May 6, 2026 -Matthias Who?
- brooks16055
- May 6
- 3 min read
Acts 1:13-16 NIV
[13] When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. [14] They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
[15] In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) [16] and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.
Acts 1:20-26 NIV
[20] “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms: “ ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “ ‘May another take his place of leadership.’ [21] Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, [22] beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” [23] So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. [24] Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen [25] to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” [26] Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
After Jesus' resurrection and ascension, the disciples of Jesus were told to wait for the Holy Spirit. So, they were all gathered together. When I read about Peter, I can usually relate to Him. He is a doer. He sees something of importance and in this time of waiting decides that there is something that can be done while they wait. His reasoning sounds. He sees the scripture that talked about the one who would betray Jesus. The statement that another must take his place of leadership is clear to him. I can see why he would take this initiative since Jesus is now no longer with them and he was clearly seen as the leader of the disciples. Jesus appointed Him so and everyone was looking to him. He is stepping up to get this taken care of before the promised Holy Spirit would come. I get it.
His intention and heart are good. We know that God's replacement for Judas is Paul and that Peter did not have to do any of this for God to achieve what He had intended all along. But I think we need to also recognize that there was no harm that came from it as well. If nothing else, it could give Matthias a sense of responsibility that perhaps he would not have had the courage to act in otherwise. Just because the intention of the action was not God's intention does not mean that something good and helpful to the kingdom didn't come of it. Matthias is considered one of the 12 disciples but none of his "Acts" are mentioned by name. To me this is more support that the bible is the word of |God. Had it been written only by human hand and mind then there would have been some feeling of a need to give Mathias some paper in order to support the decision that was made. But the fact that he is only mentioned this one time and Paul becomes the author of about half of the books of the New Testament shows that God had other intention. In fact, someone could read the entire bible and when asked about Matthias would likely say "Matthias who?" But would never say "Paul who?"
This is a great comfort to me. As someone who God has created as a person of action, I know that there are times that I act and things don't turn out as I had expected them to even though my intentions were good. Even though I thought it was something that would please God and be good for the Kingdom. I am grateful that He can see my heart and my intent and find a way to use it for good even when I don't wait for Him. Even if what I have done is not recognized by anyone or is successful or useful my heart to do it won't harm God's plan. People may just say "Toni who?" And I'm okay with that.
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