Every evening at the Oratory at Don Bosco Matunga (Mumbai), the kids play for a while before they study. I watch them as the captains choose their teams for basketball or cricket. The younger ones have their heads down and shuffle their feet as they hear the captains call the names of the older kids or the better players. Sometimes, a captain does not see an older or stronger player and calls the name of a younger kid. The joy on his/her face is a sight to behold.
Human elections everywhere – whether in politics or business or sports – is the same. We choose the best.

The attitude and behaviour in human election is in sharp contrast to divine election: God’s choice of Israel (first reading) and Jesus’ choice of the apostles (Gospel).
From the human perspective, God’s choice is strange: he chose a weak, landless, wandering nation as his own; Jesus chose those of limited education and means as his closest followers. God chose whom he wished and gave them the gifts they needed to accomplish their mission.

In the first reading, God makes Israel an offer at Sinai. They have already experienced his care for them in the exodus from Egypt. If they want to be God’s “special possession, dearer… than all other people,” they must freely consent to God’s choice of them. God does not want puppets but partners in mutual trust and for a mission.
What is Israel’s mission? “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Israel has the privilege of communicating God’s message to the rest of humankind and of reflecting his holiness.

In the Gospel, Jesus chooses and sets apart a group of ordinary people – fishermen, a tax collector, a teacher of the Law, a zealot – to be partners in his ministry.
For what does Jesus call them? Jesus saw the harassed and helpless crowds and he was moved with compassion. And so, he called the twelve to be shepherds to care for the people and to be signs of God’s compassionate love. Further, he sent them to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” to announce that the kingdom of God was near.

By: Fr Dr Mascarenhas Vinod SDB