Have you ever watched or even played in a football, hockey, rugby, netball or any other kind of match involving teams, when a substitute has come on a turned the game around? Perhaps he or she scored the winning points when all had seemed lost. Do you think that that person complained at the end that it wasn't fair not to have been on the pitch at the start? Maybe sometimes that's appropriate. Perhaps it's someone who has come back from injury and now felt able to complete the whole game. It's possible that the situation wouldn't then have become so dire in the first place. However, sometimes it's important to have someone ready to come onto the field late in the day, have almost no time to get into the feel of the game and know how to use fresh legs, and perhaps arms as well, to change things around. He or she may be involved for only a few minutes, but ends up lauded as the match winner.
As soon as the 11 remaining apostles returned to Jerusalem after Jesus had ascended to Heaven, Peter realized that there should be 12 of them. Therefore, they chose a replacement for Judas Iscariot. After praying and casting lots, they appointed Matthias. Many Christians probably wouldn't be able to tell you his name, even if they can those of the other 11. He didn't feature prominently in Acts, but he was there at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the believers and he became one of the principle 12 Church leaders who oversaw its birth and inital growth. We know that that growth was phenomenal owing to the yielded and inspired lives of those 12 men, as well as other leaders, together with the enthusiasm of the new converts. Leadership, though, can facilitate or stifle. In this case the leaders got it right - one of those leaders was Matthias.
I've known people who've been appointed to a post as second, third, or even fourth choice and go on to do a stunning job. I've also know people refuse to accept a job offer because they've found out that they were not first choice. We know that Matthias had been prominent in the wider circle of Jesus's disciples from the time when John was baptizing (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 1, verses 21 & 22), but he hadn't been chosen then to be one of the 12. Yet he was ultimately deemed to be a disciple of a calibre to join the table with Simon Peter, James and John the sons of Zebedee, as well as Andrew, Matthew Levi, Philip, Nathanael Bartholomew, James son Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas Thaddeus, and Thomas Didymus. He decided not to turn down the offer.
Pride can be a terrible thing. It can stop us from fulfilling our true potential because we weren't recognized when we wanted to be or by the person whom we had hoped would spot our potential. Matthias humbly accepted that he hadn't been one of the 12, but was willing to step up to the mark and, if the opportunity presented itself, score the winning goal.
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