Mensa Otabil - Disappointed Disciples (10/01/2025)
Luke chapter 24, verses 21 and 22: But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.
So they are telling Jesus about their conversation, the subject of their conversation—these two men from the road to Emmaus. They are drawing Jesus into the conversation, and in the conversation, they are reporting all the things that have happened. They said Jesus was a prophet and that they trusted in Him; He was a man who worked mighty signs from God. They thought that He was the Jewish Messiah, and for these disciples, the Messiah was the one who would redeem Israel, as that was the Jewish expectation—that the Messiah would be a political leader. He would redeem Israel from Roman hands or from their oppressors.
So they thought maybe He would transition from working miracles to heal the sick to probably working miracles to overthrow the Romans. I don’t know how He was going to do that, but that’s what they thought. They had expectations of Jesus; part of it was right and biblical, while part of their expectations was wrong and not biblical. By their own expectations, they were disappointed that Jesus Christ had not lived up to whom they thought He would be. There is a lesson here: sometimes we expect God to do something in a particular way for us, which may not even be what God has said He would do, but that’s what we expect. When it doesn’t happen the way we expect, we get disappointed, and our disappointment is directed at God, although our disappointment should be directed at ourselves because we had an expectation that had not been promised by God.
This was the first thing. Then they said, «Well, apart from all that, today is the third day.» This encounter between Jesus and the two men is happening on the evening of resurrection morning, so Sunday evening. It’s one of the earliest appearances; it is the third day. Some of the women had gone to the tomb and said either Jesus is not there, so that was the last news they had in Jerusalem, and they were going to Emmaus. That’s the basis of the conversation and discussion, and it’s obvious that in spite of all of this, they were disappointed and had lost hope.
Yes, the women had said it. Yes, we believe Jesus was a good man; He was a good prophet. But we think all of this has come to nothing; nothing good is going to come out of this. These are disappointed believers. It is very interesting that throughout all of this narrative, they are talking about their own expectations; they are talking about what others have said, but they never mentioned the Scriptures. They never mentioned Jesus’s own statements; they never mentioned the promises of Jesus.
There are many times when Christians and people get disappointed, and you find, «Where is this disappointment?» They never mention what God has said in His word. They never mention God’s promises, but it’s all because this is what we wanted; this is how we thought it would be, and it didn’t work out that way.
So these were very disappointed disciples, but Jesus was with them. Everything they were complaining about was right there, in their midst, walking with them, talking with them, and they were complaining. Can you imagine when the resurrected Lord is with you, and you are complaining about His resurrection and not sure about His resurrection? Is it possible that some of the things we complain about, and that we are disappointed over, God has already provided right there in the midst of us? That God is showing it to us, that God is revealing it to us, and we can’t see it. May the Lord open our eyes that we can see His presence and His glory in our midst.
Let’s pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, I want to know You for myself. Open my eyes to Your presence and my ears to Your voice. In Jesus' name, amen.» May the Lord help us to move from complaining and hopelessness to identifying His presence in our midst.
I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to all.