We continue our Lenten series on the twelve disciples by focusing on James the Lesser and Thaddeus. We’re using “The Last Supper” painting by Leonardo da Vinci to highlight each disciple.
Last Sunday, I shared some of the key features of this famous painting. The reason Leonardo da Vinci painted this scene from the Bible was to help a religious order of monks to meditate on this scene whenever they would gather for a meal in the refectory. In a similar way, we also have the opportunity to meditate on this scene of Jesus with his disciples during the Last Supper.
A friend of mine who’s an artist pointed out another key feature of this painting that I think we will find very meaningful. To help us appreciate this feature, we’re going to look at another picture of The Last Supper painting that has lines that point to Jesus.
My artist friend says that these lines help us to see how Leonardo da Vinci was using a 1 point perspective. This was used during the Renaissance period which is the time period for this painting. Leonardo da Vinci wants our eyes to be drawn toward Christ as the focal point.
This was da Vinci’s creative way of reminding us that even though we may turn away or deny Christ, we can still be drawn back to him as the center of our lives. The message is that there is always hope and the opportunity to begin anew in our faith which is one of the reasons why the church observes the Season of Lent.
These several weeks leading up to Easter are an important time for us to refocus our lives on Jesus Christ and to be one of Jesus’ disciples, regardless of how we may have strayed from him in the past. I’m grateful for these artistic insights.
Let’s begin this morning by looking at the disciple, James the Lesser. In the painting, he is the 2nd disciple from the left. He’s next to Bartholomew also known as Nathaniel who was one of the disciples we focused on last Sunday.
If you remember, the disciples are reacting to when Jesus told them that one of that would betray him. Notice how James the Lesser, the 2nd disciple from the left is reacting to Jesus’ words.
He is reaching toward Peter and you’ll notice that Peter is leaning toward Jesus. Peter doesn’t seem to be aware that James the Lesser is touching his shoulder. What do you think James the Lesser is thinking about as he tries to get Peter’s attention? This painting invites us to reflect on his reaction.
So what do we know about James the Lesser? Well, it’s a little complicated. The New Testament refers to at least two people who were known as James, probably three, and maybe even eight.
If you’re keeping score, here are the eight references of the name, James in the New Testament.
There’s a reference to James the Greater who was also one of the twelve disciples. Because he appears in the same list as James the Lesser, we know that there are at least two people known as James.
We also have James, the brother of the Lord, the brother of Jesus. We have a James who wrote the Epistle of James. There’s James, Son of Cleopas. There’s a James the Nazarene. We also have James, a kinsmen of Jude who was also known as Thaddeus who is the second of the two disciples we are focusing on today.
And last but not least, we also have James who was the brother of the writer of the “Epistle of Jude” which is the name of a very short book found in our New Testament. This all leads to an important question. Are any of these other James references the same person as the disciple, James the Lesser? If so, that would give us a lot of information about this disciple.
During biblical times, James was a very common name, so there very well could have been many followers of Jesus with this name.
Most scholars believe that James, the brother of Jesus was the one who wrote the “Epistle of James” because he was the key leader of the church in Jerusalem. He also was known for his ministry with Christians who were from a Jewish background which is the focus of the epistle that bears his name.
There’s some speculation that James the Lesser who is also known as the Son of Alphaeus might have been the disciple Matthew’s brother since Matthew was also known as the son of Alpheus. We can only speculate.
Other scholars wonder if James the Lesser and Thaddeus, our other disciple for today might have been brothers. Both Acts and Luke refer to Thaddeus as the son of James. You might be wondering how this would make them brothers but in the Greek language, the word for “son” and the word for “brother” were often used interchangeably.
How many of you are still with me? I think this is a good time to have a pop quiz! This will be worth half of your grade for the spring semester.
The truth is that we don’t have a whole lot of information about James the Lesser. Maybe he had an inferiority complex with a name like that, especially with another disciple who was known as James the Greater.
Outside of the bible, church tradition tells us that when James the Lesser was 96 years old, he was thrown off the top of the Temple in Jerusalem because of his faith in Jesus Christ. In a way, this reminds me of the story of when Jesus was in the wilderness and the devil tempted Jesus to jump from the Temple and have his angels save him. Of course, Jesus refused.
As the story goes, they threw James the Lesser off the Temple. He somehow managed to get up. He staggered around. He then begged God to forgive them for what they had done. This angered the people and so they clubbed him to death and sawed him into pieces. This is why the traditional symbol for James the Lesser is a saw.
I wonder if this story was told about him because of a reputation for being a very forgiving person in his ministry. This is an important thought for us especially in this season of Lent leading up to Holy Week and Good Friday. As Jesus was hanging on the cross, he looked down upon the people who were taunting him and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Last week, Penny and I watched a documentary on a tragic story that happened in Mansfield, Ohio back in 1990. A husband was convicted of murdering his wife. A key witness for the prosecution was their eleven year old son who was in his bedroom at the time and heard what was happening.
The documentary that we watched focused a lot on how this young boy who is now around 40 years old has been traumatized by those memories. Collier has gone on to have a successful career. He actually ended up going here to Ohio University. For these past 30 years, he has been writing to his father to get him to admit that he murdered his mother, something which he continues to deny even though he has a life sentence.
Collier recently went to Marion Correctional Institute to try one last time to hear his father come clean with what had happened. But he still denies it.
After that meeting at the prison, Collier met with his therapist and expressed how he isn’t able to forgive what his father has done. And the therapist said something really, really interesting about forgiveness. He told Collier that forgiveness doesn’t necessarily mean reconciliation. It means that point when we can let go. Let go of what you can’t change.
When I heard that, it gave me this new understanding of forgiveness which is on one level, doing what you can do to seek reconciliation, but when the other party is not willing to make the effort, forgiveness might mean simply letting go. The therapist, then encouraged Collier that the way to let go is to allow yourself to grieve.
Lent is a time for us to seek forgiveness and be forgiving, but to also let go of the hurt and the pain. The stories surrounding James the Lesser invites us to be forgiving regardless of how others may or may not respond. Forgiveness might mean allowing ourselves to grieve and to let go of the pain.
Let’s move on to the disciple, Thaddeus. Thaddeus has three nicknames. He is known as Jude, Judas, and the King James Version uses the name, Labbaeus.
In “The Last Supper” painting, Thaddeus is the 2nd disciple from the right as you are facing the painting. You’ll notice that Thaddeus is looking at Simon the Zealot who we focused on last Sunday. If you remember, Simon the Zealot could very well have been someone the other disciples turned to during difficult times. Simon is known as the “go to” disciple.
Now, why did Thaddeus have several nicknames? Since one of his names was Judas, many bible scholars think that it was to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had betrayed Jesus. The word, “Thad” literally means, “chest.” Maybe Thaddeus was chosen as his new name because of his ability to bench press 400 lbs. We don’t know. Just speculating.
His nickname, Labbaeus literally means “heart.” For all we know, he might have been a very passionate person in the way he lived out his faith.
Unlike James the Lesser, we do have a story about Thaddeus in one of the gospels. It’s the gospel reading that we heard earlier in the service. Interestingly enough, this story is set in the context of the Last Supper.
After this tense scene when Jesus tells them that one of them will betray him and Judas Iscariot leaves the scene, he begins to prepare them for his crucifixion and when he would be leaving them. Of course, the disciples do not understand what Jesus is trying to tell them because it doesn’t make any sense to them.
Their expectation was for Jesus to continue leading them, not end up dying on a cross. We have the benefit of hindsight, but they were trying to figure out what Jesus was trying to tell them.
In our Gospel reading from John chapter 14, Jesus tells the disciples, “They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
This prompts Thaddeus to ask Jesus a question and notice that it says, “Judas” and in parenthesis, it says, “not Iscariot.” Again, this is why Thaddeus was given a different name to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot.
Thaddeus asks Jesus, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” He’s trying to grasp where Jesus is going with all of this. And Jesus goes on to reassure them that even after he is gone, the Father will send them the Holy Spirit who will continue to teach them everything and remind them of all that he has told them.
Jesus kept his promise because on the fiftieth day after the empty tomb, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and this is what empowered the disciples to continue what Jesus had started. They boldly proclaimed the good news of Easter and they were able to do many signs and wonders and point people to the Risen Christ.
The question that Thaddeus asked Jesus following the Last Supper wasn’t fully answered until that day when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. This is why the traditional symbol for the disciple, Thaddeus is a flame around his head. The flame is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus wanted Thaddeus to know that he would always be with them through the presence of the Holy Spirit. I’m glad that Thaddeus asked Jesus what he meant because it gave Jesus the opportunity to reassure the disciples that he would continue to be with them even after his death.
An elderly church member was telling me how difficult it’s been since her husband’s death several years ago. She said that when he passed away, she felt all alone. Everything changed when he died.
She said that her husband would always drive them places and now she was in the driver’s seat. She said that every time she got in their car to go somewhere, she had a little conversation with God. She would say, “Well, Lord, it’s just you and me now. I know you are with me. Guide and direct me in all that I do.”
Isn’t that incredible? It was her way of reminding herself that she wasn’t alone. The Holy Spirit has been guiding her every step of the way. I’m wondering if this is something we each might do during this Season of Lent. Make it a point each day to have a little conversation with God. Remember that God is always with you, even if you are feeling alone and wondering what the future holds.
That’s really all we know about the disciple, Thaddeus. Most bible scholars do not think that he is the same person who wrote the short letter of Jude that we find in the New Testament. Even though one of his nicknames was Jude, that letter was probably written by another person named Jude.
Beyond the bible, church tradition tells us that Thaddeus ended up serving as a missionary in Syria and Armenia. And it’s worth noting that the famous St. Jude Hospital which provides treatment and research for children with cancer is named after Jude or Thaddeus the disciple. Thaddeus is known as a disciple who did a lot of good for people.
As we come to a close on these two disciples for today, there are a couple of questions for us to reflect on this week.
Like the disciple James the Lesser, are you forgiving toward those who have wronged you?
And like the disciple Thaddeus, will you remember that you are never alone because you have the Holy Spirit at work in your life?
Next Sunday, we will focus on two more disciples, Andrew and Phillip.
Tradition tells us that Thaddeus ended up serving as a missionary in Syria and Armenia. The famous St. Jude Hospital which provides treatment and research for children with cancer is named after this disciple’s nickname which is Jude. Thaddeus is therefore known as a disciple who has one a lot of good for people.
What are some specific ways that you can do good for someone else this week?
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