Do in a pinch

A Reflection on the Feast of Matthias the Apostle

Being an alternate or backup is either a disappointment or a relief. Maybe that’s obvious, but there’s not many of us that are ambivalent about it. If you are an alternate member of a committee or team, your feelings about it are entirely determined by how much you wanted to be the first choice for the job. On the other hand, if you are an alternate for jury service, your bills and home responsibilities might make you hope and pray that your phone doesn’t ring.

I took a student leadership role in undergrad. I applied for the position. I interviewed. I wanted it. But when decision-day came, I had no news. No rejection, no invitation. Nothing. Days passed and nothing was said. The Monday after, my phone rang. “Are you still willing to serve?” I heard.

“Absolutely! I thought you must have went with someone else.

“Well, we extended the offer to someone but they decided to accept a different role.”

Ouch. I was Plan B for them. It was a bit painful going in knowing I was not the original plan, not the dream team. I was available and would do in a pinch.

Today the Church remembers an apostle who was in much the same situation. Matthias joins the 11 to restore the number of the apostolic band to 12 after a casting of lots on the eve of Pentecost. From the Scriptures, we know precisely two things about him: he had followed Jesus from the time around the baptism by John the Baptist and remained until the Lord ascended. Matthias was not even the only one like that in the Ascension community. But he is put forward with Joseph “Barsabbas” Justus, and the apostles pray, cast lots, and add Matthias to their number. The man was available and could do in a pinch.

It turned out that I would be Plan B again a few years later getting my start in church planting. What was a providential grace for me was in fact, a case of a qualified substitute for the situation. A priest had begun a work of love to lead a ministry outreach team to local children, blessing and serving them well. He recruited and energized over 20 people to join in the work, actively discipling children and youth. For reasons well beyond his control, he was unable to continue ministering. The team operated with the competent leadership of their deacon for a whole year. Then I was brought in.

I was not ordained. I was freshly graduated. I barely knew the church and I knew even less about the ministry they were doing. And, it turned out, that my skillset and the skillset of the previous pastor were pretty much on opposite ends of the gifting scale.

We don’t know much of anything about how Matthias fit in the dynamics of the Twelve Apostles. And, to be honest, it wouldn’t matter. Pentecost came and everything they knew about themselves and their patterns of ministry, was shaken up by the Holy Spirit. According to tradition, Matthias remained in Jerusalem ministering for many years. Perhaps even the longest of the Twelve. It was long enough that some like Eusebius believed he died there in old age.

But the greater consensus of the Church is that he went northward, perhaps to Cappadocia, but eventually into the Caucasus mountains and Georgian highlands. Egyptians had settled there years before and called it Aethiopia. Matthias went and proclaimed the Gospel to them and performed the apostolic signs and wonders to announce the reign of Christ in Roman-occupied borderlands. By tradition, he was beheaded and buried inside the Roman fortress at Gonio on the shores of the Black Sea, and his grave remains there to this day.

Being unknown and unexpected is not the same as being uncalled or unprepared. The Good Shepherd who watches over the flock of God knows those he has called. He pours the Spirit out in abundance to stir up and empower many for service. There is never a time, thank God, where I am the only one who can fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. There is never a time where being the backup makes me less anointed. There is never a time where stepping in to a gap makes the harvest less abundant. If anything, it means God still has more to give.

Don’t be afraid to do in a pinch. The Father blesses it.