During those days Peter stood up in the
midst of the brothers (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty
persons in the one place). He said, 16 “My brothers, the scripture had to be
fulfilled which the holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David,
concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. 17 He was numbered among us and was allotted a
share in this ministry. 18 He bought a parcel of land with the wages of his iniquity, and falling
headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his insides spilled out. 19 This became known to everyone who lived in
Jerusalem, so that the parcel of land was called in their language ‘Akeldama,’
that is, Field of Blood. 20 For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his encampment become
desolate, and may no one dwell in it.’ And: ‘May another take his office.’ 21 Therefore, it is necessary that one of the
men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken
up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 So they proposed two, Joseph called
Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed, “You, Lord, who know the
hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned
away to go to his own place.” 26 Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was
counted with the eleven apostles.'
The Apostles,
who were to “sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Lk.22:30), were now without a leader. Peter
addressed about 120 brothers who were of one mind. The Evangelist could have used the number 120
to indicate to his community that the twelve apostles were leaders in the OT
tradition; “So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable, and
set them as leaders over you, commanders over thousands, over hundreds, over
fifties and over tens (Deut. 1:15).”
Peter addressed the assembly as “brothers” which was a characteristic of
the early Christian community. Jesus had
referred those whom Peter would shepherd as brothers (Lk. 22:32).
The Scripture had to be fulfilled, therefore
God was in control. There was a
tradition about Judas’ death which occurred between Jesus’ ascension and
Pentecost. Judas, as foretold in the
Scriptures, betrayed Jesus; “Even my trusted friend, who ate my bread, has
raised his heel against me (Ps. 41:10).”
Judas died a terrible death after he betrayed Jesus and Luke quoted from
Scripture; ‘Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it (v.
20; Ps. 69:26). Verse 20 also drew
from the Psalms to indicate a divine foretelling of another apostle taking Judas’
place; "May another take his office (Ps. 109:8)." Peter described to the assembly the type of person
that should take Judas’ place. The
assembly prayed and Matthias was selected by God.
Almighty
God, preserve us in this foreign land that we may adhere to the teaching of
your Son and walk upright in his ways so that by our words and actions we may
lead others to your kingdom. This we pray
through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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