Saint Matthias

Everything the Acts of the Apostles tells us about Matthias comes down to a single condition Saint Peter set before the whole community: the person must be one who had accompanied the Apostles throughout the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among them — from the day John baptized him until the day he was taken up into heaven — so as to bear witness with them to his Resurrection before everyone.

Matthias was put forward by the community because he had walked that whole long road, without missing a single stage. He was not the kind of person who heard an exciting story secondhand and then rushed to claim a prestigious position. He had eaten with them, walked dozens of kilometers of road with them, shared the hardships and joys of the wandering life of those who followed the Lord. Yet in all the Gospels, not a single event of his own is told, as if he always stood somewhere in the crowd of disciples, never called by name to step forward.

Perhaps the band who followed Jesus through those years was much larger than the number Twelve we usually hear. Besides the core group always named, there was a wider circle: quiet disciples who followed to listen and to serve, then blended back into the crowd as the group moved on to another region. Matthias must have been one of them: close enough to witness everything, but humble enough never to try to push to the front.

Saint Peter proposed choosing a suitable person to fill that empty place. The community agreed on two men: Joseph called Barsabbas, also known as Justus, and Matthias.

It is worth noticing that Scripture also records, in full and with respect, the name of the man who was not chosen, neither forgotten nor erased. No jealousy, no struggle for power is mentioned here. Both men had lived holy lives, both were fully worthy to bear witness to the risen Lord. Only one would be given this official task, but the worth and dignity of the other before God were not lessened in the slightest.

We do not know how Joseph Barsabbas, the one not chosen, took the result. Scripture does not say whether he was sad, whether he felt let down after the whole community had trusted him enough to put his name forward. That silence is, in a way, a lesson too: there are times we are put forward, recognized, and in the end not chosen, and the way a person accepts that quietly, without resentment, is itself a witness of faith no less precious than being chosen.

As for Matthias, Scripture records no solemn acceptance speech from him at all. He simply accepted, without fuss. From then on, his long, quiet presence became a fully public responsibility: to bear witness with his brothers to the risen Lord before the whole world.

Then the day of Pentecost came, and the Holy Spirit came down on him as on all the other Apostles, with no distinction between the newly chosen and those who had followed the Lord from the very first days. But Acts tells nothing of his own travels. He blended completely into the shared mission of the whole Church, asking for no separate place, seeking to leave no personal mark. This is also the last time Scripture records the casting of lots to discern God’s will. After Pentecost, the early Church would seek God’s guidance in another way: through the Holy Spirit himself, alive and active in the community.

That self-effacement reminds us of something important: in the heart of the Church, countless people have quietly given their whole lives to God without their names ever being recorded in any great book. A thin biography does not mean a life any less fully given.