What is it like to be chosen?
Well, I guess that depends on what you are being chosen for; or who is doing the choosing. I think we have all had that feeling, maybe in school, when we either hoped that we would be picked for a particular team or group and then other times we tried to hide ourselves so we would not be picked.
But then I think. God did not let this happen. It happened by choices or circumstances. God did however choose those people to serve this breakfast, to be there for a chat, give them a bit of love and most of all God walked in and out of that door with each and every one of them.
As children, and even adults as well (although that is harder to admit), we tend to choose because of looks or where a person’s sits on the status ladder. We all want to be on a good team, we want to be in the cool kids group. Most of these times we didn’t have any choice once we were chosen by this person, we had to join them.
With God, this is different. We have choices. When we are called, we can ignore him or say, “not me”. For those of you who have answered his call, you know that he doesn’t always take no for an answer.
The disciples would have had a choice. So here in the Gospel reading we have Jesus, who finds Matthew, a tax collector sitting in his booth doing his job of collecting taxes and says, ‘follow me’ and from what the story says, Matthew gets up and follows Jesus. There is no dialogue where Matthew asks, ‘where are we going’ or ‘I am busy’, he just gets up and goes with Jesus. I really wonder what Matthew was thinking about. Jesus’s ministry is with those who need healing, who need some ‘fixing’. He even says this in the reading: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick”.
As a person who volunteers with the homeless or less fortunate this is comforting, not new but still it makes me feel good. Quite often, before we open doors and welcome our breakfast guests into the church hall, I am asked to pray. Often part of the prayer is that I ask God to make himself known to those who enter the doors, so that each of them understand that they are never alone, that God walks with them always.
The doors are opened, and the breakfast hour begins. As I watch over the group and chat with some, I sometimes wonder if what I pray for is true. How can this many people go through their lives in this kind of hardship and when a pregnant woman shows up or a particularly troubled person, I think, where is God in all of this. How can this be happening?
But then I think. God did not let this happen. It happened by choices or circumstances. God did however choose those people to serve this breakfast, to be there for a chat, give them a bit of love and most of all God walked in and out of that door with each and every one of them.