The Lot of Ministry

At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, "Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.  For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry."
(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out.  And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
"For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE, AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT'; 'LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE.'  Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us --  beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us -- one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection." (Acts 1:15-22 NASB)

I've been away from this blog too long.  Part of the reason is that I have been busy working over Acts 1.  For some reason the Greek was giving me problems that I had not been having with Hebrew.  I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.  But having completed this passage, I find a few things that shed light on the character of my Master for me.

Two of those things are in the passage above.  The first one has to do with an opinion that in this passage, the disciples make a mistake in selecting a replacement for Judas.  The view goes that God selects Paul later, and what they do here is a selection by human wisdom.  I disagree with this view.  It's not widely held, but is not uncommon either. 

Part of what is seen as the problem is that the disciples didn't wait for the Holy Spirit Who figures prominently in the next chapter.  It's my opinion about this opinion that the ones holding it see that event incorrectly as well.  I understand Jesus to have "breathed on them" and they received the Holy Spirit after His resurrection (John 20:22).  In Luke 24 Jesus opens their minds to understand the Scriptures.  So, I don't see any reason the disciples would have been deficient in their ability to make godly decisions.

Apart from my disagreement with the opinion over those interpretations, I found something else this past week.  In verse 17, Peter refers to Judas being given the ministry by lot.  It is never translated that way, but the word used is the same used for the process of selection in verse 26.  So Matthias receives his share in ministry just as Judas did, at least in the understanding of the disciples.  I never caught that before because translation opted for two different ways to translate the same thing.  That may have been appropriate, but it also obscured a connection clearly made in the original language.

The second thing I noted was the purpose for the "office" or ministry.  It wasn't to "rule" the people, it was to safeguard the memory of Jesus' earthly ministry.  I don't think Paul would have been able to do that.  When Paul says that the apostles didn't add anything to his message, he wasn't referring to his knowledge of Jesus, but the good news he proclaimed to the Gentiles; salvation in Jesus.  The details of Jesus' life had to be filled in, and that had to come from these 12 men who were actually there.

I find it interesting that there were at least 2 others who were there the whole time.  I never really thought that anyone other than the initial disciples were there, but it makes sense.  Jesus had to choose 12, which implies that some were not chosen, that He had a group to choose from numbering over 12.  So how many were there, and why Judas over Matthias right at the beginning?

The character of my Master that I see shining through in this passage is His use of lots.  I just think that is interesting.  It is a concession on His part to our limitations of knowledge and inability to really communicate with Him.  And it is an act of faith on our part acknowledging that we have those limitations and it is truly up to our Master to decide, it throws the decision into His court.  I also see it interesting that they saw their initial selection in somewhat the same way.  In the absence of Jesus, the casting of lots was the closest they could come to the same process.

I think I need to acknowledge the end of my understanding and my need for a "lot" at points in my life.  I'm not all that ready to do this simple thing sometimes.  I expect that I can figure it out (or that I'm supposed to), that I can just follow this process and my Master will conform to it, or that I already know enough to move on.  When facing several choices, all of seemingly excellent spiritual quality and God-glorifying potential I have to fall back on my Master and not rely on my own wisdom.  I'm only more "numbskullish" when I don't fess up to my obvious limits in knowledge.  It's one thing to be a numbskull, and I often am, but it's even worse to pretend I'm not and not seek my Master's clarity in such an obvious need.  I suppose sometimes is a problem caused by my not seeing the choices in this way, but that is again the numbskull-matt taking control. Yes, I am some sort of numbskull.