal meaning of this.

Some translations of the Bible, depending on what you have, may still say Simon the Canaanite out of respect for Saint Jerome. The two that I read both say Simon the Zealot.

This is the NIV, so depending on your translation, you could put a comment below as to what yours says. Maybe yours would even say, “Simon the Zealous One” because that would be more literal.

And so what’s the point of all this? Well, the point is that Simon may have been from Galilee. It’s pretty probable because a lot of the apostles were, but with this translation, he wasn’t really a Canaanite.

Does this matter? Does it matter whether he was from Canaan or Cana in Galilee? Doesn’t really matter. Or a town in that region like some come from Bethsaida. It doesn’t really matter. Simon was from that region. He was — he lived in that area.

Now, he was a zealous one, and see, that’s the point that I want to make. If they have in your Bible — if it says, “Simon the Canaanite,” that’s a mistranslation referring to where he’s from.

And even if he was from there, and that’s a correct translation — or a correct statement, if it was from Kananaios, they meant Simon the Zealous One and that’s what they are trying to portray here.

Every time Simon is mentioned, it’s — he’s mentioned as Simon the Zealot or Simon the Zealous One. So there is something important about that fact, and what we can learn about Simon is through that fact.

Simon the Zealot. So we need to dig into what that is. What were zealots? Well, if you’re a zealot or if you’re a zealous one as a more accurate translation, you have zeal. Now you say, “What is zeal?” Zeal is like a desire, it is a longing.

It is like I am zealous for Jesus. I am zealous for justice. I am zealous for the truth. Or something like that. Greedy people are zealous for money. People who weigh a thousand pounds, who are always eating, are zealous for food. They’re gluttons. They’re zealous for food. So that is what it is, you’re zealous for something.

Simon was zealous. What was he zealous for? We are not sure, but there was a zealot movement during this time and these were people who were fanatics. They were fanatical Jewish nationalists. They had a very high disregard for the Roman rule.

They were like part of a rebellion. They were zealots. They — that’s kind of what their gang was called so to speak. They were Jewish nationalists. They wanted the Jewish rule. The Jewish law. And any Romans, they hated it.

They didn’t want Roman rule. They didn’t want Roman oppression. They didn’t want to pay taxes to Rome. Nothing Roman. They often engaged in violence.

They would maybe do ambushes and ambush the Roman legions traveling. Or the Roman companies or guards. If they were alone, they would ambush them, and sometimes they would even kill them, or capture, or whatever.

They would try to sabotage Rome at all costs possible. It was a little rebellion that they had. Now Simon could have been part of this rebellion. And if he was — these men, obviously, were kind of hot-tempered, reckless.

They were very orthodox Jews. So they followed the laws perfectly. They were very much like the Pharisees in that regard. Except they started to take justice into their own hands almost like vigilantes.

So if Simon was part of that movement, he was very likely a hot-tempered man with a great hatred for Rome and anyone who aligned with the Romans. Very interesting.

He was also a very devout follower of the Jewish law and he hated sinners. That would include tax collectors because tax collectors were aligned with Romans, even if they were Jewish.

This also explains why Simon the Zealot probably would’ve had a deep hatred or fear of the Apostle Paul who used to be Saul. Not only because Saul persecuted Christians, but he was also what — wasn’t he a Roman?

Some of these people that were traveling around preaching about Jesus were indeed Roman citizens. Interesting.

But let’s go back to the more important fact that they were held in high regard for the Jewish law. Simon the Zealot did, if he was indeed a zealot, he hated sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors – but Jesus called him.

Simon must have experienced a great conversion because he was able to put his hatred along the wayside, and guess what? He worked alongside Matthew, a tax collector.

A former tax collector, I should say. Simon was able to put aside his hatred for tax collectors and sinners because that’s who he worked alongside — sinners and tax collectors. That’s who Jesus went to.

It’s not the sick that need a doctor but the healthy. Opposite, sorry, not the healthy that need a doctor but the sick. Us healthy do need a doctor for your spirit, you need Jesus. There is a reason all this happens.

Now Simon, he had to have experienced a huge change of heart, get past his hatred to work with Matthew. He had to learn to show love and compassion for anyone and everyone whether they had ties to Rome or not.

Matthew was not only a tax collector, but he was also supporting the Romans by collecting tax for them. That’s a double whammy. Simon would have really hated Matthew. Yet he put all that aside and was able to travel with him and work with him for over three years. This is excellent.

In addition, he had to reject his orthodox rule-following and give up some of the stuff he knew of the law. Because he started following Jesus, who came and said all kinds of crazy stuff about the Pharisees and put them in their place and said they were hypocritical.

You may have said when I said, “Oh the zealots, they followed the law, but then they started to become vigilantes by taking the law into their own hands.”

“That doesn’t seem like it works very well and if they even may have killed people, that doesn’t seem like it was good because it’s violating the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments.” They were becoming warped and twisted, hypocritical, and Jesus called them out.

So Simon, if he was indeed a zealot in the zealot gang movement, so to speak, he would’ve had to have changed. He would’ve had to recognize the error in his ways. Say, “Boy, was I a hypocrite.” Stop doing that stuff.

“I am trying to save people, but I’m doing it by sinning. That is not working. I gotta ally and follow Jesus, and, by the way, there’s a tax collector and a Roman money collector here with me.” Wow, he had to experience a radical change of heart to accept those people.

Now, I believe Simon indeed was part of that zealot movement, and then they called him Simon the Zealous One because his zeal changed. Simon had an intense passion inside of him. A burning desire for something and when you give up the burning desire for one thing, something has to replace it.

It’s like smokers. They want to smoke cigarettes all the time. They quit smoking, and guess what? A lot of them have a toothpick. Or they chew on a matchstick. Or they are always eating chips or popcorn. Something is satisfying that burning desire from hand to mouth. Something is satisfying this.

Drug addicts find a new addiction like coffee. What is it? Work — They just — maybe take a bad addiction and put it in place of a socially acceptable addiction. If you have a burning desire for one thing and you try to get rid of it, something has to replace it. Something has to fill the void.

So Simon, if he was indeed part of the zealot movement — he got rid of all that. He started to accept people whether they were Roman or not. Accept people whether they were sinners or not.

He started to see the hypocrisy in his ways and live according to Jesus. So they call him Simon Kananaios or the Zealous One because guess what? His zeal was probably replaced.

The zeal for justice, and Jewish law, and orthodox Judaism was probably replaced by a zeal for Jesus. He became zealous for Christ. He wanted to see the heavenly kingdom come here on Earth.

“Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Simon was probably out there living this. Trying to get people to follow Christ and give up their earthly beliefs.

He was zealous. Zealous for the law. Zealous with the rebel group. And then, zealous for Jesus. You gotta be zealous for Jesus.

Now, how do we know this is indeed the same Simon? There are a lot of Simons mentioned in the New Testament. Guess what? There are only nine of them. Nine Simons in the New Testament. You want to hear them?

Two apostles, we got Simon Peter and Simon the Zealot, that’s two. Then you have Judas Iscariot, wait a minute, he’s not a Simon. No, but Judas Iscariot we are going to come to him next week. He was the son of Simon. Judas Iscariot son of Simon and that’s in John Chapter 6 Verse 71.

So we can go there. We got time. Turn with me. John Chapter 6 Verse 71 (John 6:71) says, “Simone Iscariot” — Let’s see, here we go, Chapter 6 Verse 71, let’s see what 6:71 says,

“Then Jesus said, ‘Have I not chosen you? Yet one of you is a devil.’ He means Judas Iscariot son of Simon, who was one of the 12 and was later to betray Him.” So Judas Iscariot son of Simon. We know then it’s Judas Iscariot. All right, that is number three.

Then we have Jesus’ brother Simon. We’ve read about this before because Jesus also has a brother named James. So Mark 6:3, let’s go there. Mark 6:3 says, “‘Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James?’” — Not James the apostles though. “‘The brother of James, Joseph, Judas,” — and neither Judas is the apostle though — “‘and Simon?’” So there is another Simon.

Then we got another Simon. Simon the Pharisee. He’s in Luke. Let’s go there. He’s in Luke 7:40. Let’s go and we will read about another Simon. “Jesus answered him, ‘Simon I have something to tell you.’” This was Simon the Pharisee.

Then we also have another Simon. Simon the leper. He’s in Mark. Let’s go back to Mark. You’re like “What in the world are we doing with all these Simons?” Bear with me.

Mark 14:3, Mark 14:3 says, 14 Verse 3, “While He was in Bethany reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar, a very expensive perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head.” Interesting. Interesting.

Then we have Simon of Cyrene. This is the Simon when Jesus was carrying the cross, Jesus fell and this Simon helped Him. Mark 15:21, “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon the father of Alexander and Rufus was passing by on his way from the country and they forced him to carry the cross.”

Then we have another. A sorcerer. This is Simon the sorcerer. Another Simon. Simon the sorcerer. He’s in Acts. He tried to buy the Holy Spirit. Acts Chapter 8 Verses 9 to 24 (Acts 8:9-24). We’re going to only read a little bit.

Simon the sorcerer — he has a whole heading. 8:9, “For some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people in Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great.” Simon the sorcerer.

Then we have a final Simon. Simon the tanner. Peter stayed with him, Acts Chapter 9 Verse 43, Verse 43 says, (Acts 9:43). “Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.” So we’ve many different Simons. Each one of these Simons is specifically mentioned as something.

Judas Iscariot son of Simon, Simon Peter, Simon Jesus’ brother, Simon the pharisee, Simon the leper, Simon of Cyrene, Simon the sorcerer, Simon the tanner, and the other Simon, Simon the Zealot. That is how we know which one is the apostle, Simon the Zealot.

What was he zealous for? Well, it’s very possible he was zealous for Jewish law. Zealous for the gang vigilante movement. He shifted, got rid of those views, and became zealous for Jesus. Traveled around, he learned to follow Christ.

He gave up his earthly beliefs. His earthly desires, and followed a heavenly king named Jesus. He was zealous. He had a burning passion and he was zealous for something. He learned to shift and become zealous for Jesus.

That’s what you need to do. There’s something in your life that you work for. You’re like, “I want more of this, I am hungry for it.” Whether it’s success. Whether it’s fame. Whether it’s money. Whether it’s power.

Whether it’s whatever. Whether you’re gaining weight and it’s gluttony. Whether you’re an alcoholic or a workaholic or addicted to drugs or pornography. Whatever it is, you have zeal for something.

Get rid of whatever your earthly zeal is and become zealous for Jesus. Your heavenly king. Follow Him. Obey His commands. Invite Him into your life, and live for Him.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for Simon the Zealot. Thank you that we can learn from him. That he was a zealous person. Someone filled with passion and desire.

Lord, if he can give up that, give up those earthly desires and the earthly zeal, and become zealous for you. Certainly, we can. So I pray over each and every person watching and listening, that they would become zealous for you.

That they would have a heart for Jesus and become fully zealous for you. That they would give up their earthly desires. That they would leave it all behind. Take the step into their calling, and follow you.

We know you’re calling. You stand at the door and knock. Jesus, I ask that they would open the door, step outside, and start walking into your calling. That they would step into your chosen people and become zealous for you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Thank you so much for being here. Once again, if you need prayer, comment below. If you want to make the decision to follow Jesus and become zealous for Him, a heart on fire for Christ, comment, contact us, we can help you do that.

And I hope you come back next week. We’ve got Judas Iscariot the one who betrayed Jesus. So come back. Let’s learn about him. Have a great week. God bless.