121819 – Matthew 11. 2-11
“Did you ever enter into “that intersection” called expectation and disappointment…?”
It’s actually a pretty popular intersection. It sees lots of FOOT TRAFFIC. Many people end up there at various points in their life…
We all have CERTAIN expectations…from time to time, sometimes they are realized, SOME TIME they are NOT.
You had your LIFE mapped out (or so you thought) “but somehow” things didn’t turn out – as you had planned…
Expectations and disappointments, we all have them…
You thought everything was going GREAT, but then there came “that day” when a doctor told you that you needed “IMMEDIATE surgery, NOW, stat, pronto.”
You found yourself standing at the intersection of expectation and disappointment…and I thought things were going so well – silly me!
You were the far more QUALIFIED person for a job, but it was given to someone less qualified… Now you are forced to not only work with “that person” but also UNDER that very same person.
That would be the intersection of expectation and disappointment.
You thought your MARRIAGE “would be the kind” that would last forever and ever AMEN only to one day see your spouse turn around and WALK OUT the door. Things crumbled around you but you were THERE “to pick up the pieces.”
You know the name of that intersection…you’ve been there before…
You never expected to HAVE to care for your aging parents (but someone had to) so that THEY could have “the care they need and deserve.” So YOU step UP.
What about when YOU are THERE to help everyone in NEED – but when you are “in need” – NO ONE IS THERE.
It’s that old intersection called “expectation and disappointment.”
John the Baptizer found himself right smack DAB in the center of “that intersection” called “expectation and disappointment”…and he didn’t quite know what to do…about it!
He had become DISILLUSIONED – prison can DO THAT to a person… This WAS NOT what he “EXPECTED for his life” OR “for his MINISTRY.”
Yeah he was FIERY…yeah he had OVERSTEPPED some lines…but he never expected THIS. John was a “FREE-SPIRIT”…the whole of the Judean wilderness was HIS HOME…he loved the GREAT OUT-OF-DOORS.
And now he found himself LOCKED in this DUNGEON, with his prison-cell- walls closing in on him…he was CAGED like a beast…with way too much TIME on his hands…
To say he was disappointed was to put it mildly.
He thought about the MESSIAH…he thought about the CHRIST…he thought about the ANOINTED ONE…and he WONDERED and pondered and prayed. He didn’t want to be disappointed again.
So he had word sent to JESUS. ARE YOU THE ONE? Or, should we LOOK for ANOTHER?
It seemed as if all the Jews were filled with EXPECTATION.
They could taste the Messiah.
They longed for the Messiah.
They hoped for the Messiah.
They constantly prayed for the Messiah to come quickly.
They desired his presence.
Someone HAD TO COME and SAVE them from yet another disappointment.
None of them “expected” the Romans to occupy THEIR nation. None of them expected subjugation, domination, conquest and a brutal invasion force.
But here they were back at that intersection of expectation and disappointment, again.
Well, John knew this – he didn’t want to be disappointed by the “COMING ONE.” He wanted to know. He wanted answers. He hoped for certainty. So WORD was sent to Jesus…and WORD was sent BACK to John…It WAS NOT quite what he EXPECTED, but he wasn’t exactly DISAPPOINTED EITHER.
This was new. This was different. This was startling. And yet, it was as OLD as the prophet ISAIAH. Ancient prophecy was about to be fulfilled. God was still at work…even in the midst of occupied Israel and Judah.
The Blind would see.
The DEAF would hear.
The LAME would walk.
The DEAD would rise.
And the POOR and the marginalized, the ostracized would hear GOOD NEWS.
GOD was about to ACT- big time.
HOW could ANYONE be DISAPPOINTED with this NEWS?
No matter what his own personal FATE might be – JOHN found himself at a new place…the intersection of “EXPECTATION and ACCEPTANCE…”
And, FOR HIM it was NOT a bad place TO BE after all! Amen.