Reflection: Willing to Serve the Unwilling (February 24, 2013)

The Second Sunday in Lent
Jeremiah 26:8-15; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35


One of the fundamental rules of public speaking is to know your audience. Of course, knowing one’s audience can make the public speaking experience all the more daunting when the audience is intimidating or hostile. There are ways of dealing with an audience that isn't friendly, but what do we do when the audience is unwilling? It’s hard to gain the attention of—let alone the approval of—an unwilling audience.

God sent His prophets to different types of audiences under the old covenant. In today’s Old Testament lesson we find the prophet Jeremiah dealing with a rather hostile audience. Upon hearing what he had to say (“all that the Lord had commanded him to speak”) his audience responded by seizing him and threatening to kill him. He responded by telling them that he was sent by God to speak to them that they would hear His Word and turn away from disaster. He was calling them to repentance. But they were not willing to repent. They decided that Jeremiah was the problem, not them. Jeremiah had done his job. He showed that he was willing to serve the unwilling.

Jeremiah’s experience was a precursor to what Jesus experienced. As He made His way to Jerusalem to be arrested, tried, mocked, beaten, and crucified in order to secure forgiveness for all mankind, He paused outside of the city and spoke a heartfelt lament for Jerusalem. “How often would I have …,” He called out to the object of His love, “but you were not willing.” He knew that He would be rejected by those whom He came to release from the bondage of sin, death, and condemnation, but still He was willing to serve the unwilling.

The call to go to those who are unwilling to listen to God’s Word and to serve those who are unwilling to follow God’s will continues in the life of those who follow Jesus. We are told that there are many people who “walk as enemies of the Cross of Christ” and that we are to take what God has entrusted to us and put it to use in serving them. Many will be unwilling to listen and many more will be unwilling to follow, however our calling is not centered in their unwillingness but in our willingness to serve Christ by serving them. Because Jesus was willing to serve us when we were the unwilling, we can embrace being willing to serve the people we know who are unwilling now.

Audio file of the sermon "Willing to Serve the Unwilling."