“Whence Justus?”
Easter 7B
May 20, 2012
Acts 1.15-17, 21-26
Today’s text from chapter 1 holds a special place in my heart. While using it for a Bible Study/devotion during a call process, I had an epiphany of sorts. I discovered that, since both Justus and Matthias were equally well qualified, presumably either would have fulfilled the obligations of office. It would have been differently perhaps, but equally as well. That seems to take some pressure off from having to find “the right one.” More recently, this text was a the major biblical passage that framed my doctoral thesis, which was concerned with how to increase the synod’s ability to identify and recruit missional leaders.
However, as so often happens when you work with a familiar text, you see something else you haven’t seen before. That happened this week. Jesus’ eleven disciples find themselves “betwixt and between.” Jesus has ascended into heaven and they have been told to return to Jerusalem to wait for the promised Holy Spirit. So they gather, along with others who had been following Jesus, including his mother and other women as well. While devoting themselves to prayer and the word, Peter gets up and with support from Scripture, declares they must find a replacement for Judas. A list of requirements is agreed upon, two members of the group are proposed, lots are cast, and Matthias is chosen. By the way, the casting of lots was a perfectly acceptable way of seeking God’s will in the ancient world.
What I wondered as I thought about this text is, “Whence Justus?” Where did he go? Interestingly, we never hear from Matthias again either, but what happened to Justus? Was he so disappointed he didn’t get the job that he left the fledging church to start his own? A long time ago in a synod far away, I was present at a synod assembly where a new bishop was to be elected. As often happens there were three strong candidates for the position; of course, only one was elected. What I found interesting was that the two pastors who weren’t elected we very visibly devastated about the outcome. I wondered if those that want it that badly ought not to get it.
But, back to Justus. Did Justus go away mad, or did he just go away? I can’t prove it, but I don’t think so. I think that Justus was there when the Holy Spirit came upon the gathered brothers and sisters at Pentecost. I think that, even though he wasn’t named a deacon either, that Justus used his gifts for mission. Just as importantly, I think that, even though he didn’t have a formal position or title, Justus exercised leadership wherever he was and in whatever situation leadership was called for. But most important of all, I think that Justus served God’s mission to love and bless the world. By the way, those pastors that weren’t elected bishop did the same. They went back to being the pastors God called them to be.
In my doctoral work on mission and leadership, I encountered many models for leadership. Servant leadership, modeled on Jesus’ service to his Father and the disciples, was key. “I came not to be served but to serve,” Jesus says. But I also encountered the notion of distributive leadership, which says that leaders are distributed throughout an organization at many levels, essentially leading where they are. From those, I developed an understanding of leadership as communicative leadership, servant leadership that happens in an organization wherever it is needed, whenever it is needed.
Essentially, the leader is the one who in any given situation agrees to go first, to take the initiative. This is important for us on a number of levels, but I’ll mention one: it’s all about God’s mission. God has a mission for us to meet families, in all their diversity, in new and challenging ways. We need a lot of folk here to step up and help us as we figure out how to do that. As one writer says, “we are all, potentially, the ‘twelfth apostle,’ called to join God’s work. God has a mission, to love and bless the world; for that mission, God calls us, just as God called Justus. Amen.
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