From Forward Day by Day
Acts 1:26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
After Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, the apostles decided to find someone to replace him. Two candidates were found sufficiently devout, and by the luck of the draw, Matthias became Judas’ replacement.
Being the replacement apostle sounds like a tough role. The other eleven apostles had shared experiences with Jesus; they had an established internal power structure that Matthias had to learn; and they had the legitimacy of having been selected by Jesus personally to serve as apostles. Jesus had looked at every one of them and issued a call.
Matthias had been baptized by John and had followed Jesus from the beginning, but he had done so without that kind of personal call. Selected by lots, Matthias must have felt like an outsider, on the tail end of the events on which all their lives centered. Or maybe he was more like Ringo Starr from the Beatles, who was the band’s replacement drummer as their fame suddenly skyrocketed. Maybe Matthias just looked around in awe that he had been given the blessing of participation in this extraordinary event and hoped there hadn’t been some mistake.
