Great Mis-Expectations
“You’ve got to be kidding me! I have to take a remedial writing class?”
I had failed the essay test required for graduation and had to take a no-credit writing class at the start of my senior year!
A day later, I sat in the professor’s office arguing that this had to be a mistake. How could I, a student who consistently earned A’s on his papers, fail a simple essay test? I even provided sample papers as proof of my proficiency. The professor listened patiently but was unmoved.
The injustice of the situation gnawed at me through much of the summer break. Prayer for a changed verdict failed. But eventually God changed my attitude. I reluctantly gave up the fight for what I wanted and gave it to the Lord.
A few days before the fall semester began another note appeared in my mailbox. Those who failed the essay test were invited to retake it. I jumped at the chance and sat for the exam. But at its conclusion I had zero confidence that my second essay was better than the first. I left the room thinking, “The Lord knows best. Remedial writing class, here I come.”
The day before the writing class began my mailbox contained a note stating, “Congratulations! You passed the essay exam and can drop the remedial class.” I laughed because getting out of the class was no longer a big deal. God showed me something of surpassing value – that when we die to our own cherished expectations, God can provide something vastly greater.
I am not the only one who wrestles with trying to make life “fit” with my plans or my idea of what’s “best” for me. It’s been a challenge for my people, the Jewish people, as well. We see this played out in the life of Jacob and his descendants when it comes to their view of Messiah.
In the weekly Torah reading va’Yishlach (meaning “and he sent”; Genesis 32:3–36:43), Jacob finds himself having to surrender his vision for his youngest son Benjamin, the only surviving son of his beloved wife Rachel (Genesis 29:18, 30–31). Jacob’s sons had secretly sold Benjamin’s older brother Joseph into slavery and Jacob believed Joseph was dead (Genesis 37:28, 33–34). When Pharaoh’s chief servant (spoiler alert – this was the very same Joseph!) required Jacob’s sons to return with their little brother Benjamin in order to receive grain in the famine, Jacob feared the profound grief of losing Benjamin. (See Genesis 42:38; 44:29, 31; cf. 37:35 for Jacob’s grief over losing Joseph.) Rachel was dead, and Benjamin’s death would end any hope Jacob had for passing on his inheritance to a child of his favorite wife. All his plans would fail.
Remember, it was the birth of Joseph, Rachel’s firstborn, that precipitated Jacob’s separation from Laban (Genesis 30:25). Although he had ten sons through his wife Leah, Jacob finally had an heir through Rachel, and he was committed to protecting this child and his inheritance from Laban’s conniving ways!
The same commitment is displayed in Jacob’s encounter with his estranged brother, Esau. Clearly Joseph and Rachel’s survival was paramount in Jacob’s strategy (Genesis 33:2). Jacob held tightly to his vision of the future; risking Benjamin’s life did not fit it!
However, to save his household from starvation, Jacob had to abandon his expectations for how things should play out. Jacob “died to himself” when he sent Benjamin to Egypt with his brothers to get more food. As a result, God provided something vastly greater. Jacob’s household was spared from starvation, and God brought Jacob’s family to Egypt where He was with them and would multiply them into a nation (Genesis 46:3–4). Jacob was reunited with Joseph. Finally, God enabled Jacob to identify and bless the line of Judah, the fourth-born son of Jacob’s unloved wife Leah (Genesis 29:31), as the tribe through whom Israel’s ruler, our Messiah, would come (Genesis 49:8–12).
My Jewish people find themselves in Jacob’s dilemma when considering the messiahship of Jesus. We have a millennia-old expectation of who the Messiah will be. But for all its accuracy, it is fatally flawed. Only in dying to age-old assumptions and imperfect understanding can we see Jesus is our Messiah. This is the startling lesson Jesus taught His disciples, Jacob’s descendants.
In Luke 9, the disciples’ understanding of the coming Messiah and their future are challenged to the core. The chapter begins with questions about Jesus’ identity raised in response to the miraculous signs performed by His disciples: Some say Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead, or Elijah, or a resurrected prophet. Later in the chapter Jesus asked His disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” to which Peter responded, “The Messiah of God” (Luke 9:20). Rather than give Peter a pat on the back, Jesus challenged the disciples’ expectation of what that meant.
First, Jesus commanded the disciples NOT to tell anyone (Luke 9:21)! Next, He stated clearly that He must suffer, be rejected by the religious leadership, be killed, and then raised up on the third day (Luke 9:22). Finally, He expressed a series of startling requirements for following Him as Messiah: One must deny himself and take up his cross daily, and lose his life for Jesus’ sake to save it. He sternly warned that for those who are ashamed of Him and His teaching at the present time, He will be ashamed of them upon His glorious return (Luke 9:23–27).
All three responses reveal the fatal flaw in the disciples’ previous vision of the Messiah. First, the command to “not tell anyone” prevents them from affirming the inadequate vision of Messiah held by many. Then Jesus identifies the missing piece in their picture of Messiah – His role as God’s suffering servant. Finally, He underscores how essential this missing piece was; He warned them that failing to affirm it would result in their shame at His glorious return.
Why was Jesus so emphatic about this? Without Messiah’s suffering, His death, burial, and resurrection, there would be no atoning sacrifice. Without it there could be no offer of forgiveness, cleansing, and spiritual renewal necessary for entrance into Messiah’s kingdom. There would be no “good news” in the gospel!
Despite Jesus’ direct teaching, and the disciples’ love for and commitment to Jesus, they did not see the inadequacy of their vision … until the resurrected Jesus opened their minds to understand it in the Scriptures. Not only did they get it then, but by Jesus’ command, His death, burial, and resurrection became the foundation of their gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sin that continues to be proclaimed “in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth” (Luke 24:25–27, 44–47; Acts 1:8).
Have you found yourself hanging onto “your” plans and vision for how God should work in your life, resisting God’s Word, unable to trust Him? I too clung to the inadequate vision of Messiah held by my people. But God in His mercy used Jewish Christians and a Gentile to share His Word with me. By the power of His Spirit, I died to my flawed expectation and understanding of the future, and for the first time I saw Jesus as the Lord’s servant who suffered, died, and rose again for all who would trust in Him. Hallelujah!
Jesus continues calling people, both Jewish and Gentile, to die to themselves and live to Him. It has never been a popular message among my people, but it is powerful and the only one that saves! Join LIFE in Messiah as we follow the leading of God’s Spirit in bringing this life-giving message to the Jewish people.
Written by Dan, Life in Messiah Board member
Has there been a time when something you desperately wanted just didn’t go your way? How did you respond?
Who or what has formed your expectations regarding who Messiah is?
In Luke 9:20a, Jesus asks, “But who do you say that I am?” How we respond to this question is the most important thing about each of us. If your answer is, “My Lord and Savior,” is there someone you can share your testimony with this week? If you haven’t yet put your trust in Jesus, we encourage you to read what the Bible says about Him in the New Testament. You may be surprised and challenged, but ultimately, we pray that you would recognize Jesus is indeed “the Messiah of God” (Luke 19:20b).