Thaddeus of Jericho

Thaddeus of Jericho was a member of the Sanhedrin Council.

As a teenage boy growing up in Jericho, while standing in the shade of a sycamore tree, he witnessed Jesus’ entry into Jericho and His subsequent healing of a blind man.

As Jesus approached the sycamore tree under which he was standing, their eyes briefly met – for the rest of his life, Thaddeus would never forget – that brief, fleeting moment, in which Jesus’ eyes fixed upon his and he saw what looked liked recognition, followed quickly by an intense sadness. He overheard Jesus speaking to the local tax collector and wondered why Jesus would even talk to such a man. About a week after this encounter, Thaddeus heard the news of Jesus’ crucifixion and a rumor that someone had stolen the body.

As the years went by and Thaddeus became a young man, he went to Jerusalem to study with a teacher named Gamaliel. One of the other students was a young man from Tarsus. Both young men, grew to be highly respected Rabbi’s, very zealous of the Law and of the traditions of the elders. On a certain afternoon, when the young man from Tarsus had been selected for a very important assignment in Damascus, Thaddeus found himself with nothing to do, and because of a conversation he had had about the Jesus sect, he sought out and found one of the disciples of Jesus, Bartholomew, and spoke privately with him.

After hearing what Bartholomew had to say about Jesus and the gospel – he believed in Jesus. However, being afraid of what his fellow Pharisees might think, he wrote these words on a piece of parchment, “O merciful Jesus thou art the Son of the Most High God. To whom else shall I turn? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” Removing a stone from the wall of his chamber, he hid these beautiful words behind the stone. There they remained, undisturbed, from his death in AD 70 until 1949. During an excavation in Old Jerusalem, a section of wall was found containing this parchment and other documents dating back to A.D. 43.

About the same time, Thaddeus’ friend and fellow student of Gamaliel, Saul of Tarsus had his encounter with the resurrected Savior on the road to Damascus. Later he would boldly confess, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

We all know what followed. Everybody has heard of what the Apostle Paul accomplished by his bold ministry in Christ. Now of course there is no such person as Thaddeus of Jericho, but if there were, who would have ever heard of him?

If our life is to bear fruit for Christ, then we cannot hide our love for Him behind a stone in the wall.