In today’s first reading from Deuteronomy the Israelites are commanded to fear the Lord: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord, your God, ask of you but to fear the Lord, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul…”. Sometimes we get the wrong impression that the God of the Old Testament is a God of fear, and the God of the New Testament is a God of Love. First of all, God does not change from being a harsh ogre to a loving Father. God is always the same, full of love and compassion for all his creation.
Today’s reading from Deuteronomy also brings out God’s great love for the Israelites: “Yet in his love for your fathers the LORD was so attached to them as to choose you, their descendants, in preference to all other peoples, as indeed he has now done.” The book of Deuteronomy states clearly that God chose Israel out of love:
“For you are a people holy to the LORD, your God; the LORD, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own. It was not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that the LORD set his heart on you and chose you; for you are really the smallest of all peoples. It was because the LORD loved you…” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
God choses people, whether Jews or Christians, to be a light and a sign of God’s love to all people. God’s revelation reaches its climax in the birth of Jesus. Simeon, the Jewish prophet, took Jesus in his arms and declared him to be: “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Luke 2:32).
The Jewish people were chosen by God and remain the chosen people of God because God is not fickle but always faithful.
“I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Of course not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” (Romans 11:1-2)
God has not rejected his Jewish people but has expanded his chosen people to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. God chooses people not to be an elite self-righteous people. God chooses people for mission, to go out into the world and help people to recognize the loving presence of the good and loving God that is already there.
Image: “Israel-06898 – Wailing Wall” by archer10 (Dennis) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.