13th Apostle? Is This Position Available?

 

Jesus chose the 12 Apostles from his friends.  Then, after the Judas betrayed Jesus, the other Apostles needed to choose a replacement.

They chose Matthias as the next Apostle.  I don’t think much is known about Matthias, but he was present at the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.   I’m not sure if that makes him the 13th Apostle or just the new 12th.

Then on the road, Christ, in a vision, chose a Roman who was known as someone who persecuted early followers of the church to be his evangelist.  Following his conversion, St. Paul devoted his life to spreading the word of Jesus.  A large part of the New Testament is attributed to his writings.  He is sometimes called the 13th Apostle.   

In both of these cases, becoming the 13th disciple means surrendering all that we want to control, all that makes us comfortable and secure, and trusting Jesus to do something miraculous in and through our lives that will change the world.

Which leads me to think, can I become the 13th Apostle?  I don’t expect the Holy Spirit to descend on me in a tongue of fire or Jesus to come to me in a vision telling me to go on missionary journeys spreading God’s word.  And I’m pretty sure over the 2000 years since the original 12 there have been many people more deserving to be listed as the 13th Apostle than I could ever become.

But what I can do is aspire to become someone who does follow the example of the Apostles.  I can trust in Jesus, putting my life in his hands.  I can trust that He knows what is best for me and will allow me to do something that may change the world even in some small way.  What that change may be only He knows.

I believe that’s what we all need to do.  Trust in Jesus.  He is our savior and our friend.  He knows what is best for each of us.  All we need to do is talk to him through prayer.  He is always listening.