Festival of St. Matthias, Apostle
Posted on February 24, 2024 by under
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:9-20 (NKJV)
5:9 Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field.
10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.
11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
13 There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
14 But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came; And he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a severe evil—just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind?
17 All his days he also eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.
18 Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. 19 As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.
Devotion
When athletes, pop stars, and teenage actors quickly make a fortune, another group inevitably materializes: all those who increase around them to eat up their wealth (v. 11). The entourage typically disappears when the money does: all was vanity, with no lasting fruit from their labors. Even those with sustained wealth discover, though, that the goods, friends, and honors end with their last breath: because of sin, even our own flesh cannot continue as it is, but must be renewed in the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:51-53). The gifts of God must therefore be enjoyed in a way that recognizes Him and His desire to give the greater gift of eternal life. That life is clearly not of our own earning, but by the forgiveness of our sins for the sake of God the Son.
Judas sought wealth by betraying the One who would give Him heavenly riches, and was replaced among the witnesses by one who could be content with obscurity among men, so long as he was confessed before the Father (Matt. 10:32-33). Matthias seems overshadowed by Jesus’ calling of Saul of Tarsus, but this was no slight against Matthias, or the Eleven. Our Lord made it obvious that the Israel of the New Testament was not an outward replication of the tribes of Israel, but a Kingdom that would permeate all the nations of the earth.
Collect: O Almighty God, Who by Thy Son Jesus Christ, didst give to Thy holy Apostles many excellent gifts, and commandest them earnestly to feed Thy flock: Make, we beseech Thee, all Pastors diligently to preach Thy holy Word, and the people obediently to follow the same, that they may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for Invocavit Sunday
O Lord, mercifully hear our prayer, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to defend us from them that rise up against us, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Saturday of Ember Week in Lent
O Lord, we beseech Thee, look down graciously upon Thy people, and mercifully turn away from them the scourges of Thy wrath, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Season of Lent
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hatest nothing that Thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of Thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
