John
15:9-17
Thankfully they
don’t happen very often anymore, but back in the day it was standard
practice. I’m talking about the
schoolyard pick. For me, growing up, it
typically happened in P.E. class. There
was a game to be played which needed two teams, so the teacher would call two
students forward (usually a couple of the most athletic boys). They were then made team captains, and
instructed to take turns picking someone for their team. The first few rounds were easy. Everyone knew the toughest, most athletic
boys would be picked first. That was a
no-brainer. The challenge came when the
selection of potential teammates had been pared down to the boys who were
deemed “weaker” or less athletic and a bunch of girls, some of whom were very
capable athletically. The captains would
huddle with their teams to weigh their options.
As the teams debated we, those yet to be chosen, had no choice but to
just stand there passively as we were pelted by their judgments. In this every man for himself scenario, I
didn’t care about anyone else I just wanted to be picked - the sooner the
better - and most of the time my fragile sense of self-worth remained
relatively intact because I was often one of the first girls to be chosen. But that means that others were not so lucky. Eventually, as everyone knows, in schoolyard
pick the group to pick from is whittled down to two. Two kids whom their peers have deemed for
whatever reason the least desirable.
There they stand all by themselves with everyone else in class looking at
them, judging them, weighing their merits.
And finally they are put out of their misery with one picked over the
other, which I’m sure is small consolation.
The last kid is left to briefly stand alone before slinking over to join
a team fully knowing that they were never chosen.
Now even if you
were one of the lucky ones who was always picked first in the schoolyard I have
no doubt that there have been plenty of times for each one of us here that we
have felt the sting, even the pain, of not being the one who’s picked - not
offered the job, not chosen as the love interest, not invited to the party, not
accepted into the school, not welcomed into the group. No matter how old you are it never feels good
not to be chosen. We all desire to be
valued, to be wanted, to be picked. So
hear the good news that is just for you today.
Jesus chooses you. Take a moment
to let that sink in. When it really
counts Jesus chooses you. You are
valued, you are wanted, you are loved by none other than God in Christ. For “you did not choose me,” Jesus declares
to each one of us today, “but I chose you.”
And the news just
gets better. When Jesus chooses you it
doesn’t mean that someone isn’t chosen.
Although that’s the way we’re used to things working not only in the
schoolyard, but in the world at large - that there’s a certain amount of
resources and if one person gets something that means that someone else doesn’t
or if one person is picked then another person is not - that’s not the way
God’s world works. The Kingdom of God is
clearly not of this world because it is all about abundance - which means that
no one gets less when someone gets more.
Or when Jesus chooses you it doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t choose
me. There’s not even a ranking
involved. There is no better or higher
pick - none of that exists with our abundant God. Rather you are chosen. I am chosen.
The disciples are chosen. The
Gentiles who we heard about in our first reading are chosen. Every single person is chosen. Chosen and loved and cherished and
valued. No one is left out. No one is left standing alone. Everyone belongs.
And here’s
something else that goes against the grain of this world - Jesus chooses us not
because of how great we are - I hope I’m not bursting anyone’s bubble here -
but because of how great and loving and generous God is. Notice that our reading from the gospel of
John takes place during the last evening Jesus is with his disciples - just
hours before he is arrested and walks the way of the cross. Knowing all that is to come Jesus says, “You
did not choose me but I chose you.” He’s
talking to his disciples - all twelve of his disciples. Jesus chooses them. Clearly this is not based on merit - he
chooses Judas who betrays him, Peter who denies him, and the other ten who
abandon him in his hour of need. Jesus
chooses them and he chooses us because they as well as we are created in love
and live in love - a love that is not something we are flung in and out of because
of our actions - rather a love we exist in and abide in always and forever as
pure gift from God.
You did not choose me but I chose you. Each
one of us is chosen to be on Team Jesus.
The team that’s all about love and abundance - a team that is the
complete opposite of the every man for himself way of being instead it’s every
member is so valued, so necessary, so needed to make up the very body of Christ
in this world. And we, the members of
Team Jesus, are deemed with the task of bearing fruit, blessing the world with
everlasting fruit that in one way or another proclaims the good news that
everyone is loved, everyone is valued, everyone is chosen. And as we do so God’s joy will be in us and
our joy will be made complete. Which
leaves me with only one more thing to say: Go Team!
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