I Don’t want Volunteers!

2 Chron 17:16. …Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty men of valor, ¹⁵ and next to him Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred and eighty thousand, ¹⁶ and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, a volunteer for the service of the Lord, with two hundred thousand mighty men of valor…

The word “volunteer” only appears in Holy Scripture 3 times, and nowhere does it appear in the New Testament.  You may think this good news, as the next SJV asks for volunteers you can tell us that “volunteer” does not appear in the New Testament, and where it does appear in the Old Testament, it refers to military men helping the Israelites in their various causes; mercenaries.  

To be brutally honest, I don’t want mercenaries anyway.  Mercenaries fight because they are talented, they are at home in conflict.  They fight and kill for money, never asking themselves is the cause just.  When things go badly, they are the first to run, as to valiantly lose a battle for the betterment of the cause is fallacy to them.

So what was Jesus to do?  No volunteers for the Son of God?  Nope.  In my humble opinion Jesus did not want volunteers, He wanted men and women that would live and die for the cause of the Gospel.  He knew that God made us all for a purpose, there are no red shirts in humanity. (Aka in Star Trek where the extras that would go into dangerous situations always wore red shirts and always got killed). God has a reason for each of us, we were all born to proclaim the Gospel in our own way.  

I have been asking for volunteers,  perhaps when I ask I am speaking in error.  I should be asking for those who were made for the purpose of filling these open jobs to please step forward!  God has given St John Vianney everything we need to flourish, but there are important jobs empty, while other jobs are under manned.  That means that many among us have gifts they are not sharing.  You may think that your gift is small and unimportant, but you would be wrong.  God put you here, at St John Vianney, because you are an important part of our success!  

Let us renew our allegiance to God.  We are not mercenaries, fighting only when it suits us, we are Christian soldiers, ready to live and die for God and His Gospel.

Fr Scott