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Dear Saints:
February 2003 It
started with a letter from the city courts of St. Louis, yes that letter we all fear had
come. I had been summoned to appear before
the court for jury duty. I had to report
Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. Now I had never
had the pleasure of serving my city, nay my country in this matter! ! ! But to be honest I wasn’t looking
forward to it and yet I couldn’t deny there was something about the invitation to
serve the legal process of our great nation that I couldn’t refuse. Part of the summons stated that if I didn’t
show up to serve they would issue a warrant for my arrest.
Ah yes, that was the shove in the right direction I needed to motivate me to
serve our great city in it’s legal process. It
was the possibility of a warrant that propelled me to “do the right thing.” To my utter shock when I arrived Monday
morning I was greeted with great warmth and love. After
walking five blocks in 9 degree weather from the closest free parking they made available
to all us jurors, I had to wait in line and go through one of those security points where
you feel all warm and fuzzy as they tell you “to spread them” so they can pass
the wand all over you. Joy was flooding my
heart as I sat alongside all the other prospective jurors to wait for my number to be
called. Surprisingly, I wasn’t alone in
my feelings. When I looked into their faces I
thought of the bumper sticker that reads, “I’d
rather be golfing, fishing, even the dentist, just anywhere but here.” As I sat and listened to the conversations around
me I noticed that no one wanted to be there. No
one wanted to serve as a Juror in our great legal process.
There was a least 600 people there of all backgrounds yet, I couldn’t
find anyone who was enjoying themselves or looking forward to serve, no one. But for this country’s court
system to work, jurors needed to be there with a willing heart, ready to give a fair and
impartial judgment. God had the same desire for his creation. Adam fell to sin and because of his sin now all
humanity was guilty of breaking the law of God. We
did not need a jury to sit and find us guilty or innocent because we were already guilty
by association because Adam was our father. The
book of Romans declares that, “we all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
A legal need now existed for man to be brought back into a right
relationship with God. Unlike us jurors, a
summons was never needed, for Jesus stood ready to be offered up as a perfect sacrifice
for our remission of sins. Not only was He
willing to die in our place but He did it with great joy!
“Who for the JOY that was set before him, endured the cross despising
the shame…..” All the people who
were selected to serve as jurors were disappointed. They
fulfilled their duty only because they had to. But
Jesus, he did it with great love and joy. What
a Savior! ! ! What a God we serve. May we, like Jesus, serve God with all our heart
with joy unspeakable and full of glory for Jesus Christ alone has satisfied the law for
us. As I walked away that evening from the
court house, having not been selected to serve as a juror, my heart shouted out along with
Martin Luther King “free at last , free at last ……. Thank God I ‘m
free at last! ! ! ! ! Because of Jesus we
truly are a free people! |