Who was Matthias, and why was he chosen to replace Judas Iscariot as the 12th Disciple?

One of my favorite parts of reading any piece of literature is learning about the different characters that are being depicted. I love having his or her background information, and if there is none available, then I just have to look it up for myself.

In the very first chapter of the Book of Acts, Peter stands up among the other disciples and tells them that another 12th disciple must be chosen to replace Judas Iscariot. He states the criteria for being chosen:

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24 And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:21-26, ESV)

So, my question is: Who was Matthias, and why was he chosen to replace Judas Iscariot as the 12th Disciple?

Starting with the first part of my question, I wanted to first ask, who exactly was he?

“The Holy Apostle Matthias was born in Bethlehem and was a descendant of the tribe of Judah.  He grew up with the study of religious writings and the law of God in Jerusalem.  He was taught at the feet of Simeon, who is best known for receiving the Christ-child in the temple.” 

Many of the other sources reiterated this same tale, along with the fact that he had traveled with Jesus since the beginning. This seemed pretty simple, but then one source has this to say about him:

“Many do not know that Matthias was originally Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree because he could not see Jesus due to the crowd of people and his short stature (Luke 19:1-10). He repented of his former life after meeting the Lord. St. Clement of Alexandria, in his writings in the Stromata, points this out.”

I think it would be a pretty darn cool story if he really was Zacchaeus, especially when you consider the story of the “rich young man” who also came to Jesus asking what he had to do to enter Heaven. If this story is true, then it would mean that not only did a rich man (a big, bad tax collector) sell his possessions to give to the poor, but he eventually “rose through the ranks”, as it were, and stepped up to fill in Judas’ position as the 12th Disciple. This is in contrast with the young man, who valued his possessions and position more than the prospect of selling his things and following Jesus. Of course, this runs a bit contradictory to the prospective 12th disciple having to have been there since the baptism. Certainly Zacchaeus/Matthias could have been there for the Crucifixion, after the resurrection, and for the ascension, but I highly doubt that he was there for Jesus’ baptism.

After I got some background information on him, I then wanted to know: Why him? What made him and Barsabbas the two main candidates for the 12th disciple? According to Acts, Peter said that the person chosen had to have been with Jesus from the beginning, from His baptism to His Ascension into Heaven. Apparently, the only two people who fit that criteria were Matthias and Barsabbas, which really made me wonder if there were no others who had been there from the beginning. Neither the Bible, nor any of the sources that I happened upon offered any real answer to this, however.

After naming the two men, the disciples prayed to the Protagonist, then cast lots to see which one Yahweh wanted to be the 12th. This seemed pretty funny to me, since it would be the Biblical equivalent of doing rock-paper-scissors to see who would be one of the Apostles.

Of course, you can look at this two ways. From the mind of a believer, well of course Yahweh’s will was for him to be the 12th! If He didn’t, then he wouldn’t have been chosen. From the eyes of a skeptic, though, it looks like this bunch of dudes seriously just played rock-paper-scissors to see who would be chosen.

I was also very curious to see if he had written anything himself, if there was a “Gospel of Matthias” somewhere.

“Clement of Alexandria quotes a single sentence which he attributes to a Gospel of Matthias, but that’s the only piece of the document which remains. There are also mentions of the existence of this gospel in Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome. Given how many gospels were created and attributed to various apostles and other companions of Jesus, it’s likely that a Gospel of Matthias existed. Since Clement died in the early 3rd century, this could have been a relatively early gospel.”

Another source echoes this, saying:
“He was traditionally the author of the “Gospel of Matthias,” a heretical work.”

Okay, now, my question morphed into: What did he do after he was chosen? We hear so much about Peter, Paul, John, etc., but Matthias is not ever mentioned again in the Bible.

“St. Matthias was chosen at that time to preach to the Jews in Judea, but afterwards, he also preached the Gospel to the Gentiles. […] An apocryphal story tells us that the Apostle Matthias preached the “Good News” to the inhabitants of Ethiopia and Macedonia.”

“Although Matthias is mentioned specifically by name only once in The Bible, he most certainly played a prominent role in the early church after having been selected to replace Judas Iscariot among The Twelve Apostles, and he most certainly will, as the Scriptures make plain, be a prominent member of the Kingdom of God.” 

One thing that all the sources can agree on is that Matthias became a martyr. There is no definitive evidence of where, how, and when Matthias died, but in my research, there are two main supposed stories of how he reportedly died.

He was either crucified in Colchis OR he was tried and sentenced to be stoned to death by the Jews, who then beheaded him in order to make it look like he was an enemy of Rome. (New Advent)

From the sources that I read, it seems like although there is not extensive writing pertaining to his specif works during his missions, it’s fair to say that his life after the Ascension followed the pattern of many of the other apostles: he goes out on his journey, he converts some people, he makes some people mad, he gets thrown in jail (at least once), and he is eventually martyred. He really does seem like a very interesting individual, and it’s kinda sad to see that he is so often looked over or completely forgotten in the shadow of the more well-known Apostles like Paul and Peter.

New Testament Allusion in The Emperor’s New Groove

The other day, I happened upon a screencap on the internet of one of my favorite Disney movies: The Emperor’s New Groove. After seeing that, I just HAD to watch the movie, and I was very tickled when I noticed an allusion to the New Testament in the beginning. 

I will save you from a long speech about how much I love this movie and what it’s about by using the description found on Disney’s website: 

“Emperor Kuzco (David Spade) is turned into a llama by his devious advisor, Yzma (Eartha Kitt), and her hunky henchman, Kronk (Patrick Warburton). Now the ruler who once had it all must form an unlikely alliance with a pleasant peasant named Pacha (John Goodman). Together, they must overcome their differences as they embark on a hilarious, ‘groovy’ adventure.” (Disney Movies)

In the opening scenes of the movie, we are introduced to Emperor Kuzco, and just in case we are unable to realize just how important a person he is, he has his “Theme Song Guy” tell us all about him. 

I found a clip of the scene in the movie when the song is being performed here:

The song’s title is “Perfect World” and is performed by Tom Jones. It was written by Sting & David Hartley. (Sting’s website)

The full lyrics are:

There are despots and dictators 
Political manipulators
There are blue bloods with intellects of fleas
There are kings and petty tyrants
Who are so lacking in refinements
They’d be better suited swinging from the trees
He was born and raised to rule
No one has ever been this cool
In a thousand years of aristocracy
An enigma and a mystery
In Meso American History
The quintessence of perfection that is he
He’s the sovereign lord of the nation
He’s the hippest dude in creation
He’s a hep cat in the emperor’s new clothes
Years of such selective breeding
Generations have been leading
To this miracle of life that we all know
What’s his name?
Kuzco, Kuzco, Kuzco… (Ad libs)
He’s the sovereign lord of the nation
He’s the hippest cat in creation
He’s the alpha, the omega, a to z
And this perfect world will spin
Around his every little whim
‘Cos this perfect world begins and ends with him
What’s his name?
Kuzco, Kuzco, Kuzco… (Ad libs)
You’d be the coolest dude in the nation
Or the hippest cat in creation
But if you ain’t got friends then nothing’s worth the fuss
A perfect world will come to be
When everybody here can see
That a perfect world begings and ends
That a perfect world begings and ends with us
What’s his name?
Kuzco, Kuzco, Kuzco… (Ad libs)
Kuzco, Kuzco, Kuzco (Sting’s Website)

Obviously, the line that I am focusing on goes “He’s the alpha, the omega, a to z”.  The phrase “alpha and omega” is found three times in the New Testament in the Book of Revalation:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:8, ESV)

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. (Revelation 21:6, ESV)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13, ESV)

By using the phrase “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, the writer of Revelation is describing how Yahweh is completely infinite. He was there before anything else, and He will be there after everything else.

When the writers of Kuzco’s theme song used this phrase, it says a lot about what they are trying to convey about his personality. It does not take long, in the movie itself or just the song clip, to realize that Kuzco literally considers himself to be the most important person, well… EVER. He is selfish, arrogant, and has no qualms about running over anyone who gets in his way of doing whatever he wants. Without the knowledge that this phrase is not just used to describe something very import, it describes limitless power of Yahweh, a person would not be able to fully understand just how high of an opinion the Emperor Kuzco has of himself.

What duties and powers were given to a Roman governor?

Anyone who has read or heard about the proceedings leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion knows about Pilate. He was the Roman governor of Judea at the time of Jesus’ ministry and execution. After reading about him for the third time (and soon a fourth when we get to John), I began wondering what it meant to be a Roman governor, and I thought it would be interesting to research what his powers and duties would have been. So, I guess my official question question/title is: What duties and powers did a Roman governor have?

Rome had few officials in its provinces; an imperial province would be administered by only the governor and a small number of personal staff. The governor’s concerns, therefore, had to be limited to essentials, principally the maintenance of law and order, judicial matters and the collection of taxes. To enable him to carry out his duties, the governor possessed imperium, or the supreme administrative power in the province.

Although this seemed extremely obvious, I wanted to find a kind of general definition for Roman governors. One source defined them as senators (or knights) who ruled the provinces of the Roman empire. 

As it turns out, there were more than just one type of Roman governor: (1) Proconsuls, (2) Legati Augusti pro praetore (which translates as “Representatives of the August propraetor”), and (3) Prefects. 

Pontius Pilate fell into the third categorie. (When I saw that he was a prefect, I immediately imagined him at Hogwarts yelling, “10 Points from the Sanhedrin!”)

There was a third group of governors. In several unimportant provinces, prefects were appointed. Usually, these military men governed parts of larger provinces. The best known example is Pontius Pilate, who governed Judaea, an annex to Syria. Prefects were not senators but knights.

When looking up how someone became a governor/prefect, one sources noted that some governors were specifically appointed by the Emperor, but others were appointed by the consuls to act in the consuls’ absence from Rome. 

This seemed a bit confusing when it came to figuring out who they had to answer to. Which ones were appointed directly by the emperor to an area? And which ones were appointed by someone who was appointed by the emperor? In hindsight, I think that they should have done a much better job about writing things like this down, so as not to confuse History majors as much.

Thankfully, amongst the confusing, one source very convieniently gave an in-depth description of a governor’s responsibilities:

-To start with, he was responsible for the taxes. As the Senate’s financial agent, he had to supervise the local authorities and the private tax collectors, the notorious publicans. To facilitate things, a governor could mint coins and negotiate with wealthy institutions (e.g., temples) that could advance the money.

-His second job was also that of accountant: he inspected the books and supervised large scale building projects.

-Next to these financial tasks, the governor was the province’s supreme judge. Appeal was not impossible, but the voyage to Rome was expensive. He was supposed to travel through the main districts of his province to administer justice in the assize towns. 

-Finally, he commanded an army. In the more important provinces, this could consist of legions; but elsewhere, there were only auxiliaries.

Another source echoed this (in condensed form): As a Roman prefect, he was granted the power of a supreme judge, which meant that he had the sole authority to order a criminal’s execution. His duties as a prefect included such mundane tasks as tax collection and managing construction projects. But, perhaps his most crucial responsibility was that of maintaining law and order. 

I think that this is the first blog that I’ve done where I did not come up with any surprising facts about what I was researching. All of the sources gave very straightforward answers as to what a governor (prefect, etc.) could do.

Something that I found very frustrating and confusing was the fact that so many of the sources used the terms “consul”, “governor”, “prefect”, etc. interchangeably, so in reading about their different duties, it was hard to keep check on which position held with powers.