The Chosen People
By the Rev. David P. Johnson -- Sunday, July 23, 2000

Letter From Your Editor, July 2000

Bible Reading

God said to Abraham, "As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live in your sight!"

God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year." And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. (Genesis 17:15-22)

Read also: John 15:14-27

Reading from Swedenborg

Many of the sons of Israel believed--as many Jews continue to believe--that they were chosen above all others because they were circumcised. Many Christians believe this because they have been baptized. Yet both circumcision and baptism were given only as a sign and a reminder that those who received them were to be purified from evils, and in this way become the chosen people. . . . Our outer self is not a person, but only the image of a person. Our inner self, which is being wise from God, is what makes us human. It is the same with circumcision and baptism, unless we circumcise or wash our heart. (True Christian Religion #676)

Sermon

"My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you." (Genesis 17:21)

The covenants of God with his people have often been their stay and strength. God covenanted with Noah after the flood; with Abraham through Isaac he made a covenant; and also with Jacob. By the prophets God made new covenants and renewed the covenants of old. And through the Incarnation, the New Covenant was made.

These "agreements" with the people--these promises to the people--gave assurance of God's love and concern. Because God spoke to mankind through the children of Israel; because they became the instrument through which was established the Bible, or by which the Word of God was conveyed to mankind; and because God revealed that he had thus chosen them, the children of Israel became "the chosen people."

According to the era, according to the readiness of mankind, God reveals himself. At one time his laws are simple, stern, and stark; he is a God of anger and fear. Then he is a God of mercy and justice. Then a God of righteousness and love. And last a God of righteousness, love, compassion, and personal friendship-- "You are my friends" (John 15:14)--as revealed in Jesus Christ. Consequently, his covenant appears differently to people of different eras, centuries, even generations. According to their state of spiritual growth, he reveals himself.

This is true of each one of us as individuals. We perceive and understand God according to our state of spiritual development.

As we reflect on the Bible, our tendency is to confine the concept of a "chosen people" to the Israelites. We tend to feel that when Israel ceased to be a nation, the "chosen people" ceased to exist. We may feel, too, that only through them did God reveal himself.

But if so, we neglect the many other, sometimes lesser instruments that God has used. Even in primitive cultures a concept of God emerges. Besides these, there are the many great religions of the world, which, however imperfectly, yet reveal something of God to mankind.

Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God-with-us, carries this past the nations and cultures and ethnic groups--which he may use as instruments--to the individual. For Jesus' mission was not to bring the New Covenant to a people, but to people. "Go into all the world" (Mark 16:15). He comes to you, not to a nation, nor to a race, nor to a church--however great or small. He comes to you! "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you" (John 15:16).

More especially, we of the Swedenborgian Church believe that the promise of the Second Coming is not a promise for the future, but may be and is a present reality. It is a present reality insofar as persons--the you's and I's of this world--receive and live the truths of his self-revelation.

We believe that Emanuel Swedenborg was one of those special persons used to reveal divine truth. But he was not the only one used in this way since Biblical days, nor was he the last. In whatever degree it may be, great or small, God may use each human soul as a tool to reveal his truth.

In any age, in any race or nation, God's self-revelation goes on wherever he can find the human instruments to use. We, then, are all "the chosen people," in the sense of Scripture. Ours is not to be a mere passive reception of religious propositions, doctrines, truths, or scriptures. We are, if we are ready--and anyone may be ready at any time--the ongoing agents by which God provides an ever-continuing deeper revelation of his Word.

To me, this is the only significant religious life. A constantly deeper search on my part into the answers to questions such as, Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? How can my life have meaning? What deep needs of the human soul does my life provide me the opportunity to satisfy? How can I continue to grow and mature in self-understanding, in spiritual maturity, and in my relation to other human souls?

In fact, this is the only valid purpose of my ministry. It is not to hand down dogmatic truths; not to pronounce the oracle of God--except as these point the way, help, and encourage others to venture along the path of self-discovery. Ministers cannot bring regeneration or salvation to their people. They can only point the way, open new channels of thought, share new insights, and hope they are inspiring, challenging, thought-provoking, and searching enough that their listeners may be willing to step out courageously to make the search for themselves.

Sacraments, rites, worship, even organizations within the church either have this as their purpose--being symbols of this inner growth toward maturity--or their validity is questionable, if not deceptive and harmful. No one, not even God, can set us on this path of spiritual inquiry and growth. He only points the way. The church and its ministers only falteringly try to take up the task and point the way.

We are the chosen people. But we have to accept the call--the call to take up the cross and follow him. The cross is the struggle, the agonizing, that must be experienced by any chosen people to move persistently and deeply into commitment to God.

David Johnson is a Swedenborgian minister and Pastoral Counselor in Bellevue, Washington.

Prayer

Dear Lord, we did not choose you, but you chose us and ordained us to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. We feel unequal to this high calling, and yet we know that with you as our Master and our Friend, we can become vessels of your love. Form each one of us in the unique way that will suit us to our particular calling, and give us the Spirit of truth so that we may walk in the light. Amen.