Jesus is telling an important truth about election. The truth is that it is not us who chose God, but it is God who chose us; being chosen is not our merit but through God’s grace. Our action is all response; all initiative is with the Lord.[1]
The Lord came to us and called and chose us. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10). The relationship between God and us was initiated because not that we loved God, but that he loved us first.
Jesus found us first and called us “friends.” Jesus called us to be his friends and the friends of God. This is a tremendous offer.[2]
Jesus called us to be his partners. The slave could never be a partner. The slave was defined in Greek law as a living tool.[3]The slave had to do what he was told without reason and without explanation and at the end he does not know his master’s business. But Jesus called us friends, opened his heart, came to us, and told us the deep truth of the Father. He told us his business and called us his partners.
The Lord loved us first before we loved him. He chose us first before we knew him. He called us his friends and invited us to cowork with him in doing his work. Our Lord is not the Lord who does not mind our business and dominates without relating to us. He is my friend, my Lord who unlocks his heart and wants us to cowork.
Furthermore Jesus chose us to be ambassadors.[4] Just as a president commands his ambassadors to be dispatched representing a nation today, the ambassadors of the Lord are the representatives, chosen and called by the Lord, sent in place for the Lord to relay the will and commission of the Lord. He did not choose us to live a life retired from the world; he chose us to represent him in the world.[5]
The Lord chose us not because of our conditions but only by grace. He called us friends and sent us to the world. This grace can bear fruit only if we reciprocate this love.
[1] Temple, Readings in St. John’s Gospel, 269.
[2] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 208.
[3] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 208.
[4] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 209.
[5] Barclay, The Gospel of John, 209.