Word to the Wise
Monday, May 14, 2012 - May 14 - St. Matthias, Apostle
[Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 and John 15:9-17]Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompaniedus the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.. [Acts]
The gospel scripture assigned for the feast of St. Matthias is the same as yesterday's gospel! However, the first scripture is significant enough to give us a break from our reflections on the Gospel of John! Matthias is chosen to fill the vacancy caused by Judas' departure, and then promptly "disappears" into history. We will leave to one side the weighty question as to why Jesus chose Judas Iscariot to begin with. My focus is on the reason why the apostles felt they had to replace Judas, the criteria they used, and the method of selecting from the two candidates.
To address the first question, it seems that the apostles saw themselves as the embodiment of a "new Israel" represented by its twelve tribes. Therefore it was important to maintain the number twelve. If one goes back to the Gospel of Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles as well, the expression, "the Twelve" shows up fairly frequently. This concern, therefore, creates a "vacancy" in the foundational group. The second question concerns the criteria. Obviously there were people who were with Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry who were not chosen by him to be one of the apostles. However, the fact that Matthias and Joseph Barsabbas had been with them from the outset seems to have been the most important fact about them. Is this what Jesus would have done? Who knows? They needed to get it done before the Pentecost event!
Last but not least is the method of choosing: prayer and "lots." The mind is tempted to indulge a moment or two of amusement at thinking of the pope praying over a couple of personnel files in front of him and then flipping a coin! The scriptural context allows us to give all of this to necessity and the Holy Spirit. The apostles moved on to receive the Holy Spirit and Matthias was one of them. We stand on their shoulders as a church. Even today there is a bit of mystery about the way their successors are chosen! AMEN
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