What did you expect? Soft clothing?

Matthew 11:8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces.

Here Jesus speaks of John the Baptist. We have pondered in an earlier post how he was dressed, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Camel's hair, a belt, and some sandals. Not much glory was shown in how he dressed, but Jesus said no other man born to that point was greater than John. Now THAT is saying something. Jesus said he was Elijah that was to come. So here are 2 men that were not what the world expected.

And thus the topic.

JUST WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?

We all have preconceived notions of how life or people are going to be. We will graduate, get a job, get married and have kids, retire, and live a good life. We expect presidents to be great men of high intelligence and character. We expect pastors and preachers to be perfect, or as close as humans can get to it. We expect to be honored for getting good grades with scholarships, to get a raise for being a good employee, and to have our spouse's undying affection because they picked us out of the crowd. We live in a world full of expectations, and when reality clashes with our expectations, we fall apart. We question God, our systems of government, our establishments like schools, and our churches and family members.

And God's retort is,”Well, what did you expect?”

No prophet up to the time of John was loved by the country they warned. They were all a little weird to the world's eyes. John filled that bill. But when God says He is going to do something, His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways not our ways. Isaiah 55. Jesus fulfilled every scripture about himself, but even the men who walked with him questioned until his resurrection that He was really what God had predicted. In the aftermath, they understood, but in the midst of it all, their pre-conceived notions blinded them to the reality of what they were experiencing. It happens to all of us. We all live in a dream-world made of our own expectations. When life doesn't come through according to Plan A, we question everything. Did we take the right job, marry the right person, or join the right church? Doesn't God understand that this is NOT how life is supposed to play out. I do the right thing and I am supposed to be rewarded, not ridiculed or fired. My kids are supposed to obey, my spouse is supposed to love and treat me like a princess. And my God is supposed to rule on a throne and not let bad things happen. And the last thing that is supposed to happen is that His people scatter when the whip falls on the back of the most perfect man in the universe. This God doesn't make sense. We cower in the corner, question everything, and wonder what is going on. Just like the people of Jesus' day, just like the disciples, and just like the Pharisees. We miss the One because we thought we knew what He was going to be like. They had visions of David's throne, not a cross; overthrowing Rome, not being killed by it; being an educated seminarian, not common working class carpenter's son. It WAS all there. Every key to unlock the mystery was there like a good who-done-it, but because they expected it to look one way, they missed all the clues that pointed the other direction.

We want the soft clothes...the comforts of the ruling elite. We want our Savior and King to really be something that other people can admire so we don't look like fools following and supporting Him while He runs around Israel. Even at the point where most abandoned Him, the disciples stuck it out only because they knew He was Him, though they were confused about how this Savior thing was going to play out.

Yes, my friend, life will throw us curve balls and not turn out the way we expect, but does that mean that God doesn't know what He is doing? FAR FROM IT. THE worst situation, THE greatest injustice, THE rejection of the perfect ONE, did the greatest good for you and me, and the whole world.

We look at the world falling apart around us at an alarming speed, but it was foretold. We as Christians (and Jews, too) are berated by the world and media, governments and courts, and we act surprised. Didn't Jesus say that if He suffered rejection that we would too if we were His? Yes, He did. And yet we don't expect it to play out this way because it isn't fair in our mind. The health and wealth gospel has conveniently left the actual words of Christ out of their playbooks and we have bitten on the hook at some point because we really don't want to believe Jesus on this point. Family members will turn against each other, employers will fire us over our definition of family, and health care professionals will have to quit because they refuse to kill in one form or another. It was foretold. And we don't like it. Not one little bit.

So when life doesn't make sense there is comfort in the words that I ask myself often of God, “What did you expect?,” and then sit back and let Him be Him, because in all of history, He is never what we expected. And then I wait in true expectation for Him to do the Good that He has planned. The real, “Not my will but Thine be done,” expectation not of current comfort and resolution of problems, but the anticipation of God's eternal purposes that I cannot even fathom. If the cross was good, how can I question anything less catastrophic being anything less than good as well? It may not be comfortable, but it will be GOOD, because God is GOOD. Peace this Easter season.