not willing

Back in the day, there was a phrase used in the services to describe troops you could or should send on a mission: ready, willing and able. Those are three words to describe three different necessities. Able, of course, means that person was capable of doing the task. Ready means they were prepared. They had the right training and equipment, and were healthy and fit. Willing meant they would. They agreed with the mission, at least enough to give it their best.

It isn’t hard to find ready and able people. Willing people are another matter. Especially where hard work, deprivation or danger are involved, most people opt out.

I thought of that again this morning when I read Jesus’ lament for Jerusalem in Luke 13, especially this part from verse 34: “‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.’”

That’s striking, isn’t it? Jesus longed to protect and provide for the Jews of Jerusalem; he wanted achingly to save them. But they weren’t willing. They didn’t want it. They clung stubbornly to their sin and their laws and their hierarchy of power. And maybe they didn’t think life as they knew it was so wonderful, but they thought change would be for the worse. They opted not to rock the boat.

We can be so blind. We can love this world so much, even as we complain about how it’s going to pot and moan about how hard life is. But, like the ancient Jews, we cling stubbornly to what we have. We push back against Jesus. I can’t remember the exact words, but C.S. Lewis once compared us to little kids who won’t leave our mud puddle because we can’t imagine the wonders of a day at the seashore.

Am I willing to take everything Jesus is ready to give? Freedom from guilt; an antidote to fear; joy and hope and love in abundance – Jesus has promised all of these things. Life lived close alongside him would be a giddy, exciting, exhilarating and fun ride through this world. Instead of plodding along, I could be living fully – my relationships would be better, my work would be more fulfilling, my wants would be simpler, and my dissatisfactions would wither away. I imagine my days would be fast-moving, full of vivid experiences and memorable people, because I’d see it all the way Jesus sees it. 

Am I ready to stop playing in the mud and go see the world as Jesus created it to be? Jesus would gather us to him like chicks, to care for and nurture and empower and lead, if we were only willing.