Monday, 7 April

[God says,] “I brought you from the ends of the earth; I called you from its farthest corners and said to you, ‘You are my servant.’ I did not reject you, but chose you.” Isaiah 41:9

[Jesus said,] “You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name.” 

John 15:16

I would encourage you to reach for your Bible and take some time to read these two passages in context. The verse from Isaiah forms part of a larger passage in which God recalls to Israel that He is with them in their past, present and future. The verse from St John’s Gospel can be found within a discourse which begins with Jesus saying that He is the real vine.

Very often, we stereotype and generalise the Old Testament to be the part of the Bible which shows a harsher side to God, and the New Testament to reflect the grace and mercy through Jesus’ death on the Cross. However, these two verses, when read in context, turn around those generalisations.

The words God speaks in the Isaiah passage are assertive and firm and the style is in keeping with an advocate’s address in court (Isaiah 41:2), where God speaks up for and defends His client, the people of Israel. His words affirm God’s ownership and love of Israel: there is no mention of Israel’s deeds. Israel is simply accepted and loved by God.

In the passage from John, Jesus speaks in a metaphor: each and every person/Christian is called to love and to follow Christ’s teaching, in deed as well as in faith. In contrast with the Isaiah passage, Jesus’ words to us are stark: “Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned.” (John 15:6).

God loves us unconditionally, but our response to His love is that we are to love others and to live out our lives in service to others – “to go and bear much fruit”. Lent is a time to reflect and get rid of those dried-up branches in our lives. We are now about two-thirds the way through Lent. In our prayers today, let us ask ourselves before God, how are we doing in our respective Lenten self-disciplines?

Walt Johnson

The Metropolitan Church