Chosen and appointed

 

After Judas betrayed our Lord, the Apostles gathered together to pick someone to succeed him. They decided it should be someone who had been with them from the beginning.  They prayed for guidance and cast lots “and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the Eleven Apostles” (Acts 1:26).

We can only imagine how utterly incomplete and broken "the Twelve" must have felt after having one of their own betray not only the Lord but his brother apostles as well.  What better way to heal that rift, that open wound, than by selecting another to take the place of the apostate Judas.  And so Peter, who was no stranger himself to what it meant to be a denier of the Lord, called out to his brethren quoting the Psalms (Psalm 69:25): “Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it.”  And (Psalm 109:8) “May another take his office.”  And so it was that Matthias was elected and played a key role in making "the Twelve" once again a complete and restored body of apostles who would guide and shape the early Church (Acts 1:15-26). 

Little is known about the ministry of Saint Matthias.  He is thought to have been killed for his faith, either by stoning or by beheading or both, which is why he’s honored as a martyr.

As we honor Saint Matthias, we honor more than just a man who became an Apostle and preached the Gospel with His life, we also honor the divine plan by which God has chosen to use weak and humble instruments to further His Kingdom.

“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” (John 15:16)

This certainly applied to Saint Matthias, as well as to all of us to one extent or another.  It was God who “chose” Saint Matthias, as well as each and every one of us, for the purpose of going forth to “bear fruit that will remain.” But this form of good fruit, the fruit that has eternal consequences, can only be produced when we ask for it from the Father in the name of His Son Jesus.

Asking the Father to produce good fruit through us in the name of Jesus His Son doesn’t mean that we get to choose what we ask of the Father.  Rather, asking “in Jesus’ name” must be understood to mean that we ask the Father only what the Son has asked.  We choose to share in the one eternal prayer of the Son that the will of the Father be fulfilled.  And in praying this way, we commit ourselves to unity with His holy will.

Sometimes we can all find ourselves asking God for this favor or that.  We can place before Him our preference and our will.  But if we want to be used by God, to become an instrument of His grace so as to bear an abundance of good fruit, then we must humbly set aside our own will and allow God to be the one Who chooses our mission and appoints us to His holy task.  Detachment from our own will and humble submission to the will of God is the only way to bring forth God’s Kingdom.

How does this process of healing and renewal take place for us today as it did in the apostolic times of the early community? 

The world we live in is pretty complicated.  We get so many mixed and conflicting messages.  Our Religion and our faith are constantly under attack.  Political correctness seems to rule the day.  Many basic Christian beliefs are increasingly not accepted, or at the very least, put into question.  The open practice of faith is being challenged at every opportunity.  It appears to me to be similar to what it was in Jesus’s time.  There were Romans and Jews and religious tension.  There were Sadducees and Pharisees and rules and laws with different interpretations.  In both times, the situation can seem intolerable with no way forward.  We see in John’s gospel that Jesus entered into that complex world, as He does today, and gave His disciples a simple, yet profound message.  Love.  He tells them they’re loved, and they should love in return (John 15:9-17).

Pretty basic stuff…but it cuts through all the noise.   Suffering, confusion, mixed messages and rejection will always be with us.  His answer to all that is that He loves us, and we should love others.  Then almost knowing that we might stray or become disheartened, that we will be tested in and by the world, He encouraged them (and us) to "remain" in His love.  Seemingly a reminder to just stay close to Him through thick and thin.  There is so much in the world we can’t control, but to love is our choice, something we can control.  He has so often shown us that He won’t abandon us.  To remain with Him is our choice.

Our reward for loving, Jesus tells us, is a joy that’s “complete”.

No confusion, no lack of clarity, hard to misinterpret.  Love is the answer.  The way forward.  It will bring us joy.  Good for us to remember when we’re trying to overthink things or when we wonder how to respond in a world not always on our side.  I was at mass once and rather than a homily, the priest just said, “Let’s take a few minutes to reflect on the readings we just heard.”  Maybe we can try a similar exercise.  Just sit and repeat the following…. (your name here), Jesus loves you.  How can I stay in that love and bring that love into the world?