August: Day 9: Holy Apostle Matthias

August: Day 9:
Holy Apostle Matthias
 
(God Controls the Lot)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Holy Apostle Matthias, celebrated today, came from the tribe of Judah and was born in Bethlehem; from childhood, he was a disciple of Saint Symeon the God-Receiver. He was one of those who remained constantly with the Lord Jesus Christ, witnessing many of His miracles and listening to His teachings. After the Ascension of the Lord, Matthias was designated "by lot" from among the two disciples chosen by the Apostles, who were witnesses to the earthly life of the Lord from His Baptism to His Ascension, and he was added to the ranks of the Twelve Apostles in place of Judas Iscariot. He preached the gospel in Judea and Ethiopia. Having converted many to Christ and enduring much suffering for his faith in Christ, the Holy Apostle Matthias met a martyr's death in Jerusalem, where he was stoned.

II. The election of the Holy Apostle Matthias by lot to the rank of the Twelve Apostles, approved by all the Apostles as well as by all the believers, and the justification of this election by the whole subsequent life of the Holy Apostle reminds us, brethren, of the truth that “God controls the lot” (Psalm 80:15-16). That God truly holds the lot can be seen from many biblical examples.

a) The Lord once sent the Prophet Jonah to preach in Nineveh. Jonah avoided such a difficult task and fled from the presence of the Lord to Tarshish. And behold, when he was sailing there on a ship, the Lord raised a great storm on the sea. The sailors threw all the cargo into the sea and began to pray each to his own God, but the storm did not subside. Then all who were on the ship said to each other: “Come, let us cast lots, and let us understand why this evil is upon us." And they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. And they took Jonah, and cast him (on his own advice) into the sea, and the sea ceased from its turbulence (Jonah. 1:7, 15). It is known that Jonah, by God’s providence, was preserved unharmed in the belly of a whale, and was thrown, three days later, onto the seashore completely healthy, after which Jonah began to preach in Nineveh (Jonah 2:1–11, 3:4).

b) Here is another case of a more obvious participation of God's providence in the lot. When the Prophet Samuel, by the command of God, anointed Saul to the throne (1 Kings 10:1), no one in the Jewish nation knew about it yet. Samuel called together the elders of the people and other honorable people and offered them, according to their desire, to choose from among themselves the most worthy man to be king, whom God Himself will indicate by lot. (Meanwhile, the Lord had already chosen Saul without a lot, on whose head Samuel poured oil, as proof that God had consecrated him to the throne). The Jews gathered, stood all according to their tribes, and began to draw lots, "and the lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin," in which were the ancestors of Saul. They separated this tribe and began to call for a lot according to the families of this tribe, “and the lot fell on Matri,” from whom the ancestors of Saul came, but since in this tribe there were many young men, and it was unknown which of them the Lord God had chosen, then they began to draw lots for the third time, by name, according to the men of this family, “and the lot fell on Saul, the son of Kish,” on the very one whom God had previously chosen and ordained as king without a lot (1 Kings 10:20-21).

Thus, people, at their own discretion, drew lots three times to choose a king for themselves - and each time the invisible power of God, who controls the lot and disposes of the fate of man, directed the drawing of the lot to achieve the previously assumed goal, to choose a person predetermined for that. It is evident that "what is impossible with man is possible with God" (Luke 18:27). Consequently, it is true that God Himself controls and disposes of the lot, and each person has a lot predetermined long ago, at his very birth and even earlier (Jer. 1:5).

III. Therefore, when drawing lots, surrender yourself entirely to the will of the Lord and rely entirely on His all-good and all-wise providence, saying to yourself: “You are my God, into Your hand is my lot” (Ps. 80:15-16).

Therefore, those who, having drawn, for example, a lot calling them to serve in the military service, and complain about their fate, act unwisely: it is not blind fate or simple chance that governs a person’s life, but the all-wise and all-good providence of God, without whose will not a single hair will fall from our head.

Remember, my brethren, that the word fate is not a Christian word: according to the immutable and clear teaching of the word of God and the teaching of the Church, the life of nations, kingdoms and even each individual person is governed not by simple chance or blind fate, but by the living, intelligent, wise and all-good providence of God, without the knowledge of which not a single hair will fall from a person’s head on earth.

Those Christians who express their grumbling about their children being chosen by lot to serve in one or another public institution or official position also act unwisely: by lot the Lord indicated them as people who would be most useful in the position to which they were chosen. 

 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.