Word to the Wise
Saturday, May 14, 2016 - May 14 - St. Matthias, Apostle
[Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 and John 15:9-17]"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you...It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you to go and bear fruit that will remain..." [John]
St. Matthias the apostle has his brief moment of fame in the Acts of the Apostles because he is chosen to replace Judas Iscariot. The manner of choosing him was to do it by lots (dice, straws? Flip a coin? Who knows?). This was not an unusual thing to the people of biblical times. God's will could be determined in this way because God has total command of all creation! In any case, two equally qualified candidates were nominated. Their principal qualifications were that they had been with the apostles from the very beginning of Jesus' ministry and had seen and heard all that the apostles had seen and heard. Matthias won the toss.
The gospel scripture for this feast indicates what any disciple of Jesus, especially one of the apostles, is challenged to do. the command is the command to love one another as Jesus loves us. this means that the very life of a disciple is on the line. Discipleship is still a dangerous thing in some parts of the world, notably in the Middle East. To lay down one's life for a friend is an ultimate sacrifice. Even if it is not at the cost of one's physical life, I know of persons who, in their care for a loved one, dedicated their own life to that care.
Matthias disappears from the pages of the Bible after being "chosen" to go and bear fruit that will remain. Tradition gives a martyr's death to all but the apostle John. Our Church is founded on the initial witness of these disciples. It is a witness to Christ's love and the challenge is as difficult now as it was back then. AMEN
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