Feast Day of St. Matthias 2026 John 15:1, 6-16
Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.”
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
Today we are celebrating the Feast Day of our namesake, St. Matthias. His actual day is February 24th and the anniversary of the dedication of our current church building by the Bishop of Winchester, England. There’s a stained glass window in the narthex that memorializes this. Why a Bishop from England? No one is sure, but a quick review of weather in Winchester and Whittier on the 24th showed a significant difference: 30 degrees and freezing rain in Winchester; 89 and sunny in Whittier. Who can blame the poor English bishop for wanting to spend the feast day of St. Matthias, and perhaps the whole winter, in sunny southern California?
But let’s see what we can learn about Matthias. It doesn’t take too long to exhaust what we know about him from scripture – he’s mentioned in only a few verses in the Book of Acts that we heard today. Essentially, the Apostles felt the need to keep their number at 12, the number of disciples chosen by Jesus. Judas was dead. After they had prayed for divine guidance, Matthias was chosen by “casting lots” – a term for throwing dice, flipping a coin or some method through which the Divine Will was believed to act.
Beyond that, what we know – or more accurately what we speculate - about Matthias comes from tradition. And a muddy tradition it is. Even his name is variable: the historian Eusebius calls him "Tolmai" instead of Matthias. In various texts he’s confused with Zacchaeus or a follower of Paul named Barnabas. And some scholars believe that Matthias is the same person as Nathanael in the Gospel of John who Jesus spotted sitting under a fig tree.
Like many of the early apostles, Matthias was reportedly arrested for publicly preaching Jesus Christ as the son of God. Jewish leaders seized him and sent him out the city where he was stoned or possibly beheaded. Another version of his life story says that he lived a long life and died a peaceful death.
Whatever or whoever he might have been in ancient times, Matthias currently is known as the patron saint of various disparate groups. He is the patron saint of gamblers often depicted holding a pair of dice referring back to the way he was chosen. He is also the patron saint of tailors, carpenters and miners. Why is a mystery but ions of him often show him holding an axe. And he is associated with hopefulness and perseverance, an anchor of faithfulness in the establishment of the church and so is pictured with an anchor.
While we will never know actual facts of the life or ministry or the circumstances of the death of our namesake with any certainty, we do have a chance to look through the eyes of faith at the portion of scripture where he’s selected as an apostle and in the absence of facts perhaps we can learn some truth about his story.
We know that he was chosen after Jesus had ascended into heaven leaving his disciples with the Great Commission: to go into the world to make disciples of all nations. In Luke it says that the disciples observe Jesus ascending into heaven and return to Jerusalem joyfully.
What awaits them there? They have become, through the betrayal and suicide of Judas, a group of eleven. They are facing what we might call “the terror of the empty chair,” being in the presence of the chair that had been Judas’ during 3 years of Jesus ministry. One of their own is gone leaving an empty space, lingering traumatic memories and feelings of sadness, confusion, and even anger. Ancient Judaism strictly forbade suicide. Life as they understood it was a divine gift. We do not belong only to ourselves, they believed, but to God making self-killing an infringement on God's ownership and an affront to God.
Jesus does not instruct them to find a replacement for Judas. But he does emphasize their relationship to him and to each other. In the lectionary reading for St. Matthias, from John 15, Jesus calls them his friends in a tender message the night before his death, virtually the last time they are all together. He tells them not to be downhearted. He assures them that he is going to God who sent him, that he will prepare homes for them. He calls them friends. In calling them his friends, he wants them to be Christ-minded even more than likeminded. This is love in action but is not unique to Jesus and his immediate circle of followers. It is characteristic of all of Jesus’ friends - even those outside the immediate circle of and extending to other followers of Jesus. People like Matthias.
There’s a lovely story about a mom who was driving a van full of teenage girls to Camp Stevens for the week. It was a long drive with lots of traffic on a Friday afternoon. The girls were really hyped up, sassy and a little geeky. After a few hours of this, the mom had to admit she was looking forward to the quiet ride home.
They had stopped for snacks and supplies. And when they arrived at camp, she insisted that the girls take the many bags of groceries into the kitchen. From there, she assumed they’d be off without a word to find their rooms and claim upper bunks. Instead, she found them in the kitchen putting everything away, snacks organized, beverages in the fridge. She said, “I’m impressed – good job! And thanks.” “It’s okay,” the ringleader replied flipping her hair and striking a pose, “that’s what friends are for.”
That is what friends are for. Friends are gifts given by God who cleverly and persistently loves us in the ordinary settings and everyday people of our lives. Friends accept us, care for us, make us laugh, challenge and even inspire us to be better. In telling his disciples that he no longer calls them servants but friends, Jesus is suggesting, I think, that even as he leaves, relationships matter and friendship is a primary setting in which we love one another and grow in the skills needed to refresh the world with our way of life. Jesus as friend models the best of human love.
So Jesus never specifically instructs them to replace Judas and become 12 again. But in the midst of the trauma of Judas’ loss, there is work to do and healing is needed. The terror of the empty chair needs soothing. And I have to wonder if Matthias wasn’t the one chosen to fill out their ranks, because he was just the perfect person to take that chair, that he had a personality that exuded care and concern, that he could bring a spirit of comfort and healing that the other candidate could not.
There is real healing in friendship. Genuine connections provide emotional support often serving as a buffer against anxiety, loneliness, and depression. Friends help process trauma, offer perspective, and provide a safe space to rebuild trust. This was the role created by the Holy Spirit for Matthias.
Most of us would accept help unpacking groceries any time or an invitation to be friends on social media, but the richness of being a friend of Jesus in relationship with other friends of Jesus provides the setting for learning together the various practices of Christian love.
We’re invited into that kind of relationship. I can’t help but wonder if the most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationships we maintain and the accompanying influences, life qualities and connection in love produced by those friendships.
As he lay down his life for his friends, this is what Jesus asks us to give our attention to: growing in the love and goodness of God, able to astound others with our Christ-centered way of life; loving others as we have been loved. That’s what friends are for. Amen.