Chosen

Happy Sunday. I began the first grade on my sixth birthday, August the 30th, 1965. I have vivid memories. Now, the house is long gone, but I remember walking down those front steps with my father. I was crying; it didn't seem fair on my birthday.

My mother was behind the screen door. I like to think she was crying too. After all, her baby was leaving the house. But she was probably dancing and smiling. I was the youngest of five, and the house was finally going to be kid-free for eight whole hours.

I remember learning to read in the first grade. We read about Dick and Jane. We learned our colors and some numbers, as I recall. It was not too challenging. Have you ever looked at textbooks from a hundred years ago? Kids were taught a great deal more in those days, in those primary grades.

Now let's go back two thousand years, in the time when Jesus walked the earth. Jewish boys began school at the age of six. Girls were taught at home. The boys would learn from the Torah. The Torah is the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

At the age of six, mind you, the young boys were taught from the Torah. They also began memorizing it. By the time the boys reached the age of 12, they were to know the Torah by heart: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, memorized word for word. How much did you have memorized by your sixth grade year?

Maybe you've noticed in scripture, when Jesus quotes a verse, or even a phrase from a verse, from the Old Testament, everybody seems to know the text. This is why memorization was stressed. It was stressed because no one could afford a copy of the scriptures. If they were fortunate enough, a village may have one copy, and it would be kept in a special place in the synagogue.

Now, by age 12, cuts were made. If you'd not learned at all, you were sent home to learn your family trade. Meanwhile, the best of the best would memorize the rest of the Hebrew scripture, and by age 16 the brightest had all of the Old Testament memorized. All of it, Genesis to Malachi, 39 books memorized.

For those that were able to do that, they would study another 15 years with a rabbi. At the age of 30, the student became a rabbi and could take students of his own. Jesus was 30 when he began his ministry. That's important.

This has been a long introduction to help us understand an old story in a new way. I will read to you from Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 to 22. The background behind me seems most appropriate for today's lesson.

Scripture says, "One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew, throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, 'Come, follow me, and I'll show you how to fish for people.' And they left their nets at once, and they followed him."

"A little farther up the shore he saw two brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, whose name was Zebedee. They were repairing their nets, and he called to them, 'Come too.' And immediately they followed him, leaving their boat and leaving their father behind."

Now, there's a serious breach of custom here. You see, disciples were responsible for finding their own teachers. These boys were fishing. They evidently didn't make the cut. They'd flunked out, and they'd had to learn a trade. They had to be shocked to have Jesus, the rabbi, come to them and say, "Follow me. Be my disciple."

Have you ever wondered why they responded so quickly and dropped all that they were doing? This is why. And I love one of the lessons here: we don't have to be the best of the best to be a disciple. There are no cuts here. God will never turn you away.

If today you're a Christian, you should be overjoyed that you've been chosen to be a disciple. You have been chosen to be a disciple of Jesus. As Peter and Andrew and James and John were chosen, so are we. Listen to these words written by Peter in First Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. I think it's about you.

"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people. You should show forth praises to him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Don't we love to be chosen? Do you remember in school when captains were chosen and they picked teams? I remember standing there wanting desperately to be picked. I was not the most gifted athlete. I knew I wouldn't be first, but I sure didn't want to be picked last, or even worse, not picked at all.

On the shore that day long ago, Jesus showed us that anyone can be chosen. Over the years I've seen God choose disciples of all sorts. It's fun to watch. Today I encourage you to praise him for choosing you. Today, if you're a believer, you've been called by the rabbi Jesus. He thinks you have great potential.

Let's pray together. Father, forgive us of self-doubt and thinking that we're not worth much at times, when you yourself has chosen us. Father, we are never turned away, and you can use us to do great things, as you did those fishermen long ago. You turned the world upside down, so use us in great ways to change this world for the better, because you live in us. Thank you, Father, for choosing us. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless.