"Picked Last" (Acts 1:12-26)

"Picked Last" (Acts 1:12-26)
Preached 5/13/18 at St. Peter's United Church of Christ (Carmel, Indiana)

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Matthias Chosen to Replace Judas

12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

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.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,

‘Let his homestead become desolate,
    and let there be no one to live in it’;

and

‘Let another take his position of overseer.’

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.

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"Picked Last"

It will surprise no one to learn that I was never the first kid picked for my elementary school dodgeball team. I also wasn’t the second person picked, or the third, you get the idea. This being one of those hard lessons for a sensitive little boy was compounded by the type of ball we used [show ball]. They were hard to throw and it straight-up hurt to get hit with it.

If always being picked last and getting stung by the ball weren’t bad enough, as I see it, there is no real reason, outside of tradition, to even play dodgeball. I asked Molly if they still play at her elementary school and, when she confirmed that they did, I asked what she liked and didn’t like about the game. What did she like? Hitting other people. What didn’t she like? Getting hit by other people. And we claim not to understand why violence is romanticized. At least the rubber balls have been replaced with foam ones I’m told. I’m no snowflake and I like other aggressive sports, but in these sports there is at least some strategy involved. Dodgeball features slow, not fully developed kids waiting around like sitting ducks until there is no one left standing. Finally, some basic internet research revealed that there is little exercise value in the sport. Playing for a half hour burns a mere 150 calories. Playing soccer for the same amount of time burns double or even triple that amount. Why do we play this game?! Because of nostalgia and tradition, dodgeball lives on.

Lest I continue on my soapbox about elementary school trauma, what does any of this have to do with our passage in Acts 1? Like dodgeball, just thinking about this passage gets me a little angry. Not typically a melodramatic reader of the Bible, I wanted to live with this anger in preparation for this week, I wanted to get to the bottom of what was driving it.

The story unfolds like this: in the wake of Judas literally exploding as the result of accepting a plot of land for betraying Jesus, the remaining eleven apostles believe they must fulfill scripture found in an ancient Psalm and choose a replacement, restoring the number of apostles to the original twelve. Jesus would have typically made this appointment but, being the season of Easter, we recall that he is no longer  here to do so. The apostles pray for God’s guidance in choosing between two nominees - Justus and Matthias - ultimately hoping God intervenes in the casting of lots our children demonstrated for us a few moments ago. The exercise complete, we learn that Justus quite literally draws the short stick and Matthias becomes the new apostle.

The decision as to who replaces Judas seems to be the most important post-resurrection political decision of the church. It’s the churches first General Synod or General Assembly meeting if you will. What do the apostles do? They leave it up to chance and claim that God was behind the answer. Surely we can do better than this. Why do we play this game!

XXX had the bravery this morning in reading her confirmation paper to share in front of this audience how there were certain parts of the Bible she struggled to get behind. Inspired by that bravery this is one of those passages where I have to agree. This chain of events seems pretty absurd.

Why did the apostles play this game? Could they really not get the job done with eleven apostles? They probably could have. Did they really think God was intervening in the casting of lots? I doubt it.  I suspect they went through the electoral motions for the same reasons we still play dodgeball...nostalgia and tradition.

Luke, the author of Acts, is likely trying to maintain consistency and a clear line of authority. Luke loves these attributes, especially with structures and systems. As human beings, today and in antiquity, we love consistency. This community of Christians had just lost Jesus, returning the apostolate to twelve members provided that comfort in the midst of trauma we still strive for today. We probably don’t need to take Christmas decorations to grandma in the nursing home, but it comforts her and it comforts ourselves, a gracious act of love with no harm done. In the same way, restoring the apostles to twelve gives us that historic balance relating clear back to the twelve tribes of Israel. It may not be needed, but it gives us comfort.

This conclusion is all warm and fuzzy, but we are left with the last picked, Justus, and a huge theological problem. Remember, the holy spirit isn’t a thing we can all access yet. The day of Pentecost hasn’t arrived, so there are just three theological conclusions we can come to based on the chain of events we are presented with. By deduction, we have to believe one of the following: (1) Despite Peter’s prayer, neither God nor the Holy Spirit were involved in this selection, that’s the theory I subscribe to,  (2) The Holy Spirit isn’t really needed. God can do what God wants without any assistance from the third leg of the Trinity or (3) this select group of eleven men were special, the only people in the world with the ability to interpret God’s will through the Spirit before it was poured out for us all. I suspect Luke and the group of apostles subscribed to this theory. I think all three options are rough, and ultimately unnecessary.

The cost of creating our comfort is that we also create losers. The last picked - the also-rans, the Justus’ of the world. In this situation, we could forgive Justus for feeling unwanted, for bowing out and not wanting to play the game any longer. We don’t know much about Justus, compared to the volumes written about the ministry of Matthias. We do know that the Catholic Church has inducted him to sainthood, so we can assume he didn’t take the path of withdrawal, still making contributions - maybe even greater contributions - doing ministry that celebrated the skills he brought to the table. What do we know about the losers we have created in our lives for those moments of comfort? Have we cared for them and built them back up, or have we looked the other way? Have we made the moments of comfort worth the sacrifice, or do we allow them to become fleeting moments in time?

The process in Acts 1 still gets me angry, even after talking it through with you all. It still all seems pretty absurd. The absurdity of chapter one, though, may just be what gives us chapter two.

For me, the redeeming quality of this passage is that while full of problems, at least it unfolded in community with one another. The apostles, despite all of the rivalries and personality differences between them, came together as a community of believers to make the decision, a principle that remains important in our faith tradition today. The reformed tradition believes that a community of believers gathered together can interpret the will of God for the positive transformation of the world. We just need a mechanism to hear that voice. Acts 1 is a story that is generally jumped over for the far more entertaining story of Pentecost. That’s next week, for now we are left uncomfortably living within a cautionary tale about how bureaucratic and arbitrary we can make our faith seem. There are some processes that don’t make sense - sometimes we are called to transform them, and sometimes we are called to breathe deeply and roll with it. Despite my disdain for dodgeball, an eye roll is probably the appropriate response, saving my energy for causes that are truly transformational. The new realm Jesus has promised is not far off, we just need a little more help getting there. In that world, it’s my prayer, that we won’t need to roll the eyes at silly things anymore.

Professor Willie Jennings of the Yale Divinity School puts it like this: “Whatever ideas of leadership Peter and the other apostles were imagining, they could not anticipate what God was about to do. A common thing, a selection process, has been placed in an extraordinary setting, in the upper room before Pentecost. From this moment forward every common thing of the disciples of Jesus, every administrative act, every bureaucratic gesture exists in the posture of waiting and stands in the shadow cast by the Holy Spirit and within the necessary work of prayer.”

It’s a fitting end to the Easter season, really. For the last several weeks, we have been celebrating the implications of Christ having left us, having been resurrected. With the promise of the Holy Spirit, to be fulfilled soon, we long for a day where the absurd and arbitrary are absent. What would we remove? Avoid? Look the other way at? And what would we choose to transform about the world around. If we find ourselves in the position of Justus, the last picked, how will we react? Together, let’s long for the spirit-filled life when we realize Jesus never left our community at all. Amen.