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Matthias was the 13th of the 12 disciples! He had been chosen by lot to fill the 12th spot when Judas had removed himself from the close circle of Jesus' followers. Matthias had followed the crowds down from the Galilee and had been close to all the disciples through much of the teaching years. And so, with the casting of the lots that picked him, Matthias joined the inner circle of disciples.He was a serious man, trained in the religious law, and certain that Jesus was the expected Messiah. So certain was he that he had literally left his family - they had disowned him! His certainty was affirmed by the words of holy writing that he knew so well, and by the words that he had heard from Jesus' lips and the deeds accomplished by Jesus' touch. "This is our Messiah," he often said. "This is the Lord."The one regret that burned in his heart was that he was not with the 11 when Jesus, radiant, had appeared to the disciples for a last earthly time. He quizzed the other disciples often. "What did Jesus say on the mountain?" "What did he look like?" "How did he seem to you?" "Was he with you for a long time?" And, most important, "Tell me about his words." The 11 would recount it all, ending with Jesus' direction to "Go to all peoples."That was exactly what Matthias planned to do! He would do what Jesus had said, even though he had not heard the Lord's voice speak. He would leave the Galilee, he would travel across Judea down to the Sea and he would take a ship to some far place. There he would speak about Jesus the Messiah. He would do what Jesus had asked for he was now one of the 12.Although it is not known with certainty, tradition says that Matthias was beheaded for his missionary work in Judea."In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue!" Recently the world marked the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' adventure in the Santa Maria. As we all now know, he did not end up where he was headed, which is why some native Americans are now called Indians. He did not "discover" a new world because others before him knew of it - some even lived upon it! He did make a lasting connection between the two continents, but his legacy to the populations he visited was not necessarily a blessing. This man from Genoa believed "God granted me the gift of knowledge ... (and) revealed to me that it was feasible to sail ... to the Indies, and placed in me a burning desire to carry out this plan." Columbus set out with a belief that he had tested with his mind, and with a faith to which he was willing to give his life! How many of us can walk in Columbus' shoes? When, on Friday, August 3, 1492, the "Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria," eased away from their moorings at Palos, in southern Spain, Columbus was putting his beliefs and his faith into the realities of life.Before the reports of his trans-Atlantic travel penetrated the Old World, Spanish coins had stamped upon them an outline of the Straits of Gibraltar. Underneath the outline of the Straits was the Latin inscription Ne Plus Ultra. It translates, "No more beyond." It meant that the world ended in the great expansive voids of water beyond the Straits. There was nothing more. But once Columbus returned home and told of what he had seen, of what he had discovered, and once that report was widely shared, then new coins were minted. The inscription was changed to Plus Ultra. It translates, "More beyond!"That is the mountaintop affirmation which came to the disciples in Galilee and the word that ends Matthew's gospel. And those 11 disciples - and we who follow in their footsteps - claim the authority to speak that message to the world! What had been a wall, a great confinement, is now the arch of a great doorway, an entry! It is an entry into much that gives us joy!Part of the joy is knowledge that the harsh limits of brutality, fear, hate and force are not the ultimate boundaries of human life.In Jesus' century, no death was more tortuous, brutal, demeaning than that of hanging naked upon a wooden cross and publicly dying of thirst and hunger and sheer exposure. It was cruel. To the Jew it was shameful. It was meant to break every possible quality of human will, and in the end to break the physical body as that last breath was expelled, or that last drop of blood issued. The possibility of crucifixion hung over the head of every human life in that Roman world.But the reports that emerged out of the first Easter told the amazing, mind-altering story that this perfect machine of death did not end life! The Jesus who had walked through the Garden of Gethsemane now walked in Joseph's garden! The Jesus who taught upon a hillside still taught. His words were vivid and direct - and still life-changing. The power of that resurrection reality for the disciples turned everything around. Life's deep, dark valley was instead a mountaintop!The great defeat that Roman soldiers were so sure would silence the Nazarene did not end his life. Those who made that discovery shouted that God's power is greater than the world's power! Their shout is now our shout.There is a beautiful poem that marks this affirmation. It is one of my favorites, and one that has ministered to my life. Edwin Markham wrote:Defeat may serve as well as victoryTo shake the soul and let the glory out.When the great oak is straining in the wind,The boughs drink in new beauty, and the trunkSends down a deeper root on the windward side.Only the soul that knows the mighty griefCan know the mighty rapture. Sorrows comeTo stretch out spaces in the heart for joy.There could not have been a greater grief, nor defeat, than that borne by the disciples as the dark shadows of crucifixion Friday fell upon the beginning week. Every hope they had shared was broken. Every dream they dreamed was shattered. The kingdom that their Lord had introduced was now encased in frightened and hiding Galileans. Peter now knew that even their upcountry accents could get them in trouble. The windows were shuttered. The door was locked from the inside. But then, the discovery was made, "Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out." Defeat became the victory!In wondrous ways that discovery translates into our living, doesn't it?The discovery is affirmed in the acts of forgiveness expressed within families that now allow for the joy of family love to be regained.It is affirmed in the acts of charity and caring that are offered across all sorts of worldly boundaries, and the "walls come tumbling down." As illustration, it is in Bread for the World, a Christian organization seeking to feed the hungry. They report that one of every five children in the world are "at risk of hunger." The affirmation of Easter is in their work, seeking to turn death into life for millions of children in the world.It is affirmed in the great variety of people and ideas who can come together in one congregation - this one - to study in many church school classes and to work together in deeds of charity. This is all done in Christ, as part of the body of the Risen Lord.The Spanish coin said Plus Ultra. "More beyond." Easter's translation of hope in this world is that God's forces of love are greater than the forces of hate and violence. Christians live in that affirmation.The Spirit presence of Christ is also an affirmation that the great finality of earth's death is not boundary of the human spirit. "More beyond." The enemy, death, is defeated. "Death where is thy sting," wrote Paul. Christians share that belief. It is belief in something yet unproven, as with Columbus' venture from the port of Palos. It is belief in life eternal, living no longer tied to matters of earth, life no longer limited by a body's breath or a heart's beat. The enemy had always been death. Now, in the resurrection faith, there is more beyond! It remains a mystery, but it is held in the power of faith. And in that faith there is no defeat that can overpower the victory.Some time ago I read a fascinating story. It may only be a story. It is told, not to articulate history but to underscore the victory faith! Wellington and Napoleon were fighting the battle of Waterloo. It was a decisive battle. Life for many, many persons hinged on its outcome. At last, word was transmitted to London by means of semaphores - a visual code with reflected sunlight spelling out the message letter by letter. A sentry picked up the message from his post atop a great cathedral. Letter by letter he passed on the message to London. The first word was "Wellington." The second word was "defeated."Suddenly a very dense fog settled in upon the cathedral, making it impossible for the light to penetrate the mists and allow the message forwarded on. The fog grew more dense, and its darkness was mirrored in the hearts of the Londoners who had received the word, "Wellington defeated." It meant that Napoleon had won. The English of London were a conquered people. Hope was gone. Liberty was no more. England was ruled by another.But as suddenly as it had come, the fog lifted. The sentry returned to his tower, and went back to his duties, feverishly attempting to transmit the whole message. And London saw it - the good news breaking upon the city and telling the full story: "Wellington defeated the enemy!"Whether the semaphores' message to London is history or fiction, it does convey the truth of Christian faith! That truth is the shout first heard in Joseph's garden as the earliest followers of Christ made the discovery. It is the victory message of Jesus' word to his disciples upon that Galilee mountaintop, and it is the shout heard through the centuries as human life has been understood as life lived in two worlds - one temporal, the other eternal. Even Newsweek magazine lists deaths under the heading of "Transition."It is the victory word uttered by you and others who sense that God's gift of Jesus Christ is to redeem life from death. It is the victory word shared in Jesus' last word to his disciples. After the Easter resurrection, the 11 return to Galilee and to a retreat that was known to all of them - a mountaintop retreat. Jesus is with them. They understand his authority over them, over all the life that God has given. His word is both a direction and a redeeming promise: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)