John 4:34 (New International Version)
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent
me and to finish his work.
A few weeks back I got the envelope, you know the one.
“You are called for jury duty please report ….I’m sure some of you have gotten
them, If so, what was your reaction?
We have all heard stories how people immediately begin
thinking of an excuse that will allow them to be released from serving.
For example, one lady told a Chicago judge she had four
tickets to one of Oprah's last tapings before the program went off the air.
(The judge excused her from serving.)
Now there are good excuses for not being on a jury.
Michael Wylie had such an excuse. It was a number of years ago that he was sent
the letter to report. Wylie ignored the letter. A few more letters went out,
but still he didn't respond. Since ignoring a jury duty letter is a criminal
act in Massachusetts, officials filed documents against Mr. Wylie.
But, as I say, Mr. Wylie had a good excuse. That excuse
was Mr. Wylie was dead. In fact he died shortly after the first letter had been
sent out. Unfortunately nobody bothered to check. According to the state's
deputy jury commissioner, the criminal complaint against Mr. Wylie will be
removed.
Obviously most folks don't have as ironclad an excuse
from jury duty as did Mr. Wylie. Most of us just find serving on jury duty to
be an inconvenience. We feel that serving on jury duty gets in the way of our
plans and upsets our routine.
"So what's the point?" You ask.
The point is this: If you go through Scripture looking
for the excuse Jesus gave when He was asked to go to earth to redeem lost
humankind.
There isn’t one.
Jesus was being asked to give His life, and not just a
few hours or weeks. More than that, Jesus wasn't being asked to judge our
innocence or guilt; He was being asked to take our place on death row. And as
far as being inconvenient ...
nothing can be more inconvenient than dying on a cross
for someone else.
Look as long as you want. You will never find Jesus
making up an excuse to get out of being our Savior.
On the contrary, what you will hear Him say is found in
our verse today: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to
accomplish His work."
Thank God for such loving grace.
Dear Lord we give thanks that You are the Savior and we
are redeemed. We are thankful that You gave when we would not. Thank You for
Your sacrifice. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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