And Then There Were Twelve

Acts 1.15-17, 21-26

This is the last Sunday of the Easter season. Throughout this time the lectionary has no First Testament readings. Instead, it had readings from the gospels, the writings of the Second Testament, the psalms and the book of Acts. “Why Acts?” you may ask. The consensus is that it is to show what the church was doing after Jesus’ resurrection. The lectionary will after Pentecost have very few references to Acts, which is a shame as it is a book of action and boldness.

Today we are at the end of the time that Jesus was on the earth. This past Thursday we celebrated what is known as the ascension. This was when Jesus was taken back into heaven after having been with all of his disciples and others. During this time, he was teaching them and making sure that they were ready to go out into the world to spread the good news. After forty days he met with them one more time on a mountain and told them what they were to do: they were to wait until the Holy Spirit came on them and then go out into the world. After giving them this one last exhortation, he ascended into heaven and was not seen again.

The disciples are now at a crossroads. They expected to see the coming of the kingdom in the person and work of Jesus. They expected to have a front row seat as Jesus brought Israel back to the glory days and defeated all the enemies including the oppressing Romans. Now, they are told to stay in Jerusalem and to await the Holy Spirit. What to do? They watched their leader go away and were in shock when he did. But they were told that this one whom they watched go away would return in the same way. They just did not know when.

So, the disciples stay in Jerusalem and got to work. They devoted themselves to prayer along with some women including the mother of Jesus and others which included his brothers. During this time the disciples seem to have made a decision that will affect them all.

See, the inner circle of the disciples was the twelve. They are the ones that when we say disciples, we know what that means. However, there were more than just these twelve disciples. There were at least 70 in the gospels as that is how many Jesus sent out on the mission of ministry. And we see here that there are about 120 persons, all disciples, gathered with the twelve, well, actually eleven.

Peter stands to give a brief speech. He calls on those gathered to listen. Then he begins an exposition of the scriptures that told of how one of the twelve, Judas, would betray Jesus and betray their trust as well. See, Judas’ betrayal struck deep within the group of the twelve. Here was one who shared meals with them, who heard the teachings of Jesus, who saw the miracles that he performed. He was their friend and colleague. He was trusted. Then he went and broke that trust. If you have ever had a friend betray your trust, you might understand just what the disciples were going through. They were hurt and probably a bit bitter.

In the midst of all of this Peter tells of what happened to Judas (it is not a pretty picture) and that the Psalms stated that he would do this and that one should be appointed to replace him in the inner circle.

One may wonder why it was so important for them to replace Judas and bring the number back to twelve. Weren’t there eleven who had not betrayed Jesus and left the group as Judas did? And weren’t there about 120 who would be able to carry on the good work of announcing the kingdom of God. Yes, but there needed to be twelve. There was both a theological and a numerical reason for this.

The theological reason was this: How many tribes of Israel were there? (the answer is twelve) Jesus went out and chose twelve disciples to follow him and become his inner circle. They were to constitute the beginnings of a new Israel. According to Luke they were to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel. They were the ones who would be bringing in the kingdom, though it was a very different kingdom than they believed that would be brought to fruition. Therefore, Judas’ betrayal and death breaks up the twelve and threatens to undermine God’s plan for the future. For this reason, there needed to be one who would fill out the number and bring the inner circle back up to twelve.

The numerical reason is that the number of the others gathered around was 120. This number is divisible by twelve (didn’t know that there would be math involved today) and can be seen as one that is important to the nation of Israel. It was taught that leaders of the people would take 10 to work with at the basic level. Therefore, there would be ten to each of the inner circle if there were twelve. Also, the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews, was composed of 120 members. It is significant that the 120 disciples that are mentioned in the text include women. This was to show that discipleship included all people, not just men.

With those reasons in mind, Peter calls on the disciples to choose one of the those gathered there to fill in the place of Judas. There are some conditions that the person who is to fill the void has to fulfill. First is that it is to be a man. The society where the disciples live was very patriarchal, meaning that men were the dominant movers and shakers in the society. Women were not trusted to even give testimony in court. So, while there were women who were in the group of disciples who would have met all the other qualifications, they would not have qualified because of their gender.

Second, they had to have been with Jesus for quite some time. This would have been from the time of Jesus’ baptism to the time of the ascension. In other words, for the entire time of Jesus’ ministry. It lets us know that some of the disciples were disciples of John before they were called to follow Jesus. They had to be to witness the baptism.

But these disciples would have followed Jesus all the time making the “disciples” not just the twelve. They had followed through all the miracles, all the teachings and all that Jesus did. And this gave them the right to be able to be considered to be a witness to the resurrection.

So, it came down to two. Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. Both were named by the disciples and must have been held in great esteem to be considered for this spot. It was then that the disciples showed that they believed that they were not alone in the consideration for the one who would fill the spot. The text tells us that: “…they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”[1] The one to whom they called Lord could either be God or Jesus. It probably was Jesus of whom they spoke because it was he who chose the inner twelve. This is an indication that they were depending upon Jesus to guide them in their decision that would affect their entire ministry. They put in the work to help find the persons who would best fit the ministry, but God would give them the answer.

To show that this was God’s choice, they cast lots. This might sound to us like the luck of the draw, but this was a technique that was biblical. In the First Testament the Umin and the Thummim were used to discern which goat was to be the scapegoat for the people, to settle the lots that were to go to the tribes for their land, and to find out who had done something wrong. Lots were also common in the Greek and Roman world, so this was not something that was unique to this choice.

Today there is a similar method to choosing a leader for one of the Christian churches. In the Coptic Church they have what is called the Holy Altar lottery. In this lottery a man who must be an Egyptian, over 40, has spent 15 years as a monk and practices a life of celibacy is to be chosen as the new pope of the Copts. In this process those who are nominated are voted upon by 2400 delegates from around the world. The top three names are then placed in a box. From this box a blindfolded boy will pull the name of the next Coptic pope. They claim that it is God who chooses the one just as those who cast lots said to choose the one who would replace Judas.

For the record the one who is chosen by the lots is Matthias. We would now expect to find out more about this man, what he was like, what deeds he did, what was his ministry. All we get is “and he was added to the eleven apostles[2].” This is the only time that we hear of Matthias and of Joseph Barsabbas. We have nothing more about them in the book of Acts or in any of the other writings of the Second Testament. They both drop off the scene. But there is an important part in all of this: Matthias is added to the eleven to round out the group to twelve.

So, what has all this to do with us today? This is a very interesting story and one that many do not know because when we think of Acts we think of Pentecost. But what can it show us about our lives today? What application can be found in this story?

Good question. I have to admit that I struggled to find an application here. But there is one. It is this: There may be different ways of choosing leaders or of discerning God’s will, but each of those ways comprises of getting God involved. This is done through prayer and honest searching. We have our ways of finding the right persons through committees, studying the candidates and other various ways we search. But in the end, it is God who chooses. God will lead us in the right path. God knows the hearts of all and will select the correct person if only we listen and follow. The means may be different, but the outcome is the same. We have to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and let God take control out of our hands. Nicki Koziarz says in her book Flooded that: “God is in charge of the plan and we are in charge of our obedience.” The disciples all recognized this as they put the fate of the twelve not in their own hands, but trusting that God would make the choice and lead them to the right person.

As I said before, Matthias is never heard from again in the Scripture. But those who put his name forward must have known something about him before they ever put his name in the hat. The same can be said about the Coptic Church and its selection of a new pope. But what we have to remember is that God is the one who chooses and when we remember that, then we will trust in God to make the right decision. Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.