Wednesday in Lent 1 [Feast of St. Matthias]

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE
        - Acts 1:15-26
        - St. Matthew 11:25-30

Shield of St. Matthias, beheaded for the faith

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. (2 Jn. 1)

 

This evening, we hear Jesus speak from His Epistle and Gospel as we ponder St. Matthias

 

As with all celebrations of saints, our lessons from them are two-fold. One that we learn from them what great faith Christ gives us, and two, that we follow their examples. In the case of St. Matthias today, his example is that of the loser.

 

Picture our reading from Acts this way: First off, St. Matthias is a replacement. Let another take his place or office, says verse 20. Matthias is second string, at best. Secondly, Matthias is one of two to be chosen, seemingly not special enough to stand out on his own. 

 

Thirdly, he is not even the 13th Apostle (Judas, 12, replacement, 13, etc), for even though St. Matthias is chosen by the Apostles by lot and with God’s direction, God chooses His own 13th man 9 chapters later, in the conversion of St. Paul.

 

With that disappointment, we never hear about St. Matthias again. Or at least holy Scripture does not mention him again. He is not just the one picked last for the dodge-ball game, he is picked last and then not even needed for the game.

 

What a blessing St. Matthias is! In a world full of braggarts, selfies, and self-worship, St. Matthias teaches that behind the scenes is best. Did God reject his apostleship? No. He confirmed it through St. Peter and the 12 as Acts 1:26 says, “…and he was added to the eleven…”

 

This is the lesson of Abel. Who was Abel? What did he accomplish? Who were his wife and children? He was the second son, the leftovers. His name means “vanity”, as his mother named him. Yet, God had regard to his offering of the lamb and Abel’s blood cries out to God, even after he is killed (Gen. 4:4, 10).

 

As we heard 2 Sunday’s ago, David is the eighth son. A leftover, an extra. He is not invited to feasts or special occasions, because someone has to mind the lambs. Samuel asks, “Are these all the sons you have?” And Jesse replies, “Well we have one more, but he’s useless.” (1 Sam 16:11)

 

The entire nation of Israel, likewise, was unwanted in the earth for they are a stubborn and stiff-necked people (Ex. 32:9, Isa 48:4, and others). Who wants those types in their cities? And yet the Lord says in Exodus 4:22, “Israel is my Son”.

 

And it is the Son that reveals this truth, not just in Word and deed, but Body and Blood. Jesus is both first and last in many ways. He is first in line to feel God’s wrath in full, so that we would not even find a place in that line. Jesus is last place for God’s blessing and inheritance, in order that it be used up on us first. Jesus is first to rise again from the dead so that we may follow that train and He will be the last one on earth before it is remade, to get all of us out first.

 

The joke is on those picked first. The joke is on the wise and understanding. For the Gospel, the salvific preaching that God forgives sins for free in the cross of His Son, is for the infant, for the last, and for the simple. 

 

Of what use was St. Joseph? Jesus already had a heavenly Father, what need for an earthly one? Yet in that extreme humility and quietness, St. Joseph raises the Son of God, teaching Him wisdom and what’s necessary to live a life. Though his role was out of the limelight, his part was crucial.

 

Likewise, with St. Matthias. His role is crucial because he is to spread the Message. Not his own, filled with self-promotion and self-aggrandizement, but Christ’s message which is not about St. Matthias at all. Neither is it about St. Joseph, Israel, St. David, or St. Abel. 

 

It is that the Son reveals the Father to the world, for their salvation. It is the light burden and easy yoke of the forgiveness of sins. It is rest from constant slander and administration. It is the grace given to those poor sinners who have the Gospel preached to them and repent.

 

“The first shall be last, and the last shall be first”, Jesus says in St. Matthew 20:16 and elsewhere. Not that we strive to be last, but that we repent that we are last in our sins, we believe that Christ became even more last than us in His crucifixion, and proclaim that death first, in His Supper on the Altar until He returns again (1 Cor 11:26).

 

Christ is the first and the Last. No matter whether we have big parts to play or small parts. Whether we start many churches like St. Paul or “strive to live quietly” (1 Thess 4:11), the Word of God that is more certain (2 Pet 1:19) and is ours in every case.

 

And that Word has taken flesh and dwelt among us. He has given His Body and Blood in a pledge and promise of immortality. You are necessary to proclaim the message of the Apostles, “…beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection”, as our Lord proclaims through St. Peter in Acts 1.

 

The Office now dwells among us in a sure and certain hope, a promise for life and not death. “…a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 6:19-20).

 

In Christ, you are not a replacement, neither is St. Matthias. You are crucial, critical to the Lord’s plans of salvation. In Christ, you are also a replacement, however. For Christ has replaced Himself with you, giving you His crown of honor and glory and justifying you by grace, through faith.