Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant,
you shall be my special possession,
dearer to me than all other people,
though all the earth is mine.
God chose the people of Israel in spite of the fact that they were far from the most impressive nation. It wasn't based on their merits that God desired them to be his special possession. It was on the basis of his choice, their election, that they were meant to be dearer to him than all other nations. There was a thread throughout the Old Testament of people who wanted to make a name for themselves, the instance of the Tower of Babel being among the most memorable. But God was not interested in helping with such projects. He rather chose the weak to shame the strong, even in the Old Testament before we really establish that as his primary MO. The instance of Gideon's army was just one such example. God desired to make clear that it was the strength of his arm and not the might of the soldiers that led to their salvation.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
We were chosen not only in spite of the fact that we weren't particularly impressive in a worldly sense, but even in spite of the fact that we weren't particularly good. It wasn't as though God decided to forego the strong people and select the nice ones. It was rather his love that caused him to save us before we took even so much as a thought for him. When we were wrapped up in self-love he was imagining how he could bring each of us to realize his love for us. He did so with such a shocking display of gratuitous compassion that even the most self-centered of us would have no choice but to take notice.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
how much more, once reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
God does not desire to leave us as he finds us, and it is for this reason that John Paul the Great said, "We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures, we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of His Son Jesus". The love of God genuinely transforms us. It is more than snow covering dung or a garment concealing the filth underneath. We actually become the righteousness of God (see Second Corinthians 5:21) and grow in our ability to participate in the life of grace, which is God's own divine life. This is ultimately what is meant by salvation. It is through this gift that we finally become the "kingdom of priests" and "holy nation" that we were always meant to be.
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.
What Jesus saw in the crowd was reflective of the condition he saw throughout the world. His heart for others was so big, but his reach was limited to the people who could encounter his physical presence on earth. Thus he wanted to expand his reach but using his disciples as his hands and feet. And he not only wanted to do so, but wanted us to want it. We were not meant to take for granted that there would be laborers, but to join Jesus in pleading with his Father that they be sent. We were to have the same heart of compassion for the world, often in spite of itself, that Jesus demonstrated.
Jesus also want those who interceded for this purpose to be open to the fact that they might be among those God called, indeed, in one sense or another they would be. But it wasn't necessarily because there was a fit between natural predispositions and the work at hand. It wasn't as everyone thought about himself and saw how natural of a fit he would be to undertake the mission and decided to do so on that basis. Rather, a person would first see the need, then desire that it to be filled, and then be delighted when the call of Jesus made it possible for him to participate in some way. The compassion and the call came first. Then Jesus himself equipped and qualified the ones he called for their specific part of his mission. They were never meant to undertake it on their own abilities alone, any more than Peter could walk on water without the call of Jesus telling him to come.
The names of the twelve apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
If Jesus was able to start a Church that has endured through the ages into our own time using such a ragtag band as the pillars on which it was founded then we have no excuses for excusing ourselves from his call in our own lives, however great or small, public or hidden, that call may be. No matter how challenging it may seem, or how outnumbered we feel, the one thing necessary for success is to be called be Jesus. And we have been thus called.
There are many sheep that are still lost, still troubled and abandoned, still desperately in need of salvation. God wants to use us to help summon those who will be specially ordained or consecrated to the task. But he wants to use us directly as well. There is no limits to the compassion of his heart. And he desires that we place no limits on how that compassion can work in us and flow through us to the world.
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