Understanding the Twelve- Judas, Son of James

“13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.”
Luke 6:13-16

We are reaching the end of our study on the twelve disciples. In fact, we only have four more men to discuss. In this study, we have seen a variety of personalities of the men that Jesus called to walk closely with Him. However, just as with James the Less, the man we will discuss today does not have a list of verses that we can pull from. With that said, let us take a look at Judas, the Son of James.

First things first, this is not the Judas who would ultimately betray Jesus Christ, a fact that when the list of the twelve disciples is given in Luke 6, we are given the name of Judas’s father to distinguish this Judas from Iscariot. Apart from being listed as one of the twelve, there is only one other verse that gives Judas, the son of James, credit, and we will look at this verse later on. We can tell a great deal amount about him based on him not being listed in some Bible verses. For instance First, he was not hot-headed like the Sons of Thunder. He didn’t try to prevent Jesus from fulfilling the task that God the Father sent Him for, unlike Peter. Nor did he actively bring individuals to Jesus like Andrew.

However, what separates Judas from James the Less is one question. “19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “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. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” John 14:19-24

In this passage, Jesus is telling the disciples that soon He will no longer be physically with them, to which Judas asks why Jesus will show (manifest) Himself to them but not the world. Today, I am not going to get into a discussion regarding the meaning behind John 14:19-24, but I would encourage you to look at 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 to see the Christian’s calling and their reward. However, from this question, we can see that Judas did not fully understand Jesus’s mission (which fits with scripture that states that after the resurrection, Jesus opened their minds, Luke 24:45). We can also infer from this that Judas was confident in his relationship with Jesus to be comfortable asking questions. While he did not fully understand, he had no fear that Jesus would say that his question wasn’t worth answering.

Early Christian tradition holds that Judas, son of James, preached the Gospel in various regions after the resurrection of Christ. Some accounts suggest his ministry was in areas such as Mesopotamia, Syria, or Armenia. What he represents for believers today is that we are free to come before Jesus to ask our questions. Jesus wants us near to Him, we do not need to be afraid of Jesus not answering us.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex