Epiphany 1, Year C

January 7, 2007

The Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew

When David and I lived in Atlanta we became well acquainted with the Humane Society. We had grieved the unexpected loss of our first dog, Saul, and after many months decided the time was right to choose a successor. Our first visit to the Humane Society yielded no candidates, no one who felt “right” for us. Our second visit introduced us to a puppy with very large paws who was later determined to require a house with a fenced in yard. Our apartment did not qualify. Our third visit introduced a very different dynamic. The staff brought us in to look at particular dogs, for they now knew that, unlike so many others, we would adopt a dog and not just one of the cute puppies. They housed their dogs until they had no more space and they were quickly running out of room for some of the larger and less appealing pooches. We passed on the water hound named Beast who weighed more than I did. We looked at dogs who barked, pranced, whined, and wagged to get our attention. We looked at the ones who had given up and lay curled in a corner of their runs. Then we saw Chester. He sat quietly, back feet slightly turned in, ears at full attention, eyes hopeful. After ten minutes in the hall together we knew he would be going home with us. He had been just a few days shy of being euthanized when we chose him.

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights…” declares God through the prophet Isaiah. With these powerful words God designates one chosen to do God’s work in the world. This one, God’s servant, will faithfully, tenaciously bring forth justice. This is no superhero, cape fluttering in the wind, buff body highlighted in tights. God’s servant is instead one who cultivates hope, who refuses to give up even when people are damaged and wavering in faith: “… a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench….”

At the time of these words to Isaiah, the people of Israel were living in exile in Babylon. Many could still recall the experience of having Israel and Judah fall to the Babylonians and being led into captivity in a foreign land. It was a challenge for many to understand themselves as continuing to be God’s people under these circumstances. It was a stretch to grasp that God is the God of all people even while they were chosen by God to live in special relationship. How special could that covenant relationship be while they were exiles? They had been chosen, chosen as a people who could live in right relationship with God and with each other. They were an example to all the people of how God chooses to be with people, to love them, challenge them, call them to accountability and to try again when they do not live up to being in right relationship. There was good reason to hope, for God was giving them another opportunity to live as people who are chosen.

When John the Baptist began preaching his message to repent and return to the Lord, people wondered if he were the One chosen by God. He exhorted people to examine themselves and to live lives that reflected right relationships. John emphasized very practical applications for living out faith in daily life, beginning with a baptism that marked the recognition that one needed to turn back to God and change. John was outspoken and charismatic. It was no surprise people thought he might be the Messiah. John, however, was clear: “…one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.” Jesus came among those in the crowd and was baptized by John, but as he prayed something decidedly different happened. “…the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’.” This was as clear an affirmation as anyone could hope for that Jesus is indeed the Chosen One. Like the servant in Isaiah, God has declared the unique status of Jesus as one who is loved by God, one who is a source of pleasure and delight to God. Beyond even that, Jesus is claimed by God as Son.

All of us have experienced the longing to be chosen. We know what it is to be standing with the group in gym class as teams are chosen; to audition for a part or a group we really want; to ask or be asked to be with someone special. We have applied to summer programs, college, and for jobs. We have known acceptance and rejection. We know that plaintive inner voice that pleads ‘Choose me!’ What would it be like to have God say to us “with you I am well pleased” or that we are someone ‘in whom God’s soul delights’?

In Acts Cornelius the centurion is presented as an unlikely candidate for such affirmation. While clearly portrayed as a devout and worthy man, Cornelius is not a Jew. Yet Cornelius is pleasing to God. Through visions given to both Peter and Cornelius God draws the two men together. Both seem puzzled as to what God might be planning. Then comprehension begins to dawn as Peter realized that the visions he had of unclean animals being declared clean extended to people. The age old division between Jews and non-Jews as people of God no longer held in Jesus. As Peter grasps this he articulates a new insight: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” As if to confirm Peter’s statement, God pours out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and the entire group of Gentiles there with him. Peter’s astonished response is to ask “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” God has done a new thing. God has chosen those who had never before been chosen.

So it is with you and me. In our own baptisms God has chosen. God has chosen us. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Throughout our lives we are given the opportunity to live into our baptism, into the knowledge that each of us has been chosen and affirmed by God. We are given the ongoing chance to repent, to turn again and refocus on God when we lose our way. We are taught and encouraged by those with whom we seek and serve God. We are strengthened by the power of prayer, the reality of the Eucharist, and the Presence of God. Sometimes we are even blessed to receive a sustaining word from God. Yet it all goes back to the foundational truth that God has chosen us and loves us, loved us literally to death in Jesus. We are servants of God. We are chosen ones. We are daughters and sons of God. We need to live as if we know it.

Amen