Matthew 10:3
Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus
The lists do not agree on what to call him and all of them keep him in. Being hard to name and impossible to remove is its own kind of witness.
People of the Bible
Thaddaeus
Has three names across the lists and exactly one question, and the question is a good one.
Also called Lebbaeus; Judas not Iscariot; Jude of James
Matthew and Mark call him Thaddaeus, Luke calls him Judas of James, and John, at the one moment he speaks, is careful to say Judas, not Iscariot. That care is itself a small kindness: the man shares a name with the betrayer and the text will not let the names blur. Nothing else about him is recorded, not a home town, not a trade, not a calling scene.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of Thaddaeus
- 01
- 02
Mark 3:18
Named again, still silent
Mark places him between Matthew and James, one more of the twelve appointed to be with him and to be sent out to preach.
- 03
John 14:22-24
How will you manifest yourself to us, and not to the world
John names him carefully and gives him the one question. The answer redefines manifestation as a dwelling rather than a display.
Why it matters
His single line is the question every reader of the gospel eventually asks. How is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world. It is asked in the upper room, after the promise that the one who loves will be loved and shown, and it is not hostile; it is a man who expected a public unveiling asking why the plan looks so small. The answer is about a Father and a Son coming to make their abode with a person, which is a smaller and larger thing than he asked for.
4 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
