7 Now hurry, go and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ I’ve given the message to you.” 8 With great fear and excitement, they hurried away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. 9 But Jesus met them and greeted them. They came and grabbed his feet and worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers that I am going into Galilee. They will see me there.” (Matthew 28:7-10 CEB)
In my devotions this week, the Matthew gospel reading focused on the scene right after the women discover the tomb is empty. I’ve been thinking about what it would have been like to be one of Jesus’ followers immediately after his crucifixion. So many of their hopes and expectations for the future were embodied in Jesus and his message of the coming reign of God.
I imagine some among their group were immediately what I call “cup half empty” people. They assumed the worst; they assumed all their hopes and longings for the future Jesus preached were dashed. I wonder though if there were those, perhaps even among the women that glorious morning, who were “cup half full” people. Could there have been a glimmer of hope in their hearts that they when they arrived at the tomb, they would discover it had all been a bad dream, that Jesus really hadn’t died.
When the angel greets them the first words out of his mouth were “Don’t be afraid.” God knows we do that; we wind up our hopes and our fears together into a bundle. Very few of us can separate our fears and our hopes. Sure, the women were probably fearful of the sight of an angel, but there undoubtedly were other deep-seated fears they were carrying that morning. The sting of death still grabbed their hearts.
Where am I going with this? Well, in this text I hear God saying, “Shawn, what are you expecting me to do in your life? What are you expecting me to do in your family? What are you expecting me to do in my church?” It is those expectations I’ve been thinking about. I found this helpful definition of expectations; “expectations are beliefs that come from a person’s thought process when examining the evidence.” I like this definition, mainly because it points to the reality that often our hopes and expectations are based primarily on “evidence.” Problem is, evidence can be misleading, and rarely can we see what God is doing that is beyond our perception.
The Psalmist encourages us to remember, “Oh, I must find rest in God only because my hope comes from him! 6 Only God is my rock and my salvation— my stronghold! —I will not be shaken. 7 My deliverance and glory depend on God. God is my strong rock. My refuge is in God. 8 All you people: Trust in him at all times! Pour out your hearts before him! God is our refuge! (Psalm 62:5-8 CEB)
I realize that many times my expectations are based on evidence that is based in the humans around me. And while we need to lean on and trust the people in our lives, our hopes and expectations must be rooted in the character and actions of God. Thing is, God frequently surprises us. While there may have been some who were hopeful after Jesus’ crucifixion, I doubt there were few if any who expected Jesus would be raised from the dead. Thank God for the surprise of the resurrection!
As we think about our hopes and expectations today, I invite you to pray this prayer with me.
Lord, help me to manage my expectations in as I consider your resurrection.
Let me rest my hope in the evidence of what you are doing in my life and the lives of those around me, but not only in the evidence gathered by my eyes.
Open the eyes of my heart, so that I might see you at work, to see the evidence you are working in my life and in your church.
Help me to unbundle my fears and hopes, to release them to you, and to rest in you.
Finally, Lord, I pray you would surprise me. Build my faith through the unexpected, through circumstances that can only be explained as your work in my life.
Amen
Pastor Shawn