“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”
Jesus spoke these words to his friends and followers nearly two thousand years ago, and I believe that he continues to speak them to us today. Maybe it will help us to hear them more clearly , and to understand what they mean for us, if we spend a few moments thinking about what they might have meant for some of the people who heard them when they were first spoken.
Mary, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. When you were a young woman, just betrothed to Dad, and that angel appeared to you to tell you that I would be born to you, even though you had never been with a man. You did not choose me. Nobody can ever choose who their child will be, but you had even less control over it than most people. You did not choose me, but I chose you. In some ways I was the fruit that you bore. I am the fruit of your body, but also the fruit of your love and care as I grew and became a man. That fruit will last forever. I will die, but I will defeat death and be raised to live again forever.
But there is more fruit that you will bear. You did not choose me, but the way in which you humbly accepted and obeyed my Father, is an example that will inspire countless women and men forever more. Your witness to my life, death and resurrection will bring life and hope to people across time and places that are beyond your imagination.
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