Chosen From Among the Unexpected

“For the sake of Jacob, my servant,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.”

Isaiah 45:4

God always seems to do what we never expect would happen. He chose Abraham, a man who was advanced in years and without child to be the father of many nations, the father who would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. He chose Moses who had a speech impediment and who at times showed a great lack of confidence in God to be the leader to face the Pharaoh and to lead His People out of slavery in Egypt through the Red Sea. Later He allowed the People to have a king and chose Saul who would later consult other spirits and follow his own word instead of God’s. And the most unthinkable thing — He sent His only begotten Son into world to take on human flesh so that man might be saved from their sins. So far these examples have all been members of the “Chosen People,” but God has also chosen people from different backgrounds to carry out His will.

After the Israelites fell to the Babylonians and went into exile, the Prophet Isaiah prophesied and encouraged the people, assuring them that God will once again restore them and set them free, but they must believe and remain faithful. There was a surprise this time as the one God chose was not a Hebrew or a Israelite. It was not a prophet that He sent; rather, God chose a king, a foreign king — King Cyrus of Persia.

God called King Cyrus of Persia “His anointed,” which we know is reserved only for the kings and priests of Israel. Furthermore “anointed one” is also translated as “Christ” in Latin or “Messiah” in the Hebrew. So in a very real sense this Persian King is a “type” or foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. When King Cyrus captured Babylon, he did not make the Israelites his slaves, instead, he let them go home. They were once again able to go back to their own land to rebuild the Temple and worship God. God chose a “foreigner” to liberate His People, to carry out His will for the good of His People. We see this even more concretely when Jesus compared the strong faith of non-Jews with the weak faith of the Pharisees and Jews. Later, Jesus instructed His followers to “go and make disciples of all nations.” That is why we are here today.

Brothers and Sisters, God calls YOU today. We may not believe it and we may not want to accept it, but it is true. God has called us in our shortcomings and our weaknesses and our brokenness to carry out His will, to make His love and mercy known to all. Even when at times we choose to stray away from God and push Him aside, His call to us remains. Our chosenness in Christ is never revoked. We have been chosen for a purpose that only we can fulfill. Just as He called Abraham, Moses, Saul, and Cyrus, each with their flaws and weaknesses, so too does God call each one of us. Never underestimate the importance we play in the Kingdom. To us we and all what we do may just be a drop in the bucket, but to God, our little drop of water may be the one drop that is needed to make the seed germinate and sprout from the soil. You have been called and you are chosen!

Needy Abundance

“I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:12b-13

One of the most popular verses in the Bible among teenagers and young people seems to be “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13) and for good reason. It’s quite encouraging to see that young people are confessing that it is indeed Christ who strengthens them, and because He does, they can do “anything.” Although the words spoken by St. Paul is indeed true, one must read and understand them with the intention with which St. Paul spoke them.

To fully understand a certain verse of Scripture, we must see what comes before and after it. Before St. Paul wrote that famous line, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” he shared how he has lived through both abundance and scarcity. It is because St. Paul has seen how God has been faithful through the good times and bad that he uttered in faith and conviction, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This doing all things is not a sharing in God’s omnipotence, but rather trusting completely in God’s Divine Providence. Later in the same letter St. Paul writes, “My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19).

So, yes, we can do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthen us, but only in accord to God’s will in Christ Jesus. We can do all things that the Lord is asking of us if we place our focus on Him for He will give us all the graces that we will need to carry out that mission. But all this presupposes that one firmly believes in God and His Providence. Have we experienced abundance in our lives, when everything goes as planned and even better than we could have imagined? How about times when we were in need, when things were not going as we have hoped? Do we believe that God was there with us in both abundance and in need? Do we believe that God provided for us even when it seemed as if we were alone and had nothing left onto which we could grasp? That’s the point St. Paul was trying to convey — that God was there for him and provided for him in both the good times and the bad and because he knows and believes that, he can do all things in Christ and through Christ, who is his strength. Do we know that? Do we believe that?

Where are we in our lives today? Are we experiencing abundance? Are we weathering through difficult storms? Where ever we may be, let us try to see the hand of God in motion, trusting that every abundance is a gift from God and knowing that every need and storm will lead us to shores that we never knew existed. God’s grace may be mysterious, but it is always sure.

The Joy of Rejection

“Jesus said to them,

‘Did you never read in the Scriptures:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
by the Lord has this been done,
and it is wonderful in our eyes?’”

Matthew 21:42

Are you thinking that the title of this reflection is paradoxical? Can rejection really be joyful? Rejection is never easy and it usually brings with it anxiety and negatively-charged emotions. Perhaps rejection brings a sense of worthlessness and it makes us question our value and even our dignity. The line from Psalm 118 that Jesus quotes, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” challenges us to see rejection in a whole new way, even finding the joy that comes from it.

The entire earthly life of Jesus has been a contradiction to the Jewish people, challenging them to see the Law, which binds them with God, in a radically different way — not how it has been adapted, but how it was intended to be in accord with the nature of God. One of the biggest challenges for the Jews was to love and pray for their enemies. Another was the Beatitudes. For the Jews in the time of Jesus, someone was truly blessed if they had land and descendants and when things were going well. But Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and those who are persecuted! Instead of clinging to the Law Himself (Jesus), the Jews chose to attach themselves to the law that they have come to adapt to be their own, so when Jesus came to them, they rejected Him because what He preached was seemingly against the law. Jesus is the stone that was rejected by the builders. But, the next part of the verse says it all: He became the cornerstone.

This pattern of the Jewish people was not new at the time of Jesus. In fact, from the times of the prophets, the Israelites have rejected the prophets when they implored them to convert and change their ways. They even plotted to kill them. Just as they treated the prophets, they too treated Jesus. But we know Jesus’s death was not the end. He rose from the dead. His rejection by the people ended not in death, but in life, life that is eternal. So yes there is a joy that comes with rejection — we know that the battle has already been won and that whatever rejection we experience here, especially if for the sake of our faith, is a witness to Christ and His love. As Christians, when we are rejected, it is not because we are not good enough, but because we have been chosen for something else; we have been chosen for heaven.

The next time we experience rejection, whether it be in small ways or larger ways, let us bring it to prayer and join it with the rejection Christ experienced and pray what the Lord quoted, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” confident that the Lord has much bigger plans and that these setbacks are really stones that are building up the Kingdom. May we come to experience the joy that comes with rejection, uniting ourselves to Christ, and seeing the beauty of God’s plan come to fruition.