Wednesday, 2 November 2016

We the People: Israel and the Catholicity of Jesus,
Tommy Givens, Fortress, 2014, page 280

So if Irael has nothing to bring, nothig to say and no ability to do or control anything, where does Israel stand?

Here in G-d's electing activity in the depths of Israel's suffering we see with particular clarity what it means to be "we the people" of G-d. It means that the existence, and therefore the identity, of the people is given by G-d, such that the people is empowered to meet the deepest challenges to its life both with powerful measures of resistance and without violence.

So identity is G-d-given after all, and not negotiated. It is not a matter of what you can get other people to let you be, but who G-d has called, given and equipped you to be!