We Are Chosen

 By: Lauren Thomas

Early in Jesus’ ministry He said something controversial while teaching at a local synagogue. Though it was controversial for His audience, it signals extremely good news for us today. But it would be easy to miss this, if you only give the passage a casual reading.

 

In fact, if you glance over Luke chapter 4, you’ll probably be drawn to the part where Jesus reads from Isaiah. The passage he chose to read is a powerful and comforting prophecy, made more amazing by his own commentary: “today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). But as Jesus continues speaking, he explains that a prophet is not welcome in his hometown. Notice, he was speaking in the synagogue in his hometown. This is where his message takes a turn.

 

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Luke 4:25-27 ESV

 

The controversy of Jesus’s message was that God would minister to others due to the failure of His own people to recognize Him. The events that Jesus referenced took place in Israel’s history and are documented in 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 5. In both instances God ministered through his prophets to foreigners. Rather than choosing an Israelite widow or an Israelite leper – women and men of his “chosen people” – God chose people who were not chosen.

 

The fact that Luke recorded Jesus’ controversial message makes sense contextually. After all, Luke wrote to “Theophilus.” While there is debate over the exact identity of Theophilus, the name is derived from Greek. We understand that Luke wrote to the Gentiles – people who were not Jews – rather than to God’s chosen people: the Jews.

 

We might miss these things if we are casually reading the Bible. But when we grasp the dimensions of what Jesus was saying by digging into the context, we see that what was perceived as controversy to the Jews signals acceptance for us. This is one element of the “good news” of the Gospel: that we are chosen too.

 

In Romans, Paul quotes Hosea as he describes this concept:

 

25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

 

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

Romans 9:25-26 ESV

 

This is the good news of the Gospel for us Gentiles: we are now chosen!

 

Reflection:

Read Luke 4:16-30. How does it feel when someone you love “chooses” you? Spend some time reflecting on that fact that you are chosen by God. What does it feel like to be chosen by God?