Unmet Expectations
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
In the words of A.W Tozer, True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation. But how are we supposed to live in anticipation of what God is going to do while surrendering to His will? We all have deep longings and desires that inform our expectations of how God should act. For generations, the people of Israel longed for a specific kind of King. Despite their knowledge of the Old Testament and the prophecies of the coming Messiah, their human perspective informed what this savior should look like.
However, Jesus was not a King in the way they were expecting - conquering all enemies. Certainly, he offended the religious leaders, upended their deeply entrenched practices, and fraternized with the wrong people. But rather than riding in on a war horse, Jesus humbly entered the scene astride the lowliest of barnyard animals. He didn’t just come to preach about the good news, He embodied the good news. And still, because of their preset expectations, they saw Jesus through a clouded lens. Many didn’t accept Him as King because He didn’t meet the image they had created, or toe the line their customs demanded. We can be the same. We know that God wants good things for us, He desires for us to be made whole, and yet we still pigeonhole Him into the vision we have in our minds: someone who should fulfill our desires and expectations in the manner of our choosing.
Through the good news of the Gospel Jesus defied their expectations. He is a King unlike any other; He provides more for us than we could ever think up for ourselves. What if our unmet expectations, deferred hopes, and dashed dreams are a result of us expecting too little, rather than too much? By scraping the bottom of the barrel, what if I am the vendor in the temple, selling my wares for mere pennies rather than playing host to the King of Kings? C.S Lewis encapsulates this very thought in his book, The Weight of Glory:
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak… like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
In the verse cited above, Zechariah paints the coming King in a somewhat contradictory light. In describing the Messiah with words like ‘righteous’, and ‘victorious’, I personally don’t feel prompted to envision someone lowly and sitting on a donkey. However, the prophet did not urge the people of Israel to rejoice despite his humility, but because of the humility of this Messiah. He was imploring them to sing, dance, and be confident in the fast-approaching presence of their Savior. A Savior who, through His lowliness, would bring about the most radical victory ever seen. My heart has often yearned for a warrior God to swoop in and eradicate my suffering. However, I can testify that it hasn’t been through grand acts like these that God has made a way for me. Rather, through the persistent tending of my heart, God has drawn me back to Himself.
Thanks be to God, Jesus is not confined to our expectations.