Jan. 23 - The Promise of Being Chosen

From the First Lesson for this day, the Third Sunday of Epiphanytide,
Isaiah 41:8-10 and 41:17-20
(I am sorry for the delay on this: we have had internet connection problems.)

I was the kid who was always chosen last for dodge ball in gym class. I was the kid who was chosen for my height - not my ability - in basketball. I was the one chosen to be in the chorus in school plays because they needed more boys, never a main part, which I wanted.

The things I was chosen for are not things I wanted to be chosen for. I was chosen to be in the first family in our Church to get a divorce. I was chosen to witness the violence of my parents' marriage. I was chosen to be one of those kids who works from the time they're thirteen.

Yet God has blessed me greatly in the things He has chosen for me.

In Romans and other places in the New Testament, St. Paul calls the Church the "new Israel." Indirectly, then, he is also saying that I, too, am part of God's Chosen People, not by the will of the flesh, but by the choosing of God.

This leads to all sorts of theological issues for minds greater than mine to argue: predestination, Arminianism, etc. But for me, today, this acceptance into God's new Israel is full of promise, as Isaiah states:

"But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend."

In God's grace, through Christ, He calls me His servant, like Jacob, I have been chosen by God, not born of the seed of Jacob, but of the seed of Grace through the Virgin Mary. By grace, I am one whom the Prophet foretold, "whom I have taken from the ends of the earth... I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away." (Is there a more diverse group on earth than the Church?)

I don't mean to be proud in writing this. All who know God through faith in Jesus Christ are "chosen."

Isaiah's voice tells of God's grace to His chosen ones:
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness... When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none... I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them... That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it."

Not only did God choose me, as He chose the people of Israel and as He continues to choose those who are in His Church, He provides for His people. He promises to be with me through thick and thin. He promises to hear my plea for the basics of life. He promises that I can "see, know, consider, and understand" the will of God through the circumstances of life.

There are people who want more out of life than this. They want material things. They want answers to problems (now!). They want to avoid pain, to elude suffering, to miss being dependent on others.

And there are people who want to know God.

My prayer is that I will know God through the suffering of this life, because He has chosen me to be His own.