Following up on my initial musings about Matthias, here is the outline for the ex tempore homily I preached on Wednesday.

Texts: Acts 1:15-26; John 15:1, 6-16

1.      Matthias is unknown in the NT except here. Non-Biblical traditions about Matthias conflict.

2.      Disciples’ first priority was the reconstitution of “the twelve.” (Note that this is before Pentecost!)

3.      Method of selection is unusual…

4.      The twelve only appear explicitly in Acts 6:1-6.

5.      The subsequent role of the Twelve is unclear. By Acts 15, leadership seems to have passed to others.

6.      The importance of this passage for us is that it is the first instance of the Church passing on leadership roles—this continuity of leadership is another way of saying the church is “apostolic.”

7.      We have a variety of ways of choosing leaders, but always in the context of prayer.

8.      All leaders in the Church—lay and ordained—stand in the apostolic heritage, maintaining the faith and order of the Church.

9.      Test of leadership is not found so much in the manner in which it is constituted, but (with discipleship) in the fruits that it bears.

10.  Jesus appointed his friends to go and bear fruit that that will last. Matthias was the inheritor of that charge, and so are we. May we be faithful to this heritage.