Homily for Ss Simon and Jude, Apostles and Martyrs, Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Jude 1-3; 17-25
Have you ever been near a crowd of protesters? Especially when they start to get a bit more emotional than usual? The group takes on a life of its own, and the protest becomes almost a mystical experience. This must be the reason why people keep going on them, because they don’t seem to accomplish much other than make everyone involved feel special.
The problem is, there are still problems out there in the world. If a protest does nothing apart from making the protesters feel better, is there anything else we can try? What about for the Christian, who has the Holy Spirit in them? Is there any advantage for us that we can make use of?
This is where the apostle Jude finds himself. He wanted to write about “our common salvation”, but the problems of the Church meant he “found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” He doesn’t hold back on what these problems are, and it is perhaps a shame that our lectionary cuts his short letter even shorter, since we miss out on statements like these:
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ…
…These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
The problem people and the problems they bring are a matter of eternal life and death. Whatever political problems drive people to the streets in protest are nothing in comparison to the problems in the Church, for the stakes are infinitely higher – we are talking about the difference between eternal salvation and damnation.
So what is there to do? For the faithful Christian, who looks at the state of his Church, and weeps, what is the advice of Holy Scripture? What does the word of God tell him to do, in order to resolve the issue?
20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
First, build yourself up in your most holy faith. What do you have the most control over? Yourself. Seeing the disastrous shipwreck of the modern Church in Australia, see that you yourself do not drown alongside it.
Second, pray in the Holy Spirit. Prayer is powerful; and by praying in the Holy Spirit you pray in the power of God.
Third, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. Like the first instruction, the third focuses on what you have the most influence over: yourself, and your place in God’s love, feasting freely on the mercy of Jesus.
Three instructions for ourselves: build your faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, keep in the love of God and the mercy of Jesus Christ.
Then there are instructions on how to deal with other people.
First, have mercy on those who doubt. Mercy is a word that captures all the restorative power of God: the apostle is saying, having built up your own faith, give to those with weak faith the strength of your own.
Second, save others by snatching them out of the fire. Sometimes all we need is a good sharp shock to snap us out of it. Imagine someone sleepwalking into a roaring fire – snatch them out of it. Love one another by helping them out of their sin.
Third, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. This is like the first, in that we are to show mercy. But this is to a third category of person: someone whose sin is so apparent and terrible that we show our mercy with fear, fear of the judgement of God. We are to “hate even the garment stained by the flesh”, that is, everything that has even the tiniest whiff of that sin is to be shunned.
St Jude is serious about our souls and our Church. He loves both, and so we should receive his instruction humbly and seriously. But his solution to our problems is not to go around seeking out heretics and burning them at the stake; it is about building ourselves up in our own faith, and warning those who sin of the path that they are taking. As we look to the next season of our parish, and where we fit in the next season of society and the Church, let us take to heart these instructions to personal holiness and parish purity. Let us be a shining light of God’s goodness, and take seriously the Biblical injunction to work with the Holy Spirit to flush the sin out of our souls, and helping others do the same.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.