Benny Nalkara, CMI

The call to the discipleship of Jesus is to be with him and to be sent out. It is a vocation to be faithful to him with a single minded devotion and commitment. The twelve disciples of Jesus were selected by him with this supposition, but we find that one of them, Judas Iscariot failed miserably in this God-given assignment by betraying Jesus and his place was restored by the selection of Matthias.
The chapter one of the Acts of the Apostles (1:15-26), describes the plight of Judas in the words of Peter and narrates the selection of Matthias. After Jesus left, the Apostles went back to Jerusalem. They stayed in an upper room along with Mary, Jesus’ mother, and his brothers. One day, Peter stood up and addressed a group approximately 120 believers. Jewish law required that there be 120 males before a synagogue could have its own council. Only then could a congregation elect members to its own ruling body. He told them the betrayal of Judas Iscariot had been foretold by the Jewish prophets. Judas, the chosen disciple of Jesus, betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities. Afterwards, he regretted his decision and killed himself.
The Holy Spirit directed Peter to select a new man to replace Judas as the 12th Apostle. Reconstitution of the Twelve was an important step in preparation for witness to Israel. The Christian community was pictured as the new Israel and the Twelve represented the 12 patriarchs of ancient Israel. By citing Ps 109:8, Peter is referring to the divine necessity Greek word, dei of every part of the paschal mystery, including the defection of Judas. Hence there was need to replace Judas. The account of Judas’ death is to highlight the fact that one of the Twelve had defected. It was the defection, not his death, which caused the problem. At the death of the other Apostles there is no attempt to replace them.
Peter emphasizes the qualifications to be a member of the Twelve in the last part of his speech (1:21-22). The first was being with Jesus throughout his earthly ministry, from the baptism of John. The idea of accompanying Jesus, being a travel companion to him is part of Luke’s understanding of discipleship. It must be kept in mind that only Luke presents a section of his Gospel as a long drawn out travel narrative (Lk 9:51-19:44). This journey was a period of intense instruction of the disciples on the subjects important for their future mission. Witnessing in the context of the mission does not mean just reproducing details from the memory of having seen something. The effectiveness of the witnessing is guaranteed by the fact that the witnesses were trained by Jesus for their work. Secondly, being a witness of the Resurrection. Easter experience always stands as the basis of faith and faithfulness to Christ.
More significantly, the account wants to show that the process of election was divinely guided a) by showing that the event is a fulfilment of Scripture (1:16,20); b) the prayer addressed to Christ (“Lord”) implies that the same Lord who had chosen the apostles at the beginning of his ministry would be involved in the choosing of the replacement of Judas. The 12 repetition of the first list (see Lk 6:12-14) is meant to show that Christ is guiding the present process too. c) The noteworthy element in the selection process of the 12th disciple was the way he was elected. It was less of a human involvement. The practice of casting lots seems strange to us, more like playing dice or gambling. Nevertheless, the practice of casting lots to determine God’s choice was traditional in Israel. The casting of lots leaves full control to the divine initiative (Prov 16:33; Lev 16:8). With the choice of Matthias, the integrity of the apostolic college is restored and the Twelve are reconstituted to function as the nucleus of the people to be born at Pentecost.
The fall of Judas is a reminder for each and every Christian disciple in the following of Christ. We as the disciples of Jesus are given a call that is to be fulfilled through our genuine commitment. Our undesirable ambitions, ungodly desires and unjust means will take us into troubles and defections in life. Our ambitions should be grounded in the power of God working through us, not on the cleverness of our own plans and ingenuity.
The restoration of the twelve became the first official action of the embryonic Christian community and this narrative reveals a good number of insights to us. Dependence on God’s power and guidance are essential for the success of the Church and its mission. Even though the 11 Apostles must have been familiar with Matthias and Joseph, they didn’t rely solely on their assessments of their character to make their decision, they asked God for insight. When making decisions, even when the answer seems clear, we should ask God for help.