Matthias is the person chosen to take Judas' place as twelfth disciple. He is chosen by lot (in our day we would say be chance) from two candidates. This practice of rolling dice was done in faith that God was making the final choice.
This is Matthias' one and only appearance in the Bible. I once heard a preacher use this as evidence that churches should be slow and deliberate in filling positions. Clearly there was someone that would have made more of a splash than Matthias.
But as Diane so aptly pointed out in her sermon today, almost none of the other apostles are mentioned again following the choice of Matthias. He joins seven other apostles who disappear from the story at this point. Following the logic of that preacher I once heard, Jesus probably needed to be more careful in whom he called to follow him.
The fact is that the work of the Church is done mostly be anonymous individuals. The fact that Matthias doesn't get a certificate of recognition anywhere in the New Testament has little bearing on whether or not he was a good choice. And remembering that Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave," the Church would probably have a lot more anonymous greats if we took Jesus seriously.
But I still sometimes wonder what happened to Matthias. I guess I'll never know. But given the improbable way that the Christian movement spread like wildfire across the Mediterranean world, I can only assume that his faithful witness played a significant role in the vitality and vigor of the early Church. And I can't help but think that the Church today could use a lot more folks like Matthias.
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