You Are Chosen

one

When I was a kid, we played a lot of neighborhood sports. All the kids would gather on the street or in the field and the first this was to pick teams. One of my biggest fears was that I would not be chosen or chosen last, kind of like the throw away team-mate. The first kid picked is the most valuable and the later you are chosen the less valuable. And God forbid you were not chosen at all. Which meant you were worthless. I tell you I worked my tail off in every sport so that I would be one of the first ones chosen because then I was valuable.

I think we have all had this experience in some form or other and it evolves into our adult lives in such a way that we do all kinds of things to make ourselves valuable, relevant, have a place on the team so to speak by our achievements, positions, relationships, etc. All the while we fear “What if I am not chosen.”

Do you exhaust yourself trying to make yourself valuable? Do you live in fear that you are not?

two

A friend sent me a clip from the series “Chosen.” It was from episode eight of the 1st season entitled “I am He.” At 39:30 Jesus meets the Samaritan Woman at Jacobs well in John Chapter four.

Her problem – she does not believe she has value.

Jesus says to her “It won’t matter where you are from or what you have done. I have not yet revealed myself to the public as the Messiah. You are the first. If would be good if you believed me.”

“You picked the wrong person.” She countered.

“Yes” Jesus observed, “But I came to Samaria just to meet you. Do you think it’s an accident that I’m here in the middle of the day?”

“I am rejected by others.” She replied.

“I know.” Jesus answers “But not by the Messiah.”

Suddenly she realizes Who Jesus really is – that He is God and He has chosen her. She is chosen. She is valuable – to Him.

In here excitement she exclaims “I’m going to tell everyone.”

Jesus smiles and says, “I was counting on it.”

three

We are all trying so hard to either make ourselves relevant and valuable or distracting ourselves because we feel unworthy. Often distracting ourselves with things that are sinful – like the Samaritan Woman.

But the old fear comes flooding back in, “What if I am not chosen?”

Jesus went to Samaria and Jesus comes to us to tell us definitively:

You were already chosen – Chosen by God in his mind when he created the world, chosen by God when he hung from the Cross, chosen by God when he created you, chosen by God when he descended into your soul at Baptism, and chosen by God every moment of your life as he holds you in existence. At each moment God says “It is good that you exist, how wonderful you are.”

You are a child of the Father, a child of Mary. You are chosen. You made the team.

four

I love the exchange between the Samaritan Woman and Jesus:

She exclaims “I’m going to tell everyone.”

Jesus smiles and says, “I was counting on it.”

In real life, we know the name of the Samaritan Woman – Photina.

She had five husbands and she was living with a man who was not her husband. But then she meets Jesus. She has no theology degree, no professional training; but she knows Jesus is the One Savior of the World. She goes immediately and tells her family and friends. Photina has the two great qualities which we need: she desired God; and she is not timid. She has courage. We are not like Photina, we are too timid. Our faith was meant to be personal, but it was never meant to be kept private.

In 66 AD Photina and her grown children, being warned that Rome was about to conquer Israel, left and moved to Carthage in North Africa. Her son Victor became an officer in the Roman army. A Government official and friend of Victor, named Sebastian wrote him, urging him and his mother to stop leading people to Jesus and to keep their faith private. As Sebastian was writing the letter, he fell blind for three days. On the 4th day he declared: “The God of the Christians is the only true God.” He asked for Baptism, after which he immediately regained his sight. Reports of this reached the Emperor Nero. Both Sebastian and Victor were arrested and taken to Rome.

Hearing this news, Photina and her family went to Rome, accompanied by many Christians. They too were arrested and brought before Nero, but they refused to renounce Jesus Christ and were imprisoned, where they continued to speak to the fellow prisoners about Jesus and converted many. Finally, they were put to death. A relic of the skull of Photina resides in the Church of Jacob’s well in Nablus in the Holy Land. I have often stood before that relic of the Martyr, Photina, praying God give me and you the grace to have the same love and courage as Photina. Photina pray for us.

five

You are chosen. You made the team. You are of infinite value in the judgment of God. This reality should transform the way you judge yourself, your life, how you look at the world and all people. We are surrounded by people who do not know this. They do not know their immense value in the eyes of God, and they are killing themselves trying to make themselves valuable.

Everyday, spend time in prayer meditating on the fact that you are a child of the Father, you are a child of Mary. Nothing can take that away. That is your value.

Then we must go and tell everyone about Jesus. But that is hard.

You may feel awkward telling people about Jesus.

Try telling them about the Rosary Podcast or inviting them to pray the Rosary with you and let Mary lead them to Jesus. She is really good at it.  

We must echo the words of Photina “I’m going to tell everyone.” And Jesus will respond the same to us “I was counting on it.”