When Expectations Aren’t Met

When Expectations Aren’t Met

Matthew 11:1-6

The New Testament in a Year sermon series

Rev. Brian North, Westminster Presbyterian, Chehalis, WA

September 25th, 2011

If you’re like me, you’ve probably had expectations that weren’t met at various times in your life. I’m in the middle of experiencing one of those this fall as I coach my son’s soccer team. Going into the season I had expectations about how our team would play, the things I would teach them, the number of wins we might have at the end of the season, and so forth. These are 8 and 9 year old boys, all of whom have played soccer previously, and most of them have played since they were 5 or 6. So more specifically, my expectations were that these kids would have a decent sense of staying spread out on the field and staying in their positions, rather than everyone swarming around the ball in a massive huddle. I thought we could really work on some strategy things, work on our spacing on the field, maybe teach them some moves with the soccer ball…work on lifting the ball up in the air on corner kicks…But my expectations this season are not going to be met on probably most every level. We’ve had to work extensively on basic passing, how to make legal throw-ins…and after three games and maybe 10 more to go, I’m hoping for even one win.

Now I’m not the only one who has had this kind of experience in life: Unmet expectations are something all of us have experienced. It happens all the time, because we have expectations about all kinds of things: our families, our jobs, vacations, where we live…you name the situation or the relationship, and there are expectations that we have. Some expectations may be clearly articulated, while others may be more intuitive and assumed. But we have expectations, none-the-less. And oftentimes, our expectations aren’t met, for a variety of reasons.

And we see it in this morning’s passage, too. John the Baptist has some expectations about the Messiah – Jesus – and those expectations aren’t being met.

And so in this passage, using John as an example, we’ll see how to handle our unmet expectations. So grab a Bible – there are blue Bibles in the pew racks if you didn’t bring your own – and turn with me to Matthew 11. We’re in a series right now that’s going through the whole New Testament, and each week we’re reading five chapters from the NT, and then looking at a portion of that reading on Sunday in the sermon. And in the course of 12 months, we will have read the entire NT, and had sermons that come out of those readings as well. So we’re in Matthew 11:1-6 today. This is God’s Word to you and me today…

Matthew 11:1-6

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Now, a little background, first. John the Baptist had a calling on his life to prepare the way for the Messiah, or “the Christ” as it is in Greek. This is the long-expected savior that the Old Testament points to. And in John’s preaching we see that there were certain expectations about the Messiah that he had, and were commonly held in his day. For instance, we read in Matthew 3 a little of what John said in preparing the way for the coming Messiah: “‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

‘I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’” That’s John’s preaching about Jesus (Matthew 3:7-12). And believe it or not, people flocked to hear that kind of message!

Then along comes Jesus, and we look at his life and some of his teaching, and it doesn’t line up with John’s expectations. For instance, in Matthew 5, at the start of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says:

‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.’

That is not what John expected. John was preaching the coming of General MacArthur, and instead he got Mother Theresa.¹ John had expectations of a political uprising, a rebellion led against the Roman government that would usher in a new era and a new kingdom of Jewish rule here on earth. Now, this isn’t John’s fault. He did a great job of doing the one thing that God called him to do. Some of you remember Johnny Carson from his years on the Tonight Show. Every night before he came out on stage he had his side-kick, Ed McMahon, introduce him. Ed had just one job to do, and he did it well. John was the same. His job was simply to say, “Heeeeeere’s Jesus!” And that’s what he did; and he did it well. From then on, he gets out of the way and lets Jesus do his thing. But Jesus’ thing was not what John expected.

So in this passage there are four things I want to highlight for us that we can learn from and grow in our faith and understanding of Jesus. The first thing to learn is: When we have unmet expectations, we can take them to Jesus. Now John is in prison when this happened. The reason he is is because he did his one job so well that he angered Herod, the local ruler, and got thrown in the slammer. That, in and of itself, was certainly unexpected! He’s a holy and righteous man who did what he was supposed to do, and it got him busted. Sometimes living for Jesus ticks off other people. It’s not what we expect to happen, but sometimes it goes that way.

So John is in prison, and in order to resolve his unmet expectations, he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?” John certainly would have done it himself if he could, but he sends these others because of his circumstances. And we can turn to Jesus in much the same way through prayer, through reading the Bible, through conversing with other Chrisitians and sharing with them what’s going on in our lives and seeking their godly counsel. This is a really important aspect of our Christian faith.

And notice that Jesus doesn’t rebuke John or get angry. Jesus can handle it. He’s a safe person for us to turn to when we have unmet expectations. So that’s the first thing we see here: go to Jesus with unmet expectations.

The second thing we see is in Jesus’ response. Jesus highlights all this great stuff that’s happening: lame walking, blind seeing, the deaf hearing, diseases are cured, and so forth. So: Jesus’ response shows us that when we focus on the unmet expectations, we overlook all the amazing stuff that God is doing in our lives and in the world.

I’ve taken this approach with the boys’ soccer team I mentioned earlier. The expectations I had may not be met, but that doesn’t mean that great stuff isn’t happening. They’re becoming better soccer players. Their throw-ins are better. They’re passing better. They’re beginning to stay spread out on the field a little better; Well, maybe that isn’t happening. They’ve become friends. They encourage one another. There’s a sense of teamwork – even if it looks more like barely organized chaos most of the time. Those are good things. And if all I did was focus on the stuff that wasn’t happening, the stuff I expected to happen, but isn’t, then I would miss all the good things that in fact are happening.

And this is true in a lot of facets of life. We have this tendency to focus on the negatives – the stuff that didn’t go as we expected. But when we do that we miss the joy of life. We miss the abundant ways in which God has shown his grace and mercy. We miss the good things that are happening in our lives and all around us as God’s grace is poured out.

Third, we see that living in relationship with Jesus is a life lived of faith. The question John asks is a “yes/no” question. He wants a definitive answer. But Jesus doesn’t explicitly answer John’s question. Instead he gives evidence for why the answer is “yes.” And in this, we see that following Jesus takes faith. Jesus’ answer is not one of him claiming authority or status, rather he’s sharing what he has done.

This answer probably is not what John expected. He was probably looking for Jesus to explain things, to let him know what the plan is, when the uprising was going to begin, to give some kind of intellectual answer. But intellectual debate and logical proof are not the supreme argument to believe Jesus. Rather, the trump card that validates and authenticates Jesus is the experience of his changing love and grace. And that leaves room for the necessity of faith. Now, I’m not saying that logic and intellect get checked at the door of the church. We don’t turn off our God-given brains in order to have faith, and there are “proofs” we speak of. For instance, we Christians talk about proof for the existence of God seen in creation. We talk about proof of the resurrection in the fact the disciples didn’t disband and give up on Jesus at his death – and in fact most of them died for their faith. People don’t die for a cause they know isn’t true. Those are intellectual arguments for the person and work of Jesus Christ. But all the proofs and intellectual reasoning we use to show that Jesus is who he claims to be still leaves room for faith.

And Jesus’ response is the same way. And He doesn’t give an intellectual rationalization for why He is the Messiah. He tells John of the experiences people have had. He tells him of what he’s done. And this response leaves room for John to have faith. And it’s the same for us.

Lastly what we learn from this is: We need not be deterred from Jesus just because He doesn’t meet our expectations. We see this in the final statement from Jesus that we read this morning: “Blessed are those who do not fall away on account of me.” That statement was a gift he gave to John, and now to us as well. Jesus knew that he wasn’t going to meet people’s expectations of the Messiah. The people who were looking for a pseudo-military uprising, a revolt like we’ve seen in Libya and elsewhere recently, didn’t get what the expected in Jesus. But Jesus is saying, “Don’t lose faith in me just because I don’t do what you expect.”

Like John in prison, oftentimes when we’re in times where our future is looking bleak, we ask, “God, what are you doing? Are you really there? Are you with me?” Many people are asking that in our country and in our community right now. The economy stinks, unemployment locally is over 13%, jobs are scarce, diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s keep persisting, the divorce rate is high…there are so many things going on that might make us ask, “God, are you here? Jesus: are you the one for us to count on, or is there someone else?” Maybe you’ve questioned God like that before.

Jesus is saying to us, “I’m the one. Look at what I’ve done. Don’t forget about the blessings, about the good stuff, the ways I’ve demonstrated my love for you. You can count on me.” The great promise of the Bible is that all things, and all time, is in God’s hands. In fact, this life is not all there is.

And you see, ultimately: Jesus exceeds our expectations. He’s got eternity in mind, not just today. How trivial, in the grand scheme of things, would a military revolt have been if that’s what Jesus had led? I don’t say this to minimize new-found freedom in places where that’s coming to fruition right before our very eyes….But there have been tons of those over the years. And so often they don’t last. Another change comes. There’s no permanency. But Jesus exceeds those expectations. The kingdom he establishes lasts forever. It exceeds our wildest dreams. The promise and the proof of that is in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus…but God still leaves room for us to have faith in regards to that.

So this week when you have an unmet expectation, take it to the Lord. Whatever that expectation is – something in your relationships, at work, a goal you’d set for yourself, something in your journey of faith with God, whatever it may be…And allow that unmet expectation to drive you closer to Jesus, to reach out to Him as John did. As I said before, we can turn to him in prayer, get with a Bible study, read the Bible on your own, and so forth…And in doing those things we will be reminded of how God has blessed us, and of how God has worked in our lives. Faith will still be a part of it, there may not be an absolute proof, but it’s faith that’s grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who has done some amazing things: Blind seeing, lame walking, sick healed, and the good news preached. And in the end, Jesus will in fact exceed all of our expectations. The cross is testimony to that. His resurrection is testimony to that. The fact that the church began and has grown worldwide is testimony to that. And so even your unmet expectations can draw you closer to the one who can do “abundantly more than all you can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3). Let’s Pray…Amen.