Chosen by God

Today we hear about what it means to be called “chosen by God”. Being chosen is a key aspect of what it means to be a disciple. It means you have been called by him to entrust your life to him. And when you do this, you life is now a participation in the life of JC, and that Jesus now actively participates in yours. The fact that we are chosen is eternal, but the hearing and answering the call that comes with being chosen may be either in a moment, or in a progressive realization that God has chosen you for himself.

First, we hear in the reading to the Ephesians today, Paul reminds the Church that,

“he chose us even before he founded the world”. “he destined us to be his adopted sons and daughters:” So even though we might become aware of that calling to be true disciples at one point or another, it was a destiny preordained by God well before we even knew we exited.

The thing is that it often feels like we are the one who chooses God; and this is true in a sense, because God always respects our freedom to choose as spiritual beings. He does not seek to manipulate us, by forcing himself upon us. This is because he wants us above all to love him, and love can only given if it is given freely. So we are left free to choose him.

But this freedom of choice is always preceded by the fact that he chose us for this love even before we were born, even before we knew that we exited.

And then Paul concludes why we were chosen: Because we were destined to be redeemed by the ultimate Chosen One, Jesus the Son of God, and that by our union with him, sealed in the Holy Spirit, we are adopted sons and daughters.

And what it means to be an adopted son and daughter of God is this: God has chosen you to entrust your life to JC. Your life is now a participation in the life of Jesus, and Jesus is an active participant in yours. Your identity is in him, and he in you.

Now the realization of this in our lives can be sudden, but often times progressive and not done in one moment.

In fact, to become a disciple is an ongoing effort to continue to entrust your life to him. It is not to identify as perfect, but growing. Not to identify as sinless, but forgiven. Not to identify as merely ‘spiritual’, but Spirit Filled who helps us in our weakness. To be a disciple is to be dedicated to work on realizing the called we have been given to entrust our lives to Jesus, and to have a personal relationship with him.

And when we dedicated to entrusting ourselves in this way, when we have to know God, we are then ready for mission. We are then ready to give to others what we ourselves have recieved.

In the book of Amos which was our first reading, Amos is a prophet from the southern Kingdom of Judaea, and he was just a farmer who was chosen by God to speak on his behalf.

Amos went a location called Bethel where there was a false shrine set up, with professional prophets who prophesied for the northern king. Now, the irony is that these false prophets told Amos to leave, go back to Judaea, and prophesy there. But Amos responded that he is not a Navi, a seer, even though he was. But he realized the category they were using to call someone was a prophet, was a false category. The test of a true prophet in the OT was that he was chosen by God, but these other so called prophets saw it as something self-chosen.

and i think this is something that many people who have not entrusted their lives to Jesus think Christianity is about: a personally chosen way of life. But what it is is a calling, to participate in the life God, and to have him participate in your life. To have a relationship him, where you have entrusted your self, and your life to his.

And when this entrustment becomes mature, but not perfect (because perfection is only found in heaven) we are ready for mission, and to be like Amos to entrusted not only his heart but his very life to God when we went into hostile territory to speak the word of God, if only he might save some.

In the Gospel today, the Apostles were sent you two by two to preach. People think that this is because in the ancient world, testimonies were not held as holding weight unless there are two or more witnesses.

this passage from Mark 6 when Jesus chooses the apostles to go out 2x2 mirrors in some ways Jesus’ choosing of the apostles in chapter 3, when they were chosen particularly to be disciples. Before being sent, they first watched, listened, learned, and learned to entrust themselves. Their discipleship came before their apostleship.

The same is for us. We are all called to be on mission, to testify to what we have received as sons and daughters of God. But being chosen and called for mission, is always dependent on our primary call to be disciples. To entrust our lives God, and to know we are his children. To participate in his life by dedicating ourselves to prayerfulness, and to let him participate in all we do.

Story about: I was still learning to be a disciple, joined the Dominicans, and then was unsure. God confirmed me, despite my imperfection.