God’s Chosen People
God's Chosen People - this phrase may be seen as arrogant and inappropriate in a world that is careful to affirm the value of all people. In truth, even many Jewish people shy away from this label nowadays. The majority of Jewish people may have lost sight of what, exactly, we have been chosen for.
One of the first things to clarify is that the "chosenness" that Jewish people have borne over the centuries has nothing to do with intrinsic worth. The Book of Deuteronomy makes this clear in the Lord's words to Moses:
For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).
In other words, the "special" status of the Jewish people in God's sight does not spring from the merits of the Jewish people, but rather from the character of their Creator, who is bound to keep the promise He has made not only to Israel, but also to the whole world. It is the promise that was given in the Book of Genesis:
Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:1-3).
This promise to the Jewish people is linked to a mission on behalf of all humanity. Its trajectory goes from Abraham to the Patriarchs to Moses, Joshua, the Judges, the Priests, the Prophets and Kings, culminating in the ministry of Jesus the Messiah through whom all of God's promises are fulfilled. Everyone who places their faith in Him will in not be disappointed.
The Jewish people - God's Chosen People - are a living sign of the promises God has already fulfilled as well as those that are yet to be completed, as the Creator of all things gathers that which has been scattered and mends that which has been broken.
