The Spiritual Danger of Unmet Expectations

Read Matthew 11:1-19

      We can feel for John the Baptist.  The one who preached imminent judgment on a sinful nation, railing that “even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees” (3:10), had himself been imprisoned by the wicked King Herod.  What happened to the coming Kingdom?  Why isn’t evil being judged and righteousness rewarded?  Was he wrong about Jesus being the Messiah? 

      So he sent messengers to Jesus to ask that very question.  The Lord answered that he was doing just what the Old Testament said Messiah would do – healing cripples, lepers, deaf people, blind people – even raising the dead.  The messianic prophecies weren’t failing, less still Messiah himself.  But John’s expectations had certainly failed.  Judgment is coming, but not as quickly as John had imagined.

      How often our faith is shaken by unmet and unwarranted expectations!  We thought that because we took Jesus as Lord everything would go well with us, that we would be spared the tragedies and heartbreaks common to life in a fallen world.  But the loved one died, or the spouse was unfaithful, or the disease returned, or the business failed.  And we begin to doubt that Jesus, who promised that we would have trouble in this world (John 16:33), is really who he said he is. 

      While it is critically important that our faith not fail (Luke 22:32), we can take great heart that Jesus comes to the strong defense of the doubting John.  He knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103:14).  Even when our faith falters, “he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).