Like a scene from a bad horror film, Matthias found himself in a dark, cellar-like room, chained in place by the ankles, surrounded by the zombie-like groans of men and women too drugged up to realize they’d been captured. Light from a doorway spilled into the room as two guards entered from the side. They began stooping over, checking the tags on the wrists of all the prisoners. “Oh, here he is,” one of them said, to which the other replied, “Mmm… a nice, plump one.” They then heaved their victim onto a cart while tossing recipe ideas back and forth.
Finding himself a prisoner in a dungeon in Mirmidonia, a city known for its cannibalism, you might be surprised to learn Matthias had not been driven mad with fear. There he was, in the very pit of despair, the captive of a most heinous society, and yet Matthias possessed a quiet confidence. Upon being seized, he had called out to the Lord and the Lord answered him promising his eventual escape to safety, after 27 days... As the guards left and the door swung to a close, darkness once again fell across the room… Sitting there, waiting in the bleak shadows, he drew hope from the promise of one day setting foot in the sunlight, again.
Apocryphal lore tells us that the Apostles cast lots to divvy up regions for going out and spreading the Gospel. The lot to go and evangelize the city of cannibals, fell to Matthias. This was his second great twist of fate by such means. His first landed him as the 12th apostle, replacing Judas, as we heard in today’s reading from Acts. In fact, little is actually known of St. Matthias, except for this.
We know he met the criteria laid out by Peter for Judas’ replacement, which means he must have been a follower of Jesus from the time of Jesus’ baptism by John to his death, resurrection, and ascension. From this we can gather that the remaining apostles must have considered it important that their newest colleague had witnessed Jesus’ entire life and ministry. Also, there must have been a sense that Judas’ successor needed to be strong where he had been deficient. We know this weighed on their minds because Peter recounts Judas’ fate, before their selection of candidates.
In today’s Acts passage, we learn what Judas did with his ill-gotten winnings. He had purchased a field, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, apparently intending to spend his remaining days forging a livelihood from the land – not a wholly un-noble sounding endeavor. Judas’ hunger for independence and security, his retirement plan, if you will, seemed like reasonable aims, until we consider the acts they drove him to… Rather than depending on the welfare of strangers as Jesus had taught, he tried to secure his life by the sweat of his brow – an impulse we, too, no doubt feel. In trying to pluck his fate from God’s hand—in his break from Christ and Christ’s community—we see the first appearance of schism in the Church born from such a seemingly reasonable impulse.
Matthias, then, presents us with a portrait, of a life wholly given over to his Lord. By meeting Peter’s requirements we know he had spent years journeying by Jesus’ side, most likely, at great personal sacrifice. And not unlike like the friends I used to have who would tour the country following bands like the Grateful Dead or Phish, such nomadic ways weren’t likely profitable, not even in 1st century Judea. Also, during those years, he stuck by faithfully even though he never wore the fancy title “apostle.” Holding fast to what he had attained, Matthias exemplifies both humility of spirit and dedication, as is so well captured by the story of his mission to the cannibals.
And like his time in Mirmidonia, we too find ourselves in a culture seemingly caked in unhealthy consumption, promoting concern for self over the interests of others. We too are tasked with bearing witness to the risen Christ in a culture that would rather continue withering in its ways of death.
This Lent, if we find ourselves (as I have so many times) feeling as if we are counting down the days until the Light returns, let us take heart in the witness of brother Matthias, who reminds us that, truly, as members of Christ’s body, our strength can come from recognizing our weaknesses… our need for one another... and for fidelity to Christ. And as John reminds us in today’s Gospel, our strength to glorify God, bearing fruit in due season, comes not from our own wills, but by abiding in our common foundation as branches on Christ’s vine. So let us, therefore, cling onto that which God has grafted us, that we might bear fruit, like Matthias, in Christ’s name.
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