Filling Time Between Jesus and the Holy Spirit

By Steve Dennie

Acts 1:15-26 occurs during an in-between time: Jesus had just ascended, but the Holy Spirit hadn't come yet (that would happen soon on Pentecost). I imagine Peter and Friends were pretty stumped about what they were supposed to do. Jesus was gone, so…what next? The Holy Spirit hadn't come yet to give them direction.

I imagine God did that very intentionally. The coming of the Holy Spirit would be a Really Big Deal. But first, God wanted them to know what it was like to NOT have the Holy Spirit, nor Jesus. To be alone. He let them, for a short time, flounder.

All they could think of to do was to "play church." They got together, probably had a potluck, they prayed, and they held a business meeting. Kind of what churches do today when they lack the Holy Spirit's presence.

Acts says there were 120 people. That's pretty much the size of Anchor's congregation on a typical Sunday. So when you imagine Peter standing up front and speaking, think of Pastor Tim at the front of Anchor. Did those 120 include kids? Or were there 120 adults, PLUS kids? Don't know.

Jesus had chosen 12 disciples. Now they were down to 11. Was it important to fill the vacancy? They thought so. Peter pulled out an obscure reference from the Psalms that said, "May another take his place of leadership." It had nothing to do with Judas, and it was not a piece of prophecy, but everyone apparently considered it a compelling argument. Peter made a motion to replace Judas, and Andrew seconded it. Or something like that.

Hey, they didn't have anything else to do.

They also settled on some qualifications. They decided the New Guy had to be someone who had been with Jesus from Day One (Christ's baptism) until the ascension. You can just imagine them sitting around, arguing about qualifications. Maybe John suggested they get some newer blood, someone who hadn't been following Jesus for more than six months or so. But the Old Guard won out. It would be a long-timer.

They didn't, it seems, draw up a job description beyond "apostolic ministry." I suspect there were already 11 guys who didn't understand their job or what they would do the next day. But they felt they needed one more clueless person to make an even dozen.

Somehow--I'd love to know their process--they settled on two names, Barsabbas and Matthias. Were they the only two qualified persons? We don't know. Maybe several other persons were nominated, but they said, "No thank you. I'd rather not get crucified or sawn in half."

Barsabbas, or Matthias--which should it be? In America, of course, we would vote, because we're all about democracy and we're sure that is God's preferred method. But those First Century Christians did the Jewish time-honored practice of casting lots, the same practice that got Jonah thrown into a whale. What does it mean to "cast" lots? I'm not sure. But it was similar to drawing straws, which is more familiar to us. Matthias "won."

My Bible notes that this is the last time the Bible mentions casting lots to make a decision. A few verses later, the Holy Spirit arrives, and maybe this "inner voice" replaced lots. Or maybe Peter and Paul, who predominate in the rest of the New Testament with their strong personalities, just made executive decisions. Whatever the case, I don't see that the practice was made obsolete.

In these verses, this in-between time, we see fairly ordinary people. But then the Holy Spirit comes, transforming these men into spiritual commandos. In the rest of Acts, there is no more "playing church."