It may be Bede’s day, but my thoughts are still about Mathias, about whom I preached yesterday at Emmanuel Church, Geneva, Switzerland, for baptism and confirmations. With some editing, here goes:

Peter said, “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 must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” (Acts 1: 21-22)

The immediate issue is the suicide of Judas. Having betrayed Jesus, he apparently could no longer live with himself. We might linger at the mystery of this man, disciple of Jesus, described in various ways, most damningly by the writer of the Gospel of John. But as Peter says, they need a replacement for Judas, right now.

The qualifications of this person are interesting. It needs to be a man (!), and one who has been part of the Jesus movement since the baptism of John, where it all began for them. This points to a reality that the Gospels mention but do not linger over, that John the Baptist baptized Jesus and those who would become his disciples. And this man must have stayed the course with Jesus through his ups and downs, right up through the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of the Lord.

And he is to replace not just any disciple, but one of the Twelve. In other words, he is to become an apostle. The difference is this: a disciple is someone who is learning about Jesus, an apostle is sent with the duty of telling the story of Jesus. The word “apostle” means “sent with a message.”

Now there were only twelve apostles, including this Mathias, who appears only in this story to replace Judas and disappears just as quickly. There are a few stories about him, told much later, that he went to Ethiopia to preach the Good News, but that is all. Of course, the number of apostles grew, especially to include Paul, who himself mentions several others he calls apostles, including some women.

But it is significant that Peter sets out the requirement that the one to be elected has to have been among the first who knew Jesus when he was with John, and who stuck it out until the Ascension. There are only a few people who qualify, in particular the Twelve, but a few others also, men and women. Luke tells us that when they went to Jerusalem to pray in the upper room and wait for the promised Holy Spirit, they were a total of one hundred twenty, including Jesus’ mother, Mary. But only a few qualified to be replacements of Judas.

Why am I insisting on this? The reason is very simple and very basic. Our entire faith depends solely on these people, who were the witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus. It doesn’t matter what flavor of Christianity you belong to, or whether you understand what it is they encountered (they didn’t, other than that it was really Jesus). We all believe the apostles, or we are not Christians.

We ask as part of the Baptismal Covenant,

“Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers?” (1979 Book of Common Prayer, page 305) This is a direct quote of Acts chapter 2, verse 42. It is in the apostles’ teaching—their witness to the resurrection—that we place our faith, and the Bible contains this witness and this teaching. It is their fellowship—what we call today their communion or koinonia—that we belong to, and to which we devote ourselves. They taught us to baptize and to celebrate the Eucharist, to break bread according to Jesus’ command. And they taught us to pray, as he taught them, especially, “our Father…”

Everyone knows the story of St Thomas the Apostle, the one who doubted. I was ordained on his feast day twenty-four years ago, and he has been ever since a favorite of mine. I agree with his doubt. His other appearances in the Gospels show him to be an intelligent man. When he came back to the upper room from some errand, he found all the others jumping up and down and saying that Jesus is alive. He thought, as I would have thought and you would have too, that they had gone mad with grief. A week later he found out differently for himself. Do you think he actually stuck a finger into the wounds of Christ’s body, as he said he needed to in order to accept what the other apostles had witnessed?

Jesus did not hold his skepticism against him. But he did say what is still true today, what this baptism and these confirmations are showing forth again: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

We have not seen, yet we believe. In believing we all are now the newest generation of apostles, blessed in ways they were not.

Loved and blessed and fed and sent.

Sent with that same message as the first apostles:

“Alleluia, Christ is risen!”

“The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

[graphic from answers.com article on Mathias]