Who was St. Jude?
Many believe that he was the brother of Jesus, mentioned in Matthew XIII, 55 and Mark VI, 3: Is not this (Jesus) the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
Why do we remember him?
St. Jude was the writer of the last Letter in the New Testament.
He describes himself as Jude, servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, and he writes, probably about thirty or thirty-five years after Christ’s lifetime, to one of the new Christian congregations.
It is a short letter. He was originally writing a longer one, he explains, setting out in detail the teaching about salvation, but it suddenly became :
. . . . . urgently necessary to write at once and appeal to you to join the struggle in defence of the faith, the faith which God entrusted to his people once and for all . . . . .
False teachers had jumped on the bandwagon and were spreading their own ideas rather than sticking to the simple, straightforward teaching of the apostles. Peter had had to warn the churches and there is no doubt that Jude had seen Peter’s letter and was leaping to his side.
The faith is in danger from certain persons who have wormed their way in . . . These men are a blot . . . They are shepherds who take care only of themselves . . . clouds carried away by the wind without giving rain . . . trees that in season bear no fruit . . . fierce waves of the sea, foaming shameful deeds . . . stars that have wandered from their course, and the place for ever reserved for them is blackest darkness.
For these enemies of religion, says Jude, will meet the doom they have incurred.
You, my friends, he urges, must fortify yourselves in your most sacred faith . . . Pray . . . Keep yourselves in the love of God . . . Look forward to the day . . . of eternal life.
St. Jude’s Letter, the last in the Bible, is a forcible reminder to all to hold fast by the teaching of the apostles and to be on one’s guard against wrong teachings.