The Healing Jesus: An Advent Devotional to Encourage Anybody and EverybodySample

JOSEPH BARSABBAS: THE ONE WHO WAS NOT CHOSEN

I am Joseph Barsabbas, a long-time follower of Jesus. Everyone was shocked when Judas Iscariot, one of the original twelve disciples, betrayed Jesus and then hung himself. We looked up to Judas and trusted him. He was always so responsible.

When it came time to pick a replacement, everyone agreed it couldn't be random. It had to be someone who had been there with the twelve apostles the entire time. It came down to me and Matthias as the two guys who had been there the longest and had shown to be the most faithful. Even though we both met all the qualifications, only one was picked. Everyone prayed for God to reveal who the replacement should be.

"You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place."

I prayed that God's will be done, but I wanted to be the twelfth disciple so badly. When they cast lots, Matthias was the guy who was asked to join the other eleven.

Rejection is awful, even if it is the right choice. I couldn't help but go over it again and again, imagining how things could have gone differently. I wondered what was wrong with me. Where could I have been a little better? What could I have done or said to change the decision? It became about me and my performance. I couldn't see past myself.

To this day, I don't have answers to any of these questions, but that's okay. I don't think anything was wrong with me. Matthias was the right person for the position. There is a lot I don't understand about it, but I do know this: that I trust in God. Even though I wasn't picked, I am staying faithful. I follow and stay true to the calling by putting one foot before the other. I'm grateful for the good news that God has chosen me for his heavenly kingdom even when I haven't been picked on Earth. There's no place else I'd rather be.

Jesus is healing the rejected ones; when you are not chosen.

Questions for Talk it Over:

1. What was the method of choosing the next disciple?

2. Have you experienced a time in your life when you were not chosen?

3. How had Jesus given you peace about that rejection now?