Chosen
Acts 1:12-26
Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the years leading up to his martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis often wrote about “Religionless Christianity.” It is a concept that still gets a lot of air time in theological circles and the church. When Bonhoeffer talked about “Religionless Christianity” he was offering a critique of how human beings have a propensity to form concepts of God for their own self-justification. Bonhoeffer witnessed this in full-view as it played out in 1930’s and 1940’s Germany with the German Church’s support of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi program. Bonhoeffer viewed religion as a problem, it was weak, it was frail, and it could be co-opted by people like Hitler. Religion, he would argue, could never be equated or exist on the same plane as the revelation of God in and as Jesus Christ. Religion confines, excludes, and can even promote violence as it often has – it is an invention made with human hands – whereas the revelation of God in and as Jesus Christ moves to the contrary. Jesus Christ frees, includes, and promotes love of neighbor, love of God, and love of self.
Followers of Jesus Christ today would do well living into this motif, this idea of “Religionless Christianity.” We were not meant to create God in our image but meant to be recreated in the image of Jesus Christ. Our formulations, our confinements, and our doctrines I am sure, provide God with a hearty laugh. And yet there remains a problem. How are we to witness to God (which is clearly part of the call on the early as well as the church today), speak of God in a religionless way, if our attempts will ultimately fail in the end? Swiss theologian and fellow Nazi antagonist Karl Barth put it this way:
“…we ought to speak of God. We are human, however, and so cannot speak of God.
We ought therefore recognize both our obligation and our inability and by that very recognition give God the glory.”
One of the primary themes of the Book of Acts seems to be a “Religionless Christianity.” It was a movement that sought to witness to and speak about God in a very free and humble way. There was improvisation, flexibility, and openness to how God was leading them. The early church, however, did not lack leadership or organization. “Religionless Christianity” is not leadership-less Christianity. Leadership and organization are crucial practices in the early church’s vision to be a witness and foretaste of God’s love and grace. Early church leadership also recognized that humility was the proper disposition they should take as they discerned how God was leading them into God’s future. We see this early on, even in this first chapter of Acts. Judas has betrayed Jesus and the Apostle’s need to fill his place. They establish criteria for succession: the person chosen must have been with Jesus from the beginning and they must have been a witness to his resurrection. They do their due diligence and bring two names forward: a man named Matthias and a man who goes by three names; Joseph, Barsabba, or Justus.
What I love about this scene is the utter dependence early leadership had on the Spirit. They engage in what appears to be a very arbitrary practice of casting lots. Whoever picks the larger lot gets the job of the twelfth apostle. Less we think this is simple superstition enacted through an arbitrary practice don’t miss the leadership angle the Apostle’s demonstrated in both setting up the criteria and proposing two names who fit the criteria. They did their homework – they were co-actors with God in the process. Trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit through both the process and the selection; the lot falls on Matthias and J.B.J. (as I will now call him) is left holding the short straw.
There is no other mention of J.B.J. in the rest of the New Testament and there are only a few very vague references (if they are references to him at all) in the documentation of early church history. That got me thinking: what did J.B.J. do after the lots were cast? Leadership acted and the Spirit spoke. How did J.B.J react? Did he demand a revote? Did he think there was hanging Chad? Did he become bitter or angry? Did he try to invalidate the process? Did he take his marbles and go home? I think it is so interesting that we have no idea and no record about what J.B.J did or what he said when the verdict came down.
Abraham Lincoln’s “unchosen-ness” before his election to the presidency in 1860 is well documented. He lost eight elections and failed at two business ventures. Lincoln is one of the stories many folks use to highlight perseverance and a fighting spirit that doesn’t quit. Lincoln’s losses are only important to history in relationship to his presidential win. If he didn’t win the presidency would we have cared about him the way we do today? Probably not. Lincoln is not the only one like that. How about Charles Darwin who was such a poor student his father once told him he was a “disgrace to the family”? How about Albert Einstein who was asked by a teacher to drop out of high school because he was failing all of his subjects save mathematics? We know Darwin and Einstein’s story of struggle against the backdrop of their success. J.B.J. is different. There is no success story that we know of. The last we hear from him is when he drew the short straw and came in second place.
I sort of like it that way. In a context like ours where anonymity is not valued, where everybody is looking for their shot at fifteen minutes of fame (just look at Reality TV), where hubris often trumps humility, and where everybody wants to be known J.B.J may be a hard character for us to identify with. He is not chosen for the position and he is never heard from again. I wonder if the historical silence surrounding J.B.J may actually provide us with a challenge. Maybe J.B.J did take his marbles and go home. Maybe he was ticked off at leadership. Maybe he was ticked off at God and didn’t want anything more to do with the church. Or maybe, just maybe, he stepped back into his previous role. Maybe he continued on in the way of Jesus – bearing witness to what God had done and what God was doing by the power of the Spirit in his own unique and gifted way. Maybe it didn’t matter to him if his name would be known throughout history as the Apostle who replaced Judas. Maybe all that mattered to him was that he wanted to do God’s will no matter what form or shape it would eventually take.
History is full of names which are not “household names” but nonetheless did – in faith – what God called them to do. I am sure J.L. Elstin is not a household name to you. Do you know his history? J.L. Elstin was a pastor at the Dilworthtown Presbyterian Church who in 1892 started the Westminster Presbyterian Church. What about Millard Fuller? Some of you may recognize that name others no: he was the founder of Habitat for Humanity. What about the name Janelle Hail? She is the founder of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. All three of these names are most likely unfamiliar to you and yet their passions and dreams are – Dilworthtown and Westminster, Habitat, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation are all household names. It is the same with God’s mission! We do our part to get the mission and the passion of God known and not trying to get our names known.
Author Robert J. Hastings tells the story about a sociology project at Johns Hopkins University. A young professor assigned his class to one of the more impoverished neighborhoods in inner city Baltimore. Their task was to interview 200 boys with this guiding question: On the basis of your research, community statistics, and interviews, try to predict the boy’s futures. Shocked at what they found in that neighborhood one glaring prediction arose above all the others: the Hopkins students estimated that 90 per cent of the boys interviewed would someday serve time in prison. Twenty-five years passed since that original research was conducted. The same professor asked another class to try to locate the survivors of the 200 boys and to see if their sociological predictions came true. Of 180 of the original boys located, only four had ever been in jail. Why had the predictions not turned out? A common denominator was sought in their lives again through research and interview. The new class was sure that some value or influence tied these boys together in this neighborhood that kept them out of trouble. Through more interviews, it was found that over 100 of the men remembered having the same high school teacher, a Miss O’Rourke, who, they all cited, had been a tremendous influence on them at the time. After a long search, Sheila O’Rourke was found in a nursing home in Memphis, TN. The professor and his students presented their 25 years worth of data looking for some explanation on her part. She responded: “All I can say is that I loved every one of them.” Shelia O’Rourke, not a household name; just doing her part to love and bless the world.
One last thing…You know how I said J.B.J is never mentioned again in the Book of Acts or the rest of the New Testament? Well, guess what? Matthias – the one who was chosen to take Judas’ place – is never mentioned again in the Book of Acts or the rest of the New Testament either! As if the point needs to be emphasized again: in the economy of God’s mission – God’s plan to make the world right – we are merely players! Our roles, our lives, our vocation exists for the sake of God’s mission. In the end it is about God and what God wants to do in us and through us for us and for the world. It’s about God! It’s not about whether we are chosen for this task, that position, this role, or that job. It is about the reality that we are chosen (no matter our circumstances or where we find ourselves on this journey of life) to love God, love neighbor, and to love ourselves in the pattern of Jesus. In any case it is not about our press! It is not about our recognition. It is about the world recognizing by our witness that God is love, the Lord and Savior of the cosmos, the author of new creation, and the guarantor of eternal life. In the words of John the baptizer when talking about Jesus: “He must become greater; I must become less.” In other words: he must increase and I must decrease…he must become important and I must become less important. Remember that you and I are chosen to decrease so that Christ may increase. Whether or not the lot falls on us is of no concern. May it be so for the sake of the Gospel and for the sake of the world! Amen!
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