Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

Lectionary: 564

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.

We celebrate the Apostle Matthias each year as we anticipate Pentecost. He was the thirteenth man chosen to replace Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord. The disciples might not forget the treason but they would at least fill the empty spot with a more worthy successor. 

Peter and his companions, even before the Holy Spirit came upon them in tongues of flame, had no intention of forgetting the Lord or of allowing the arrangements he had made to be dismantled. If Jesus wanted a "college of twelve" to enjoy particular authority during his ministry and after his death and resurrection, they would maintain it in his absence after his Ascension. Later, under the pressures of long distant travel and virulent persecution, they would let the "college of twelve" go as a more practical system of authority emerged. 

Matthias represents the decision of the apostles to keep the faith within a formal "body" of twelve men. There is no soul without a body, no breath without lungs, and so they restored the body of Twelve in preparation for the Breath of the Holy Spirit. 

Whenever I am chairing a meeting, or arriving early to attend one, I look at the room and its chairs. Will this arrangement of chairs serve our purpose? If we're to meet as a group of equals, then the chairs should form a circle. No one should sit elsewhere in the room for they will be outside the circle. They may feel unwelcome to add to the conversation; and, if they speak up, their voices may be regarded as intrusive. Some will not even look at them as they speak, nor will the out-sided see the response on the faces of those whose backs are turned. 

If the chairperson has particular authority in the group, their chair should be placed in a commanding position where they can register each person's presence and response. 

The physical body makes a difference. 

Some people might say that everyone should regard those outside the circle as equally important. They think the right spirit will overcome those physical handicaps. But we don't live in the Land of Should. We live in the Land of Is, and seating arrangements matter. 

Jesus acknowledged that fact of life when he spoke of the modest guest who is honored with a position of prestige. The whole group is disrespected if a worthy member is denied the respect they're due.

Because the Church honors the physical presence of the Risen Lord Jesus, we go the extra mile to show it in our attitudes, arrangements and actions.