Expectations

December 24, 2008

I Peter 4:1-6 (The Message)

“Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want. You’ve already put in your time in that God-ignorant way of life, partying night after night, a drunken and profligate life. Now it’s time to be done with it for good. Of course, your old friends don’t understand why you don’t join in with the old gang anymore. But you don’t have to give an account to them. They’re the ones who will be called on the carpet—and before God himself. Listen to the Message. It was preached to those believers who are now dead, and yet even though they died (just as all people must,) they will still get in on the life that God has given in Jesus.”

Advent is the season of anticipation, of expectation. We focus our expectations on the fact that Jesus, God’s Son, was born into the world more than 2000 years ago. We focus our expectations on the fact that on December 24th we’ll gather with our families in a worship service somewhere to celebrate that birth. On December 25th, we’ll expect that Santa will have dropped through the chimneys of our homes, eaten our treats left out for him, and in kind return will have left all manner of goodies for our good behavior through the year. We’ll expect to eat the best of grandma’s home cookin’. We’ll expect to watch old Christmas movies or football games if the kids will let us near the television. We’ll expect snow laden hills and the fun of sledding. We will expect so very much more!

For the people of 1 Peter, they had been expecting to get their own ways. They had striven to live life by their terms. That was all fine and good for them except that it was a recipe for suffering. Peter wanted them to understand that God is not a God of suffering but that we live in a world that invests in suffering so it’s inevitable that we’ll experience it. He wanted them to grasp that the remedy to that suffering while we are here is to resolve ourselves to let go of our own expectations and to allow God’s expectations to be what guide us. If we can let go of our planning, we can step back and marvel at what God will bring us.

Just this morning, I have been thinking back on my life and how I’ve spent it charging ahead, trying to achieve all of the things that I thought I wanted only to realize that none of them have brought me the joy I desired. It wasn’t until I let go of those goals and dreams that I was open to letting God give me things that proved to be far better than I ever could have imagined. How silly I feel now but I also recognize how difficult it was to let go of my agenda for my life and just experience being.

I’m heading home for Christmas with my family, realizing that there will be no snow or sledding . . . but that’s not what makes Christmas special for me anyway. As I have grown older I have been able to put away my expectations of Christmas and I realize that Christmas is about a Message that God has tried to bring us for 2, 000 years—a Message that because of our expectations we keep missing.

Millennia ago, the people expected a Messiah who would come as an adult King. One who would fight battles for them, conquer territories and save them in all manner of ways. Instead, they got a baby, who just lay there in a manger and cried and ate. Little did they know that the baby would grow up with wisdom beyond what they could fathom, with a courage and willingness to bear their crosses for them, with a commitment to suffering and to bringing freedom to their lives.

The Message came in a tiny form but it was a big word that God is still hoping we will choose to embrace—let go of our expectations and let God work wonders in our lives. When we can do that we witness the greatest miracles in this world! May we embrace the merriness of the Message! Amen.