Praise to the God who disturbs us.
May 12th 2024.
Today I want to try to unpack the story of the election of Matthias in the second reading.
Here’s what we know.
Peter stands up in front of about a hundred and twenty folk and gives a little speech. He lets them know that there is going to be an election to replace Judas.
“Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as a guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.
Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”
Two nominations were received. 1. Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and 2. Matthias. known as …. well … just … Matthias.
Now … Did these gentlemen know that they were going to be nominated? Were they lobbied over a long leisurely lunch of fish, wine, lamb and olives?
Did they have any idea that this very day God was going to disturb them?
A suitable prayer is then offered which is good, right, healthy and essential.
“Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”
Notice please they are not saying exactly where it is that Judas has gone … Judas is now God’s problem just as surely as you and I will one day be God’s problem. Are God’s problem.
Then they cast lots.
This was a familiar practice for the Jews because it was the way priests were chosen for service in the temple. The 800-1000 priests who were assembled at a given time for a week’s service in the Temple all wrote their name on rocks and the rocks were put into a big container and shaken until one came out. The name on the rock would be the one chosen to preside over the morning or evening sacrifice or serve at the altar of incense. In this case, they put the names Matthias and Joseph also called Barsabbas (Son of the Sabbath) or Justus (the Just One) on rocks and shook them out and the lot fell to Matthias and he was constituted among the apostles. Here is something important for us to grasp. God doesn’t always choose the people who would seem most likely. Just as no one would have predicted that among the apostles there would be, fishermen, tax collectors and relative nobodies, so here if it were a decision solely of men rather than of God then Matthias would not have been chosen above someone who had already earned two nicknames because of the way he lived the faith.
He had the nickname Son of the Sabbath and also the Just One. This was an outstanding candidate who had great credentials. But God’s ways are not our ways.
Something else that is important.
Matthias was not somehow better than Joseph. God did not somehow love Matthias more than Joseph. It’s just that God wanted Matthias for this specific role.
Which has implications for us in 2024.
It’s not that we’re better than others, or more loved by God than others. We were allotted to become more aware of that love of God — “Just as the Father loves me,” Jesus says today, “so I love you” — and to have the chance to live it through Christ’s Mystical Body. But with that gift comes a task: you and I are called to pass on the knowledge of that treasure. Just like God chose the Jews as the people to receive his revelation so that one day that light could be brought to all nations, so God has allotted each of us to receive the gift of Himself, his words, and his presence, so that we may bring these marvellous gifts to others and others to God. Our names have been written on him who is the “stone rejected by the builders who has become the cornerstone.” Our names have been written on the rock on whom Jesus built his Church and are united in communion with Peter and his successors our bishops.
Likewise, we need to be people who are able not just to tell people he is alive, but to show people he is alive.
Something else to think about: those two gentlemen were disturbed by God that day. Things changed for them. I wonder if Justus went home bitter, angry and disappointed and I wonder if Matthias wondered what on earth he had done allowing his name to go forward.
Whatever the coming days and weeks brought for these two chaps, God had disturbed, tousled and ruffled them.
And I suspect he continues to agitate, interrupt and disturb us. Rarely through the spectacular and the life-changing, but always in the mundane and the tedious.
We give thanks for this almost imperceptible continuous activity that troubles and annoys us. Praise to the God who disturbs us.