What does 'being chosen' mean in the Bible?

 

                                                          

March 1, 2026

In all the readings of today, we have the theme of ‘being chosen’.  The Zionist movement  (including the current US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, a Christian Zionist - Interview on February 20, Fox News), has used this language to  justify  any potential annexation by Israel of the land of the Palestinians as rooted in the will of God  who had promised this land to his chosen ones (Genesis 15:18, Numbers 34:1-12 and others).

But what does ‘being chosen’ mean in the Bible?  First of all there is a strange commonality in all the people being chosen in today’s readings, in that none of them, at least as far as the narration goes, has done anything special to be chosen. And this is a theme that runs throughout the Bible.  It seems that in the Bible, as Shakespeare said, ‘’some have greatness thrust upon them’’.

But there is another deeper thread that runs through most of these stories of ‘election’: God sides with the small, the second, the overlooked - Abel, the younger brother, over Cain; Isaac,the younger brother, over Ishmael; Jacob, over his elder brother Esau; Moses over his elder brother Aaron; David over his seven older brothers;, Peter over his elder brother, Andrew.

Additionally, the ones being chosen are not necessarily morally superior. Jacob is chosen despite being one who has cheated his elder brother over his inheritance. Moses has killed somebody and runs away into the desert to escape from being caught, and there he is chosen by God.  Mathew and Zacheus are tax collectors, a group of people who were known to join with the Roman authorities and oppress the Jews through false tax collections as Zachaeus himself admits, and yet they are chosen, one to be his Apostle, and one to whose house Jesus chooses to invite himself. Simon is a zealot and the zealots were known to use violence and murder to overthrow the Romans and yet he too is chosen an Apostle. And Paul, who was formerly Saul, was a Pharisee who spent all his time oppressing the Christians.  This kind of unusual ‘choosing’ is so obvious in Jesus’ ministry that he was often accused of spending more time with ‘sinners and tax collectors’ than with reputed religious leaders, - which he compounds by saying that the sinners are the ones who will enter the kingdom of heaven before the righteous (Mathew 21:31). 

Is the underlying teaching here that God refuses to accept commonly accepted human ways of according value - like birth order, strength, status, moral worth, reputation?  It would seem that the Bible is teaching that  God accords value irrespective of race, religion, gender, or even morality. And, so the Bible is clearly teaching us that  if God can choose the weaker, and the morally compromised, then worth cannot be conditional. 

This approach, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or UDHR, quietly redefines dignity as ontological (i.e. part of our very essence as human), not earned.  Consequently, the UDHR declares that every single human being, whether rich or poor, criminal or not, whatever colour, whatever gender or transgender, whatever background, whatever age, is entitled to equal human dignity, - for human dignity is not dependent on any quality of a human being, but just on the fact that we are human.  But like the elder brother of the prodigal son, I guess many of us, cannot accept that principle.

An ancillary lesson we learn from these stories is this: If God can work through them - the people who do not have status in our world and are even morally compromised, - then God can work through us. Paul says it bluntly:“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…” (1 Corinthians 1:27–29). This means that we have worth in God’s eyes, whatever wrong we have done.  If only Judas had understood this as much as Peter, he would not have committed suicide.

But while ‘being chosen’ is not a divine endorsement of character, in all cases it is an invitation into transformation, which is often painful. Transformation follows grace, not the other way around. That is why the Prodigal Son is first forgiven, and then invited in to be transformed. So, the next lesson that we are taught, - and this is the greatest misunderstanding of those who believe they are ‘chosen’ - is that being chosen does not confer special privileges.  For in the Bible, being chosen is not about privilege, but about ‘vocation’, about being given a role, a task to fulfil in one’s life.  And so it is not about being granted privileges, but rather about being held responsible or answerable.   Abraham is not chosen because he is righteous; he is chosen to become a blessing: ‘’Through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3). Jacob is chosen to father a nation that will wrestle with God.  (Israel, means one who has wrestled/struggled with God, and is the name given to Jacob after he encounters Yahweh). Moses does not want to be the prophet who must tell Pharaoh to set his people free, but that is what he is called to do.  Peter is impulsive and cowardly, but chosen to shepherd a fragile church.  The apostles, who all ran away when Jesus was arrested, are ordinary, but chosen to spread the gospel. Saul, the Pharisee who made it his life mission to persecute the early Christians, is chosen to be Paul, tasked to bring the good news to the Gentiles. Mary, a common village girl, is chosen not because of anything special about her, but to give birth to a son who will save the world. The implicit theme is simply this:‘ You are not chosen because you are good. You are chosen in order to do good’.  Paul, reiterates this theme when he makes it clear that we have been called ‘’not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace’’. 

This needs to be remembered by all of us, but especially by those in our world  who, because they are chosen, or because of their heritage, or some moral superiority that they claim, or any other reason, see themselves as being privileged, rather than as being entrusted with a responsibility to serve in some way or other.  And it is precisely because this is forgotten by elected and/or appointed persons like politicians, or religious pastors, or even religious groups, that they (consciously or unconsciously) demand special treatment.  Jesus’ life demonstrated what being chosen means. He was the chosen one and yet he experienced the reality that ‘the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head ’, (Mathew 8:20), and he is the one who is asked by his Father to accept death on a cross.  He didn’t get privileges, but he undertook the responsibility of fulfilling the role he had been chosen for.

First Reading: Genesis 12: 1-4a

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. 

Second Reading: 2 Timothy 1: 8b-10

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, in the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Gospel: Matthew 17: 1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light.  Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will set up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”  And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”