In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the
company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said,
"Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke
beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who
arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in
this ministry. (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness;
and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.
And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was
called in their language Akel'dama, that is, Field of Blood.) For it is written
in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no
one to live in it'; and 'His office let another take.' So one of the men who
have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out
among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up
from us--one of these men must become with us a witness to his
resurrection." And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsab'bas, who was
surnamed Justus, and Matthi'as. And they prayed and said, "Lord, who
knowest the hearts of all men, show which one of these two thou hast chosen to
take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside,
to go to his own place." And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on
Matthi'as; and he was enrolled with the eleven apostles.
In a Nutshell
Peter stands up and makes an announcement about Judas who,
by this time, had died at his own hand. Someone else had to be appointed in his
place and Matthias was chosen.
Questions
Why was it necessary to appoint a replacement to Judas?
What was going on here?
Passages like this will always sound strange because
this is a report from a place and time very different from our own. We say they
had a "different culture" from us. The apostles and Jesus' family
were to wait in Jerusalem. But note how they wait. Look at how they conducted
themselves. Luke says there was a large-ish group - 120 in all. He writes that
Peter "stood up in their midst". This suggests a meeting of some kind
where important decisions had to be made. (A synagogue service on the other
hand saw the presiding rabbi sitting to teach. Here Peter stands.) It may be
that when Jesus commanded them to "wait in Jerusalem" the apostles
and Jesus' family took that to mean that they should go ahead and form their
own synagogue in the nation's capital. This seems to be borne out later in the
book. Peter's task on this occasion was not easy. It would take some time to
consider what had happened and how they were to respond. One of their own had
betrayed Jesus. The eleven had to face that. The treachery of Judas was not the
end. Jesus had risen. But now there were only 11 apostles and Peter led their
deliberation by reference to the Psalms. As a group they seem to have been
singing the Psalms with new understanding ever since their arrived in Jerusalem
with Jesus riding on a donkey. Maybe Luke has given us Peter's summary of what
the group discussed. It must have been a very sad occasion, but Luke reminds us
that "life went on" even as they waited according to Jesus' command.
Why a new apostle? Luke seems to be saying that they
had no choice. Was it because 12 was the legal number for maintaining a
synagogue? Quite possibly. They knew the kind of person they wanted and it
seems Matthias was chosen according to the customary way of making
appointments.