During this time, Peter stood up in the company there were about 120 of them in the room at the time and said, “Friends, long ago the Holy Spirit spoke through David regarding Judas, who became the guide to those who arrested Jesus. That Scripture had to be fulfilled, and now has been. Judas was one of us and had his assigned place in this ministry. “As you know, he took the evil bribe money and bought a small farm. There he came to a bad end, rupturing his belly and spilling his guts. Everybody in Jerusalem knows this by now; they call the place Murder Meadow. It’s exactly what we find written in the Psalms: Let his farm become haunted So no one can ever live there. “And also what was written later: Let someone else take over his post. “Judas must now be replaced. The replacement must come from the company of men who stayed together with us

Acts 1:15–21 (MSG)

– Reflection:

Speaking about Judas, for me, used to be a thought that talking about him gave him energy and strength, considering how he brought down the one true savior of the world as it was just coming to be. However, as I have continually read the WORD, it states repeatedly that it was written this way: Jesus had to be sacrificed to save all of us. This doesn’t give him a pass, as he still had free will to honor himself and pursue what he wanted to be. He was working behind the scenes, thinking it would be something small and over quickly. That never works, by the way; it is always going to be more than expected. Now that everything has happened and Jesus has gone, and the Holy Spirit has come upon those to move through the world and speak the GOOD NEWS, there needs to be a replacement for Judas. Even though he performed one of the most powerfully negative acts in history, he still had a place in the ministry of Christ. Now that a replacement is necessary, they held a ceremony that narrowed it down to two men, and one was chosen. His name was Matthias.

– Where do we go from here?

Moving through the Bible and the different stories, I have to be honest: I missed this in my earlier readings. I knew the group grew but never really thought about Judas being replaced. That is a huge thing to accomplish with all the things that were happening in such a short period of time. The group had a task that needed to be completed and went about it in the fashion that they had learned from Christ himself: prayer. I ask now, when you go to read this portion of the Bible and see the way to replace Judas, would you have chosen a different way? I think a lot of groups and companies do things the worldly way. The Bible says they chose from the men that were with them from the time when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Sounds great to me, because this person would have seen everything that any one of the twelve had. Choose from within.

– Our Prayer for Today

Father, the Bible has so much information that has not changed but seems new each time we read it. We know your words haven’t changed; it is the time when we read them that makes the difference. Your amazement at what you expect from us is incredible. Thank you for allowing us into your Kingdom. Amen.