"Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness." (Isaiah 42:5-7)
Pretty much in the Bible, being called is never an end in and of itself. When God calls you, it is always for the purpose not only of drawing you in, but of reaching out to others through you. When God chooses you, it is not only to make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, but also to work in and through you for the sake of others. There is no version of being called by God that ends with just getting to call ourselves "exceptional" or "special" so we can pat ourselves on the back; when God calls us, it is with the intention that we serve in God's work to welcome, to illuminate, to heal, and to set people free.
This passage from Isaiah 42, which many of us heard this past Sunday, is a case in point. It is an excerpt from sections of the book that are sometimes called the "Servant Songs," in which the prophet speaks of a figure who is God's Servant, who has been chosen by God for God's set purposes in the world. Sometimes, these poems sound like they are talking about a single individual person--and we Christians have come to recognize that they sure do sound a lot like Jesus. At other times, these Servant Songs seem to be speaking to the whole community of God's people who had lived through exile and were wondering, "What's next? Does God have any use for us anymore?" And sometimes, in a way that only poetry can accomplish really well, it seems like these passages are simultaneously about a group of people who are called by God and a single individual person yet to come (again, we Christians will point to Jesus there).
In a sense, for our purposes, it doesn't exactly matter, because both realities are true. Jesus is, to be sure, chosen and called by God to be the Suffering Servant of God who brings about justice and righteousness and restores life where it is needed through his gentleness and nonviolent love. (We explored that theme in yesterday's devotion, too, you might remember.) And it is also true that God's people, both in the ancient covenant people of Israel through the exile and into the community of Jesus' followers now, are also called for a purpose to embody the ways and character of God. The bottom line is that either way, when we are called by God, it is always with a sense of direction, of purpose beyond ourselves, and of serving other people as our way of serving God. Being called by God always carries with it a mission.
As the prophet describes it here, that purpose has to do with helping other people to flourish. It is bringing light to the nations of the world--to embody the ways of the covenant-making God so that others will want to live in the same justice and mercy they have seen in us. It is opening the eyes of those who cannot see--or refuse to see--what is in front of them. It is helping to release people who have been wrongfully detained, unjustly imprisoned, and taken captive. All of that is at least a part of God's agenda in the world, and being called by God means being called to share in that agenda, too.
All of this is to say that if we as Christians see ourselves as people who have been "chosen" and "called" by God (and that much is true), it is not so we can puff ourselves up or kick our feet back. It is so that we can be a part of God's work in the world. If it is right to say that we have been "called" (and it is), then this is at least part of what we have been called to: offering light and welcome to "the nations" (those who are not "like us"), truth-telling vision for eyes that can't or won't yet see, and striving to release people who are held captive and should be free. That's the work into which God invites us.
If we are faithful to our calling, then, the world should not be dimmer, more willfully unseeing, or more inhospitable to outsiders, as a result of our presence in it. There should be fewer people held captive because of us, not more. There should be more light in the world, not less. The calling always includes a mission, and Isaiah tells us that's what the mission looks like.
Today, then, the right question to ask is not, "Am I called by God?" but rather, "What does God's calling to me look like in my time and place?" You are called. You have been chosen. Those are the starting point of grace as followers of Jesus, and they are not up for debate. But knowing that God's call--whether we are talking about the call to Jesus the unique Son of God, to the exiles of Israel witnessing in Babylon, or to us in this present moment--is always into a mission, the open question is how we act in light of that call. Will we add more light to the world or less? Will we help neighbors around to see even uncomfortable truths we might all wish to ignore? Will we spend our energy setting people free or allow them to be taken captive and disappear into dungeons? The calling is already given--the question is how we live into it... today.
Lord God, we dare to believe that you have called and chosen us already for your purposes in the world. Open our eyes to see what you intend us to do with this day for the sake of the people to whom you have called us.
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