Mensa Otabil - A False Expectation

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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, certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us.

So they're telling Jesus about their conversation, the subject of their conversation: these two men from the road to Emmaus. They're drawing Jesus into the conversation, and in the conversation, they're 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 redeemed Israel. That was the Jewish expectation-that the Messiah would be a political leader. He would redeem Israel from Roman hands or from their oppressors. They thought maybe that He would transition at a point from working miracles to heal the sick to probably working miracles to throw spears at the Romans.

I don't know how they thought He was going to do that, but that's what they thought. So they had expectations of Jesus. Part of it was right and biblical, and part of the expectations were wrong, were 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 there: 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 it to happen, 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, the Sunday evening is one of the earliest appearances. It's the third day, and some of the women had gone to the tomb and said that Jesus is not there. That was the last news they heard in Jerusalem, and they're going to Emmaus, and so that's the basis of the conversation and the discussion. 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's very interesting that in all of this narrative, they are talking about their own expectations. They're talking about what others have said, but they never mention the Scriptures. They never mention Jesus's own statements. They never mention the promises of Jesus.

There are many times that Christians and people get disappointed, and you find, where is their disappointment? They never mention what God has said in His Word. They never mention God's promises. 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 unsure about His resurrection? Is it possible that some of the things you complain about and we complain about, 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 so 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 and amen.