ACC ~ Acts 1 v15 - 26

OVERVIEW:

A salient point noted by commentators is the need to form a group of twelve before they, as the leaders of the reconstituted Israel (see Lk 22:14) meet the twelve tribes of Israel on Pentecost. Matthias is not heard from again, and “the Twelve” are not prominent after Acts 16. The criteria given by Peter for such a replacement are notably different from those mentioned by Paul later on in his letters: Paul and Barnabas are called “apostles” only twice in Acts (14:4, 14), though Paul will often speak of his call to be an apostle as coming from Jesus himself. They note the insistence that Judas’ treachery and the need to replace him are related to divine necessity (“as a must”). They are aware of the differing descriptions of how Judas died (compare Mt 27:3-10) as well as Luke’s notices of other deaths that followed upon departure from God’s will (Acts 5:1-11; 12:20-23).

The poet Arator is eager to highlight the prominence of Peter in the first fifteen chapters of Acts. Despite his atrocious mixing of metaphors, he is upholding what would eventually become a stronghold of Catholic dogma on a different level as well, namely, that grace perfects but does not destroy nature. Peter is a symbol of what Christ’s coming to the world revealed, that the world’s history, and especially that of the chosen people, was a preparation for the coming of Christ; the past is not abnegated but transformed out of the old into the new (see also Bede’s comments at Acts 1:26).

Bede offers a glimpse into how seriously these numbers in Scripture would be studied. Both he and Arator, in his comments on the number twelve, show that what often fascinates them are not just corresponding numbers, such as twelve apostles for twelve patriarchs, but how numbers, through arithmetic, can be made to link different typic events or elements in the mystery of God’s work in us in Christ (see also Augustine’s remarks at Acts 1:26).

Chrysostom keeps matters more practical. He is concerned to find reasons that go beyond numerology for the replacement of Judas, and he uses the description of the early church to motivate his listeners. He employs the rhetorical device of shaming his audience by comparison with the peaceful accord of the early church. We can see that by the early fifth century, Acts was already functioning as a model for comparison and exhortation in the present. Jerome makes similar use of Judas as a warning to clerics of his day. The comments on the selection of Matthias elicit remarks varying from being prooftexts (AMBROSE) to convoluted attempts to explain the casting of lots while maintaining the value of the text (BEDE). Both Bede and Augustine have the narrative of salvation in the background, and so we see Bede using a typological method of reading to explain change as a part of God’s constant revelation of the true sacrifice of the body of Christ, while Augustine sees in Judas and his replacement an indication of God’s mercy and forbearance that the church, as the body of Christ, signifies to the world.

1:15 | Peter Stood Up

THE FISHERMAN’S VOCATION CHANGED. ARATOR: Foremost among the band of apostles, Peter had been called from his small boat; the scaly throng were wont to be caught by this fisher; suddenly, seen from the shore as he drew [his nets], he himself deserved to be drawn; Christ’s fishing deigned to seize a disciple who must stretch the nets which are to catch the human race. To the hand that had borne the fishhook was transferred the key. He who had been eager to shift the dripping booty from the depths of the sea to the shore and to fill the craft with spoils, now in another area draws from the better waves [of baptism]; no longer pursuing his profits through the waters, he forsakes his profession. To him the Lamb entrusted the sheep which he saved by his passion; and he enlarges his flock throughout the whole world under this shepherd. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

THE SYMBOL OF THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY. BEDE: These hundred and twenty, built up gradually by addition [of the numbers] from one to fifteen yields fifteen as the number of steps [in the calculation]. By reason of the perfection of both laws, this is mystically contained in the psalter, and for this [number of days] the “vessel of election” dwelled with Peter in Jerusalem. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.15.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF BELIEVERS. CHRYSOSTOM: “Men, brothers,” says Peter. If even the Lord called them brothers, all the more should Peter when they were all present. What dignity of church, what angelic condition! There was no distinction then, neither male nor female. I wish the churches were like that now. No one had his mind full of worldly matter; no one was anxiously thinking about household concerns. In this way even temptations may become a benefit and afflictions an advantage. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 3.

1:16 | Scripture Fulfilled Regarding Judas

THE FORMER NUMBER OF APOSTLES REGAINED. ARATOR: Twelve constellations of the [stellar] choir shine and cast the brilliance of Olympus on the earth. Note what realization this light reveals: The world is divided by the regions of its four sides; a triune faith calls this [world to belief], in whose name [the world] is washed in the font. Therefore, four taken together three times makes up the whole figure which the twelvefold order possesses, and to the devout disciples, to whom this baptism is commanded, a mystic reason gave cause for making up again the former number. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

ELEVEN APOSTLES WOULD HAVE BEEN ABSURD. BEDE: The apostle Peter was apprehensive about continuing with the number eleven [of apostles], “for every sin is an eleven, because when one does wicked things he goes beyond the commandments of the decalog.” Hence, because no righteousness of ours is innocent of itself, the tabernacle which contained the Lord’s ark was covered from above by eleven veils of goats’ hair. Peter restored the number of apostles to twelve, so that through two parts of six each (for three times four is twelve) they might preserve by an eternal number the grace which they were preaching by word, and so that those who were to preach the faith of the holy Trinity to the four parts of the world (in line with the Lord’s saying, “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”) might already certify the perfection of the work by the sacramental sign of [their] number as well. According to a deeper sense, however, the evil that the church suffers in false brothers remains grossly uncorrected for the most part. As the fiftieth day drew near the full number of apostles was restored, prefiguring the end of the world when it is believed that the Jews who crucified the Lord are to be reconciled to the church. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.16.

1:18 | The Death of Judas

JUDAS’S DEATH WAS FITTING. BEDE: [As an ancient writer says,] “The betrayer, out of his mind, found the punishment that he well deserved, namely, that the knot of the noose slew the throat through which the word of treachery had gone out.” He also got the death place that he deserved, for “in hatred of both heaven and earth” (as though he would be associated only with the spirits of the air), he had betrayed the Lord of men and angels to death, and so “he perished in the middle of the air,” following the example of Ahithophel and Absalom, who proceeded against King David. For him death itself surely followed by a well-deserved termination, inasmuch as his bowels, which had conceived the evil scheme of treachery, fell torn asunder, and his bodily cavities were exposed to the wind. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.18B.

1:19 | Field of Blood

A FITTING END. ARATOR: This revenge on Judas is not empty. It denies funeral rites and comes thus as acceptable punishment for an unjust income. He had lately bought fields with the price of his death. He had purchased ground with the name of Blood, reusing tombs for foreign ashes, [appearing to] make the earth fruitful by means of the graves; this wicked one is denied the fertility of his own field and is alone excluded from the lands which bear sepulchers. His cruel trumpet [voice] began the gory wickedness. He is the standard bearer who, by planting a kiss, by a sign of peace, waged war as a wolf on the Lamb. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

1:20 | Another Will Take His Office

BE ON GUARD. JEROME: Not only does the saying hold true in the time of Judas, but even today. If Judas lost his office of apostle, let priest and bishop be on guard lest they, too, lose their ministry. If an apostle fell, more easily is it possible for a monk to fall. Virtue is not lost, even though man falls and perishes. The Lord continues to lend out his money at interest; if anyone who receives it does not double it, it is taken away and given to another who already has some. The Lord’s money cannot lie idle. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 35 (PSALM 108).

1:22 | A Witness to the Resurrection

THE NECESSITY OF AN EYEWITNESS. CHRYSOSTOM: [Judas must be replaced by] “one of the men who have accompanied us,” continues Peter. Note how he requires them to be eyewitnesses, even though the Spirit was about to come. There was still great care concerning this: “One of the men who have accompanied us,” he says, “during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us.” He means those who had dwelt with Christ, not simply been present as disciples. … “Until the day he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” He did not say a witness of the rest of his actions but a witness of the resurrection alone. For indeed more trustworthy is the man who can say, “he, who ate, and drank, and was crucified, he rose again.” Therefore, he must be a witness not only of the time preceding this event or of what followed it and the miracles: the thing required was the resurrection. The other matters were evident and acknowledged, but the resurrection took place in secret and was evident to these only. And they do not say, “Angels told us,” but, “We have seen.” Why is this evident? Because we perform miracles. For this reason they had to be trustworthy, especially then. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 3.

1:23 | Barsabbas and Matthias Nominated

GOD EXALTS THE HUMBLE. ARATOR: They choose two: Joseph, surnamed the Just, and Matthias—a name, as they say, that means “God’s small one” in the Hebrew language, and by calling [him, God] confirms him as humble. Oh, how different are human from heavenly judgments! He who was just according to the praise of humankind is surpassed by the merit of a small one. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.

1:24 | Prayer for the Lord’s Choice

GOD KNOWS THE HEARTS OF ALL PEOPLE. AMBROSE: The imperial power is great, but consider … how great God is. He sees the hearts of all; he probes their inmost conscience; he knows all things before they come to pass; he knows the innermost secrets of your heart. You do not allow yourself to be deceived; do you expect to hide anything from God? LETTER 11 (57).

THE LORD CHOOSES. CHRYSOSTOM: Why did Peter not ask Christ to give him someone to replace Judas? It is better as it is. For in the first place, they were engaged in other things; second, this was the greatest proof of Christ’s presence with them. For just as he chose when he was among them, so he chose now in absence. This was no small consolation. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 3.

1:26 | Matthias Chosen by Lot

DRAWING LOTS WAS PERMISSIBLE UNTIL THE FULFILLMENT. BEDE: Matthias was chosen by lot so that the choice of the apostle would not appear to be out of harmony with the command of the old law, where it was ordered that the high priest be sought, as was said of Zechariah, “according to the custom of the priest’s office, it came about by lot that he offered incense.” He [Zechariah] was, as I suppose, selected by lot at that time so that it might be typologically prefigured that they were to continue to seek out a priest until the one came who had replaced him, the one who, not by bloody sacrifices “but by virtue of his own blood, entered once for all into the holy places, having obtained eternal redemption”—his sacrifice was immolated at the time of the Passover but truly brought to perfection by the Holy Spirit in the appearance of fire on the day of Pentecost. For according to old customs, victims acceptable to God were brought to perfection by celestial fire. Therefore until the truth was fulfilled, the practice of the figure was permissible. So it was that Matthias, who was appointed before Pentecost, was chosen by lot, while in the case of the seven deacons, who came later, there was no shaking of lots but only the disciples’ choice; and indeed they were appointed by the prayer of the apostles and the imposition of hands. Therefore if there are any who, under the compulsion of some difficult situation think that because of the example of the apostles they should consult God with lots, they should see that these same apostles needed only the assembly of the brothers gathered together and prayers poured forth to God. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.26.

THROUGH THE TWELVE THE TRINITY IS PROCLAIMED EVERYWHERE. AUGUSTINE: This saying, “I have chosen you twelve,” may be understood in this way, that twelve is a sacred number. For the honor of that number was not taken away because one was lost, for another was chosen into the place of the one that perished. The number remained a sacred number, a number containing twelve. These twelve were to make known the Three [the Trinity] throughout the whole world, that is, throughout the four quarters of the world. That is the reason of the three times four. Judas, then, only cut himself off; he did not profane the number twelve. He abandoned his Teacher, but God appointed a successor to take his place. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.10.

MATTHIAS PRESERVES THE SACRED NUMBER. AUGUSTINE: He reproved them by saying, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walks in the day, he does not stumble.” Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble: do not give counsel to me, from whom you ought to receive it. To what, then, refer the words “Are there not twelve hours in the day”? So as to point himself out as the day, he chose twelve disciples. If I am the day, he says, and you the hours, is it for the hours to give counsel to the day? The day is followed by the hours, not the hours by the day. If these, then, were the hours, what in such a reckoning was Judas? Was he also among the twelve hours? If he was an hour, he had light; and if he had light, how was the Day betrayed by him to death? But the Lord, in so speaking, foresaw not Judas himself but his successor. For Judas, when he fell, was succeeded by Matthias, and the twelvefold number preserved. It was not, then, without a purpose that the Lord chose twelve disciples, but to indicate that he himself is the spiritual Day. Let the hours then attend upon the Day, let them preach the Day, be made known and illuminated by the Day, and by the preaching of the hours may the world believe in the Day. And so in a summary way it was just this that he said, “Follow me, if you do not wish to stumble.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 49.8.

THE BLESSING AND RESPONSIBILITY OF COMMUNITY. AUGUSTINE: What lesson then, my brothers, did our Lord Jesus Christ wish to impress on his church, when it pleased him to have one castaway among the twelve, but this, that we should bear with the wicked and refrain from dividing the body of Christ? … Such was this man Judas, and yet he went in and out with the eleven holy disciples. With them he came even to the table of the Lord: he was permitted to converse with them, but he could not contaminate them. Both Peter and Judas partook of one bread, and yet what communion had the believer with the infidel? Peter’s partaking was to life, but that of Judas to death. For that good bread was just like the sweet savor. For as the sweet savor, so also does the good bread give life to the good and bring death to the wicked. “For whoever eats unworthily eats and drinks judgment against himself”: “judgment against himself,” not against you. If, then, it is judgment against him, not against you, bear as one that is good with him that is evil, that you may attain the rewards of the good and not be hurled into the punishment of the wicked. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 50.10.