Filling the Gaps

Acts 1:15-26

Jesus had originally called twelve disciples including Judas. So after Judas’s betrayal and his subsequent death there was a void that the Christians community felt led to fill. “And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26). Matthias does not play a significant role in the story that Acts tells. In fact the deacons set aside in chapter 6––Stephen and Philip especially––will be far more prominent in the account as it unfolds. But as is so often the case in scripture it is not the who that is important so much as the what.

Choosing a replacement for Judas was an act of faith based on the assumption that there was work to be done, even if Jesus was no longer bodily present to guide that work. Not only that, but the believers trusted God to lead them to the right person, someone with a heart for ministry, someone who had known Jesus and had witnessed first hand the things the Lord accomplished. Here, also, was a household of faith working to set things right.

From time to time your or I may be called upon to fill a gap, to offer our talents to the use of the wider community and meet a particular need. When we do so we demonstrate our awareness that there is work to be done, we display confidence in God to lead us to the place we are needed, and we support the household of faith as it seeks to set things right. The church will always need people like Matthias and by God’s grace I believe we will find them.

Prayer: Lord, help us each to serve you in faithful obedience and according to your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Men In White

Acts 1:1-14

Do you ever read one verse or a passage of scripture and find yourself thinking about another? That happened to me with our reading from Acts for this morning where the writer shares with us the events surrounding Jesus’ ascension. “While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:10-11). Keeping in mind that the author of Acts also wrote the gospel of Luke, I found myself reflecting on verses from that gospel’s account of the resurrection. “While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen’” (Luke 24:4-5). In each case two men dressed in bright robes suddenly appear to offer insight into the events that have just taken place and to draw the attention of Jesus’ followers back to present moment.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

“Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?”

Yes (the men are saying) you have witnessed something transcendent, but now it is time to get back to living as God’s people and sharing the good news. Don’t remain focused on what has happened here, but take what you have learned and carry it with you so that others may come to understand.

We, too, may be tempted to remain focused on the mountaintop experiences, the emotionally charged events of our lives, but at some point we must move along. At times like these the men in white remind us to redirect our gaze toward the world around us, a world in need of good news.

Prayer: Lord, keep us always moving forward in the faith focused on serving you by serving others. In Jesus’ name. Amen.