LifePath Church
  • Home
  • Get To Know Us
    • Who We Are
    • What We Do
    • What We Value
    • What We Believe
    • Racial Justice
    • LGBTQIA+ Inclusion
    • Local Mission
    • Global Mission
    • Partnerships
  • Get Connected
    • Celebration Gathering
    • Listen Online
    • Children and Teens
    • Meal Communities
    • Triads
    • Life Seminars
    • Giving
  • Together for Good
  • Calendar
  • Latest News

Together for good

simple weekly reflections on community, spiritual formation, and the way of Jesus

Jesus Was a Disappointment

11/9/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
“John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
-Luke 7:20


I'm thinking this week about how many times Jesus was a disappointment. About how many times Jesus could not meet the expectations of others.

John the baptizer comes onto the scene, proclaiming that the One is coming.... the One who was prophesied about. And when he arrives, John says, he is going to clean house. With Elijah-like fury, this one would come and destroy evildoers, striking the land with total destruction (Malachi 4). 

And when John sees Jesus, he immediately senses it. He proclaims to everyone: this is the guy!

And then the months pass. And no one has been burned to a crisp. No revolutions have begun. And lots of people are being shown compassion. And well, it's just not what he expected. It's confusing. So John the Baptizer sends a couple of his disciples to let Jesus know that they've got some questions. Did John get this wrong? Maybe you're not the one we thought you were?

I wonder how Jesus felt hearing that. What a human moment. 

This wasn't the only time Jesus left people disappointed. Jesus may have been a healer, but he also needed sleep when the sun went down. There were unhealed folks left out there plenty of days, I promise you. Disappointment. 
Jesus refused to be made king when his people wanted to start a revolution and force him to lead them. Disappointment.
When Jesus talks mysteriously about taking his body and drinking his blood (a glimpse at how he would replace ritual religion with himself), a bunch of his disciples started to walk away. He just wasn't what they expected. Disappointment. 
Philip looks at Jesus and says, "show us the father, and that will be enough." Sometimes we forget what was under the surface of that request from Phillip. Jesus was not enough. Disappointment.

I wonder how Jesus dealt with it all. He disappointed so many people, even while being perfectly faithful. What hope do WE have???

This is an issue we all deal with. Are any of us really what others expect? Universally, all of us have experiences with expectations and disappointment. Either we will disappoint those around us because we don't live up to their expectations, or we will disappoint ourselves for not living up to an unspoken set of expectations (that we have absorbed from the culture around us or from our own need to make everyone happy). Sometimes it doesn't even matter if the expectations are realistic or not. We still feel the sting of not meeting them. 

I remember during the pandemic, how skilled I was at disappointing people. Every decision felt like a lose/lose as a leader. It was nearly crippling to know that even doing my best, others would be disappointed in me because I couldn't meet their needs and expectations. Now I can see that I never could have met every need, nor was that even my role. But I felt like it was. Expectations. And it almost destroyed me. I felt like giving up. 

Have you felt that way sometimes? Home, work, school, marriage, family, friendships? 

As we think about expectations and disappointments in our own life, I see Jesus coming to us in two ways. First, Jesus is our example. In the moments that others are disappointed in Jesus, he was able to remain deeply rooted in his identity and calling. He was able to continue walking forward without constantly needing to defend himself or change his purpose. He was loving, but firmly aware of what was his to do and what wasn't his to do. And it was all because of his constant connection with the Father. He was secure in his value, and independent of the expectations or disappointment of others. 

But Jesus isn't simply our example. He is also our source of grace. There are times that we truly will fall short and disappoint people. We will make mistakes. We will act selfishly. We will lack wisdom. These moments of disappointment can lead us to paralysis, or they can lead us to the cross. Knowing that Jesus sees us as we are and still calls us beloved is a transformative reversal of crippling disappointment. Knowing that we are loved and given grace, we can walk forward beyond condemnation, fixing our eyes on Jesus and living to follow his call with confidence and love. 

Wherever you may feel like a disappointment today, Jesus understands. He receives both the unfair expectations and the honest imperfections and reminds you that your worth is based on God's image in you, not others' expectations of you. There is grace upon grace to lift your head up and life a life of love today, fresh and free. 

Jesus, thank you.
 
Peace,
Keith


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

    RSS Feed

Lifepath Church

Copyright © 2022
Contact Us
Photo from Pascal Volk
  • Home
  • Get To Know Us
    • Who We Are
    • What We Do
    • What We Value
    • What We Believe
    • Racial Justice
    • LGBTQIA+ Inclusion
    • Local Mission
    • Global Mission
    • Partnerships
  • Get Connected
    • Celebration Gathering
    • Listen Online
    • Children and Teens
    • Meal Communities
    • Triads
    • Life Seminars
    • Giving
  • Together for Good
  • Calendar
  • Latest News