pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: chosen


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Freedom

Reading: Psalm 114: 1-2

Verse Two: Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel His dominion.

Growing up in Connecticut, going to the Department of Motor Vehicles was a daunting task.  The adventure began in the parking lot.  It was always a challenge to find a spot to park.  If you went early, so did a thousand other people.  If you went during the day, it seemed like a thousand cars were circling the lot, all looking for the same space.  Once inside you saw a sea of chairs, lined up in long row after long row.  Then you would stand in line to get a number.  You pulled a little ticket like one does at a deli in a busy supermarket and then you headed for a seat.  If you forgot a book or your Walkman, you were in for trouble.  The big red number on the sign would read something like “24” and you’d look down at your ticket – “327”.  After just a few hours it would be your turn and you’d walk towards the correct window praying you had all the right paperwork…  When you finally emerged into fresh air to begin the search for your car, it felt as if a major victory had been won.  You survived the DMV!

The Israelites had been in Egypt for over 400 years.  Life was monotonous.  It was the same thing day after day.  Hurry up and do the same thing again today.  The slave drivers were always pushing and seemed to expect more and more.  Then one day the Israelites’ number is called.  God’s chosen people hear, “Next”!  God redeems them from slavery and they head off towards the promised land.  After their experience at the sea, they breathe in the fresh air and are confident in the victory that God has brought.  They know without a doubt that God is with them.  “Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel His dominion”.  God says, ‘you are mine and I love you’.  The chosen people head off, freedom at hand, the future looking oh so bright.

Fast forward a few centuries and we too have joined the family.  God says to you and to me, ‘you are mine, I love you’.  We too claim the victory.  Thanks be to God.


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A Special and Chosen People

Reading: Exodus 12: 11-14

Verse 13: The blood will be a sign… I will pass over you.

The Hebrew people are the chosen people.  They stand in a special place because of their relationship with God.  As God is preparing to set them free from their long years of bondage in Egypt, there must have been some anticipation building up amongst the people.  God instructs them to mark their doors with blood and says, “The blood will be a sign… I will pass over you”.  Others will not be passed over.  Death will come to their houses.  The Hebrews are indeed a special and chosen people.  God also instructs them to eat a special meal in a specific way, all the while ready to go.  As a child we experience this same thing when Mom or Dad excitedly yells,”Everyone, get your shoes and coats on!”  We would know something special was coming our way.

It has been many years since the first Passover.  Yet generation after generation has celebrated the Passover meal each and every year.  The words have been the same almost forever; they are memorized at the earliest of ages.  The youngest one present always asks the same question about the special night.  The story and the words and the meal are passed on generation after generation so that the Israelite people can remember.  The Passover celebration tells them over and over that they are a special and chosen people who stand always in God’s presence.

When Jesus instituted the sacrament of communion, He too used similar words.  He wanted us to always remember that that we are a special and chosen people.  In the Gospel of Luke we read these words: “do this in remembrance of me”.  Each time we gather and celebrate Holy Communion we remember what Jesus did for each of us.  We tell the story over and over so that we remember and so that we are reminded that Jesus made His sacrifice for each of us.  Yet He also did it for all of us – to forgive the sins of the world.  What great love!  We are indeed a special and chosen people, dearly loved by our Lord and King.  May all we do and say this day bring Jesus all the glory and honor, reflecting a love that draws others into this special and chosen people, the church.


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Mercy

Reading: Romans 11: 1-2a and 29-32

Verse 29: God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

Romans 11 deals with Israel, the people of God, and their rejection of Jesus as Messiah.  Paul writes from the perspective of one who used to be a very devout Jew but is now a follower of Jesus Christ.  He looks at the people he dearly loves, his fellow Jews, and is heartbroken that by and large they do not accept Jesus as the Messiah.  Through his own personal encounter with Jesus and his subsequent faith journey,  He knows Jesus intimately and he loves Jesus deeply.  Because of this, Paul wants all people to know Jesus as Lord – especially the chosen people of God, his own countrymen, his fellow Jews.

In today’s passage, Paul emphatically declares that God has not rejected the Jews.  Paul writes, “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable”.  The call of God upon the Jews is irrevocable.  Since the beginning of time, God has been in relationship with this people.  In the beginning He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden.  The conversation continued through Moses and Samuel and Elijah and… as God continued this relationship with His chosen people.  The conversation continued with Jesus, who was born of the chosen people, born from the line of David.

Paul then turns the conversation to present reality.  Because of the Jew’s rejection of Jesus (which Paul calls disobedience), the way was opened for the Gentiles to end their disobedience and to accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  It was through God’s mercy that the relationship was extended beyond the chosen people.  For Paul, God’s mercy is still present, waiting for the Jews to respond.  God’s call to the chosen people is still in tact.  But to Paul, the tables have now been turned.  The people who were not chosen have accepted Jesus and through this merciful act of God, they now are called to minister to the Jews, “that they too may have mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you”.  In other words, because of the mercy they have received others may now receive it.  

Jesus commissioned all believers to go out and share the good news and to make disciples of all nations.  Part of the good news for us is the mercy we receive from God.  Paul saw the chosen people as one of many nations who needed to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.  There continues to be many who need to experience God’s mercy and to hear the good news.  Like Paul, who did all he could to share Jesus with others, may we too do all we can to help others know Jesus and God’s mercy.


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Listen to My Voice

Reading: John 10: 22-30

Ever since mankind has known God, it has been all about the relationship.  Adam and Eve walked in the Garden and talked with God.  Although His presence changed, God has continued to communicate with mankind.  Initially it was through prophets and angels.  Then God entered the world in the flesh.  Jesus lived, walked among, taught, and even performed some miracles.  In His earthly life Jesus revealed who and what God is.

With Abraham, God established a covenant with His chosen people.  Israel was to be God’s people and He was to be their God.  This covenant came with some guidelines.  Over time the Law  grew to be something cumbersome.  Yet the covenant relationship remains.  God’s chosen people, by and large, continue living in covenant relationship with Him.

In time though, it became necessary to establish a new covenant.  Jesus came to accomplish this.  He reminded God’s chosen people of parts of the old covenant: love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love neighbor as self.  He added to the second: love as I have first loved you.  This was a different kind of love.  It was a radical kind of love.  In His love there are no outcasts, no outsiders, no strangers.  Jesus loved all.  He loves you and me.  Through His body and blood, He established a new covenant and offers the gift of eternal life.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me”.  The new covenant is about relationship too.  It is about hearing Jesus say, ” love as I have first loved you”.  It is about Jesus knowing each of us as a follower.  May we ever hear His voice.  May we ever follow.


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Invited and Chosen

In Matthew 22 the king has some difficulty gathering some guests for his son’s wedding banquet.  He finally gathers up some folks off the street to fill the hall,  But he finds one guest without wedding clothes.  In the culture of the time, by wearing a wedding robe you were agreeing to the responsibilities to uphold and care for the new couple.  So the guest that is saying ‘no’ is bound up and cast out into the darkness.

When we take on the mantle of ‘Christian’ we too are, in essence, agreeing to some things.  First, we are agreeing to uphold the teachings of Jesus.  The two primary ones are to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and the second is to love neighbor as self.  On a personal level w are committing to a growing relationship with Christ.  We cultivate and grow our relationship with Jesus through prayer, study of His word, worship, and so on.

But, sadly, Jesus’ words at the end of the parable will apply to some sitting in the pews on Sunday – “For many are invited, but few are chosen”.  May we each live beyond ‘invited’.  May we live as the chosen.

Scripture reference: Matthew 22: 1-14