October 10, 2014

Acts 1:15-26 Restoring the Twelve

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 “Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. 18 (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akel′dama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘Let his habitation become desolate,
and let there be no one to live in it’; and ‘His office let another take.’

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 men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsab′bas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthi′as. 24 And they prayed and said, “Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast 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 Matthi′as; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.

Apostles
The Apostles: “I am the vine, you are the branches”

During His earthly ministry, Jesus had many disciples, but He deliberately chose the Twelve to demonstrate that the mystical restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel was about to unfold.  God’s election of Israel was now to be fulfilled in Kingdom of God open to all.

Restoring the Twelve was symbolically crucial for the very beginning of the apostolic preaching, but it was not a permanent institution (the death apostles later did not open the way for additional appointments). What was crucial in the job description of the Twelve—and what distinguished them from other apostles, including Paul—was that they could testify as eyewitnesses to Jesus.

“So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 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.”

The Twelve could say that the Jesus they had seen, heard and touched, and with whom they had walked, shared meals, prayers and worship, was the same Jesus they saw arrested, crucified, dead, buried and alive again. This first apostolic witness to the historical, physical reality of Jesus remains the bedrock of Christian faith. 

How Matthias was chosen draws the special attention of Saint John Chrysostom. He notes that making decisions by lot was a time-limited method: after the descent of the Holy Spirit the apostles would have within them the power of the Spirit to discern the way they should go. Saint John is impressed too by the collaborative process that brings together the “hierarchy”—Peter and the eleven—with the wider body of disciples.

Peter defers the decision to the whole body, and in this way he makes the elected men objects of reverence and at the same time keeps himself from sowing resentment among the rest. For such occasions always give rise to great evils.

Chaplain Candidate
Commissioning a Second Lieutenant, Chaplain Candidate

Update

The commissioning of Matthew Fuhrman went off without a hitch, and Jessica sent photos of the event. 

His Beatitude returned to the Chancery last night after the Diocese of the West Assembly in Phoenix.