"Is it Awkward in Here?"

I don’t know who came into the room first, but I’m pretty sure James and John decided to go on ahead and slip out the backdoor when they saw the two approaching their first meeting.
When Rome overthrew the Israelite nation, the Jews divided into several different sects such as the Pharisees and Sadducees who spent most of their time disagreeing over issues such as water libations or whether contact with scrolls could cause your hands to be unclean or not. However, there emerged another group known as the Zealots who spent their time on more pressing matters such as kicking Roman butt. They spent all their energy on overthrowing the oppressive government through processes which did not consist so much of lengthy debates or running for office. Rather, they decided to do so with the modern equivalent of suicide bombings or assassination attempts.
In Matthew’s Gospel he lists off the twelve disciples like so:
“These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Matthew 10:2-4)
I almost let out a little chuckle when I read this list (but I don’t, because the old men playing chess by the window are trying to concentrate, and I don’t want to creep them out), because the only jobs listed are a tax collector and a zealot. I don’t know if you make money being a zealot, but I’m sure it occupies enough of one’s time for me to go ahead and call it a job. Why not?
Think about Matthew writing this Gospel account years later whispering to himself, “That Jesus was one funny guy.” To team up a tax collector and a zealot—unthinkable. I’m quite positive that it was not so humorous when they first met, however. Matthew represented everything that Simon hated and spent his time trying to obliterate. The bane of his existence, the oppression of his people, the discomfort of his life, and the danger of his family all summed up in the face of the lying, stealing traitor named Matthew.
However, the day they met neither of them were a tax collector nor a zealot, but they were new followers of the man named Jesus. Isn’t it funny how two people who hated each other so murderously were able to cooperate to accomplish the mission of Christ and to spend every waking minute with one other while following this teacher across the countryside?
Funny isn’t it? Followers of Christ have sure become quite a bit weaker seeing that we are divided about small issues such as drums in worship, carpet color, doctrine, ethnicity, gossip, breakups, forgetting to call a friend up, or whether an old lady is talking to loud in the coffee shop we are trying to write in.
God bless the Zealot and the Tax Collector that can decide to not murder or steal from each other anymore, and just follow Christ together. God forgive me for being so petty and for being so easily divided with my brother.
Finally, bless the name of Jesus who had enough power to allow us to see only Him rather than our differences. He had enough faith in us to work through it, and to still accomplish his mission.

We can still be restored to perfect unity. God, haste the day.