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We All Are Chosen People
My favourite verse- or perhaps verses- are Isaiah chapter 42 verses 6-7.
It's really verse 7 I love:
I the Lord have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will support you, and set you as a covenant for all peoples, to be a light to the nations, To open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the prison, and those who dwell in darkness out of the dungeon...
I love that verse about freeing the captive because it makes me feel that Judaism, and really the best of religion wherever we are and whoever we are, is about helping other human beings to reach their full potential, instead of being punitive and angry.
That verse reflects so badly on both the USA and the UK with our high prison populations, and the huge percentage of those populations who suffer from mental illness and should be being helped rather than incarcerated. I love that verse because it tells us that we should get the people out of prison, cure their sickness, let them see the light of freedom, and realize that punishing people by putting them in the dungeon is of no use at all in changing their ways. Instead, we should be rehabilitating them, keeping them with their families, making connections for and with them.
This is not about the Jews being a chosen people, though it has often been interpreted that way. It is about being chosen- all of us who take these words seriously- to make a difference, to deal with disadvantage, to notice our fellow human beings and their suffering, and to alleviate it. The rest is, as they say, commentary, for that is what God wants of us.
By
Julia Neuberger
|
September 5, 2007; 6:52 AM ET
| Category:
Personal Religion
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Posted by: Josef Sefton | November 20, 2007 6:43 PM
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Precious searcher for truth Julia Neuberger, the two verses you quote refer to God addressing
Jesus Christ.
It was God who called Jesus Christ in righteousness.
The tender language of God committing Himself to hold Jesus Christ's hand and support Him refers to His phenomenal protective and supportive love toward His beloved.
God's plan is for us to trust and obey Christ.
God's glorious plan is to lead His creation in the paths of righteousness to trust and obey Christ, as God, His righteous Redeemer.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world.
He opens man's spiritually blind eyes.
He brings the prisoners of Satan out of Satan's prison.
He brings those who dwell in the darkness of the devil's dungeon into the glorious light of God's presence.
True lovers of God look to Christ's triumph on the cross and non singers suddenly discover that they have a singing voice that loves to praise God's best, Jesus Christ Our cherished Friend of Friends.