Matthias, whom
we hear about in the reading from Acts of the Apostles today, is one of my
favorite saints, for a whole bunch of reasons. First, Matthias is the name of
my eldest boy – I think he’s just great. Second, Matthias is an apostle, but he
is the “replacement” apostle who was chosen to fill the spot of Judas Iscariot.
He was a follower of Jesus from the beginning of the Lord’s ministry – that seems
to have been a requirement for the job, according to Peter – so he was
eligible, and they threw some dice to choose between him and Joseph Barsabbas,
and Matthias got the nod.
There are all
sorts of interesting questions that may come to mind when we hear this story.
We have a limited amount of time, though, so we are just going to focus on a
couple of them.
The biggest one
is this: why did they need to replace Judas? After all, later in the story of
the early Christian community, the apostles died, and they weren’t replaced in
this very deliberate way. But think of when this story occurred. Jesus had just
ascended into Heaven. The apostles returned to the upper room for prayer and
for consideration of what to do next. Shortly after this moment the Holy Spirit
descended at Pentecost. Somehow, it was important that there be twelve apostles
for this event. And the key to understanding that might be the number twelve.
The Lord himself
had chosen twelve apostles to symbolize the restoration of the twelve tribes of
Israel. This restoration was already something the apostles themselves had been
talking about back in the sixth verse of this chapter, when they asked the
resurrected Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to
Israel?”
That wholeness
of the kingdom seemed to require recognition of the twelve tribes, and thus
twelve disciples.
So if they
needed someone to replace the betrayer, how would they determine who it would
be?
There were lots
of candidates. At the top of anyone’s list might be Jesus’ brothers, such as
James the Just. There were other people who were part of the circle of
followers of the Lord. There were women of prominence, such as Mary Magdalene,
often called the apostle to the apostles, but that was culturally too big a
leap for these folks. But instead, Peter said there were certain criteria: the
replacement apostle must be “one of the men who have accompanied us during all
the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism
of John until the day when he was taken from us – one of these must become a
witness with us to his resurrection.” It is important that Peter felt that it
needed to be someone who was part of the whole journey, and who could speak out
clearly that Jesus was raised from the dead. Second-hand reports would not be
sufficient.
By those
standards, if the apostle Paul had been there, he wouldn’t have qualified! So
it was a pretty small group, perhaps only the two men whom Peter set before the
assembled disciples for election: Barsabbas and Matthias. We know nothing of
these two men except that they met the qualifications that Peter outlined.
In our secular
world we would wonder if Peter was stacking the deck, if you will, if he was
setting up the prequalifications in such a way that he would get the person he
wanted as one of the twelve. But this was a different world and a different
time. Peter was simply hoping that God would reveal who could share what they
had all experienced faithfully, not as a second-hand retelling, but as a lived
experience. And so there were two. And Peter did not want to simply name one,
even though he could as the named leader of the disciples. He wanted God to
reveal the right one. So the disciples prayed and asked God to show them whom
they should choose. And then they used an ancient method of choosing – not an
election, what we would expect – they cast lots. If there had been an election,
it would have been a human choice, votes by the human beings in that room. But
casting lots? That was an Old Testament way of giving God a way to convey his
desire…throwing dice would put the solution into God’s hands, not their own.
And Sarah J, this
has nothing to do with Tunica…
And the dice
told of God’s will, and so Matthias was chosen. Not because of any particular
skill, just because he had been a part of the journey all along, and God was
asking him. Not because of his relationship with the others – as far as we
know, he was not a member of the families of any of the other disciples, no
dynasty here. Not because he was renowned for his gifts of proclamation, or the
money he could bring into the church, or any other earthly reason. God chose
him. God simply chose him.
And that’s the
thing that really appeals to me about Matthias. Once again, God asked a
seemingly ordinary person to step up and serve. That’s both a comfort and a
challenge to us ordinary people. We can’t get away with saying, “No, Lord, I
don’t have anything to bring to this task you called me to.”
I had a
conversation with someone preparing for ordination the other day, and when
queried about his call, he said, “The Big Guy said ‘do this’ and I said ‘aye
aye sir.’” Suffice to say, he was retired Navy.
God taps us to
do things. Sometimes it is a whisper in our hearts, sometimes it’s a request
from someone here at the church, sometimes it’s a situation that demands our
response. It rarely has to do with what we think we do well. It rarely will
yield results that will be documented in the news or in the Bible. Just God
asking us to do something, and us saying “aye, aye, sir.”
And the last
thing that makes Matthias dear to my heart is that this is the last we hear of
him in the Bible. He fulfills his role as the twelfth apostle, so that there
will be twelve at the miracle of Pentecost, and then he does whatever he does
in service to the Lord in anonymity. Just like the rest of us whom God calls.
I guess the
take-away from all this for me is that none of us is one of the original
twelve. We are all replacements for the originals, several hundred generations
removed. We usually discount our gifts and abilities, and yet God still finds a
way to use us, and our gifts are sufficient for the task he asks of us.
On this Sunday
when we wrap up our Sunday School year, it is clear to me that we are very,
very blessed with people with great gifts leading our Sunday School (Gail and
Kathy and Anne, April and Karen) , and it is tempting for us to say, “Well, I’m
not sufficiently gifted to do that kind of work, or to replace any of these
saintly apostles of Sunday School teaching.” And so we ignore God’s nudge or a
request from me or someone here in the parish when we are asked to help out.
But God expects us all to be replacement apostles, and gives us what we need to
do the task he offers us.
So I would urge
you to consider how you might be one of God’s replacement apostles in this
place and at this time. Are you meant to be someone who helps teach our
children about God’s love? Maybe. Are you meant to be someone who writes an
article for the newsletter? Maybe. Are you meant to be someone who offers a
warm welcome to a newcomer to this parish family? Maybe.
Only God knows
when he will ask you to step up and be a replacement apostle. Only God knows
the hidden strengths and gifts that you didn’t even know that you had.
But only you can
say, “Yes, sir. Aye, aye.” Say it, with fear and joy, and be the replacement
apostle that God knows you to be!
Amen.
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