Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, ¹⁶ “Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— ¹⁷ for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

²¹ So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” ²³ So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

            The theme of Acts 1:15-17, 21- 26 is the fate of Judas and the selection of the twelfth apostle. This segment is an invitation for an honest look at the ambiguity of the Christian community.  We are not always faithful followers of Jesus.  One can often find betrayal within the family of God. The church had weak beginnings. It was small. It had betrayal and denial at its court. The disciples failed to take their stand with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Throughout its history, the church has fallen short of its ideal of standing with Jesus. It gives an opportunity to reflect upon mundane matters like business meetings. Yet, it also raises the question of the importance of the church remaining an apostolic church. It raises the question of prayer in our individual and corporate life.

Garrison Keillor told a story about himself as a teenager.  Walking down the sidewalk one day, he saw this unbelievably beautifully woman coming toward him.  A stunningly beautiful woman.  What could he do?  He spied a large, white Cadillac parked next to the sidewalk.  Strolling over to the Cadillac, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a dime, put it in the parking meter, and leaned confidently against the Cadillac, smiling at the approaching woman.  To his delight, she returned his smile.  She moved toward him, spoke to him, saying "Thank you," as she got into the Cadillac and drove off. 

            We could read this as a parable. The church is not our Cadillac. We do not own it. As members of the church, we see its value. The church is a precious jewel to many of us. Yet, we cannot compete at the level of a Cadillac. Try as we might, if approach value and significance at the level of our society, we will always fail to impress. The church does not compete at the level, economics, politics, popularity, or status in the way that our society. Whatever the church values, society often views as weak and insignificant. The church we love is a humble instrument in the hands of God. It has weak people in it who sometimes are feeble in following Jesus. It has mundane activities like business meetings that balance innovation with continuity. It does a simple thing like pray. We are servants in the humble place called church.

The Acts of the Apostles begins rather dramatically with the ascension of the risen Christ into heaven (1:6-11). Then the very next episode is a rather ordinary description of the election of Matthias as a replacement apostle (1:15-26). This strikes me as odd. Christ ascends into the clouds. The church responds with a mundane business meeting. No matter how dramatic and “spiritual” the event – even a resurrection or ascension – at some time we must touch down on earth. Jesus is in heaven, but we, servants of Jesus, live here, on earth. We have chores to do, jobs to fill, and bear faithful witness to Jesus until the end. The Nicean Creed refers to the church as apostolic, and we see here that the creed reflects the concern of Luke. The church remains a community that seeks to be in faithful community with the apostles. To do so, it must respond to new challenges of history as well as find ways to remain in continuity with the past.

¹⁵ In those days, Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, retelling the tale of the betrayal and fate of Judas through the lens of scripture. ¹⁶ “Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— ¹⁷ for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” Judas was among those who shared in apostolic ministry. In any discussion of the role of Judas, we need to remember that he was a disciple in the same way as Peter and John. They share the same calling, institution, and mission.[1] The figure of Judas has an important teaching function in the overall outline of Luke's two-volume work. After the temptation of Jesus, Satan had departed from him 'until the appointed hour'.  That time came when he 'entered into' Judas and used him as an instrument against Jesus.  The way in which the fate of Judas is used shows readers not to leave any room for Satan in their own lives.[2]  Yet, as we move toward the desire to replace Judas to bring the number of apostles to Twelve, is this a story about the church’s dire need for continuity, link with tradition, and linkage with the past? We have here an example of the need for innovation, for modification and adaptation in order to meet new challenges. The disciples of Jesus have come to a crossroads. One of the Twelve, the inner circle, has betrayed Jesus. The risen Christ, in these fateful days after Easter, has left his disciples. What now?

Luke now has Peter stipulate careful criteria for the selection of this twelfth man.[3] For Luke, all Christians are disciples, but only one who meets these special requirements is an apostle. Yet, with all the attention given here, the Twelve will have their primary role early in the history of the movement and primarily in Jerusalem.  ²¹ So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” One of the major New Testament functions of Christian leadership, particularly as Acts depicts it, is to ensure continuity. Such leadership insures continuity with origins. The text reminds us that leadership has, as one of its responsibilities, to ensure that there is continuity between the gospel preached today and the gospel as leaders of the church have always proclaimed it since the time of the first apostles. To be an apostle means to see, hear, and touch Jesus Christ.by beholding the glory of Christ. Those who consorted with Jesus during this time and became believers through the resurrection received authorization to proclaim the Gospel.[4] We can see here the importance of the original event of revelation and the importance of reliable witnesses to that revelation. Luke specifies that the selection must come from among those who with the present apostles are witnesses to the resurrection.  Luke identifies that the primary apostolic ministry was to serve as a witness to the resurrection. ²³ So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.[5] ²⁴ Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶ In response to new challenges, they prayed. I would note the simplicity of this prayer. They did not think they had to do anything to get the attention of God. They already had that attention. Prayer was essential to their gathering, rather than an unnecessary and perfunctory action. These are simple words, but they are not idle words. They relate to the specific need of this moment. Thus, prayer is not a particular technique. Prayer occurs in the presence of grace and in the context of specific moments in our lives. Prayer is a time to be oneself in this moment. Prayer is God moving in us through the Spirit. Real praying is the Spirit of God praying in and through us, making us into the likeness of Christ. In the words of Francois Fenelon: "Lord, teach me to pray. Pray thyself in me." Prayer is the breathing of the soul. Yet, prayer is not simply mental telepathy. In this case, we read of a simple prayer moving a community to action. Truly, to pray is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world (Karl Barth). What would it mean for the church to be a "house of prayer?" It makes little sense to claim to love God with all that one is, but then also admit you just cannot manage to spend any time with God. You would not do that to your spouse or best friend. Yet, we find ways of spending little time with God. When we love someone on a human level, we want to spend time with him or her. We make time to be with the beloved.[6] Francis Asbury and generations of itinerant Methodists after him, dismounted from their horses to ask, “God any praying people around?” In many churches, we could ask the same question. Where are the praying people here? The centuries have added to our understanding of prayer. Yet, this segment reflects varying forms of prayer. Studying is a form of prayer, especially the study of Scripture. An ancient Jewish proverb says that an hour of study is in the eyes of God as an hour of prayer. We see that here as Peter reflects upon current events in light of his understanding of Scripture. I can imagine some meditation upon both the situation and the Scripture as part of the process in which Peter engaged his audience. Meditation refers to quiet thinking and reflection about life and God. Meditatio, as tradition has come to view it, included mental exercises such as memorization of scripture, biblical imaging and reflection, and focusing the mind through the mantric repetition of the Jesus Prayer: "Lord have mercy." They then formulated a specific prayer to meet the challenges of a new situation. Prayer is offering ourselves to be what God wants. Prayer is not asking what God can do for me, but listening to what God can do in the world through me. We can see that in the simple prayer the community formulates here. Contemplation, the final form of prayer in the Christian tradition, does not find itself specifically in this text. It refers to the experience of union with God, in which one lays aside thinking and imagining as much as possible and focuses upon God.[7] The good news is that in answer to the apostles’ prayer, Christ gives a new person to share in “this ministry and apostleship.” No challenge the church must face, no difficult new turn in the road, is impossible for the church to meet because of the gracious gifts of God. They cast lots for them. The lot was way of excluding human will, allowing God's hand to select the apostle. The lot fell on Matthias; and the eleven added him to their number to bring the number of original witnesses to the resurrection to twelve. The remaining apostles must now undertake the task of admitting a new member to their exclusive ranks. Note that while Luke's concern may have been to ensure that those earliest on the road for Christ were actual eyewitnesses and would keep the miraculous story straight, the criterion articulated here by Peter would exclude Paul from true apostleship. Prayer had maintained the weak-looking beginnings of this community and now through prayer the apostles trust God to continue building up this newly born body of Christ. Immediately after the death of Judas, the rule for replacing him was that he be a witness to the resurrection and that he be present since the baptism of Jesus. Yet, the way Luke has structured the story of Acts, it becomes clear that Paul really took over the place of Judas and the work abandoned by him. Whether this was the intent of Luke is another question. However, we cannot deny that the man in whose person and work the original apostolic group, now numerically complete, finds its proper and essential completion in Paul.[8]

The church is apostolic as it preserves the gospel of the apostles.  The church is apostolic as it continues the work of the missionary church of altering traditional ways of thinking and living and experiencing constant renewal in order to proclaim the gospel for each new generation and each new world situation. We see devotion to the teaching of the apostles as part of the church from the beginning. It focuses our attention upon continuity and identity, regardless of geography or chronology.

The church has a visible, fractured history. In the situation presented in the text, the church had real concerns. Had Jesus left the church alone? What were they to do with the betrayal and failure of Judas? Their solution was to pray. I feel somewhat sorry for Joseph. He represents the many of us who came in second, all because the dice did not go his way that day. Most of church leadership is a constant struggle between continuity and innovation. God calls church leaders, like pastors, to insure that the church continues to preach the gospel that God delivered to the church. Yet God also calls the church courageously to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit into new areas of ministry and witness. In order to do that, we need leaders who enable us to innovate. This story is about God continuing to care for the historical reality of the church. The church is, for better or worse, the primary form that the Risen Christ has chosen to take in the world.  As an institution, the church is sometimes a pain to us in the church and a pain to those outside the church. Yet, I also suggest that the church is a means of grace to us who gather and to the world. Behind this segment is a promise. Jesus did not leave us alone. In the election of Matthias as a fresh, new leader of the church, Christ showed that he would continue to be with us. He is with us in lots of ways – as that “still small voice,” in the words of scripture, in the hymns and worship of the church, in prayer. He is also with us in the everyday life of the church. He is with us in our leaders of the church. In every age, Christ gives us the leaders we need in order to fulfill his mandate to be his presence in the world, his body, the church.

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[1] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.2 [35.4] 459.

[2] Ludemann, who also says that in tradition, the name Judas Iscariot and the fact that he was a disciple of Jesus is reliable tradition, as probably also could his betrayal of Jesus. Historically, the disciple Judas Iscariot is without doubt a historical person.  He made a decisive contribution to delivering Jesus into the hands of the Jewish authorities.

[3] Ludemann The designation of Jesus' followers as the Twelve is also from tradition.

[4] Barth, Church Dogmatics, III.2 [47.1] 448.

[5] Ludemann When it comes to the election of Matthias, the modern person concerned with history is fumbling in the dark.  It was not necessary for the disciples to restore the number Twelve immediately.  In addition, the twelve rapidly disappear from leadership.  However, Matthias and Joseph were persons of leadership in the early Jerusalem community. The New Testament does not mention Matthias elsewhere. The Twelve fulfilled their mission in Jerusalem.

[6] In his study called Crucified Love: The Practice of Christian Perfection (Nashville: Abingdon, 1989), Robin Maas points out how,

"Just as it makes no sense to tell someone, 'I love you more than anything in the world, but I just can't manage to find the time to be with you,' it makes no sense to claim that we have no time for prayer. When we love someone we naturally want to spend time together; and when we are 'in love' with someone, we make the time to be with our beloved." (49) 

[7] The mystic Guigo II (d. 1188/1193) talked about four rungs in our ladder to God. In ascending order, they are Studying, Meditation, Prayer, Contemplation.

[8] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.2 [35.4] 477-8.