April 14, 2024 - Sermon "Expectations That Get in Our Way"
Expectations That Get in Our Way by Pastor Jenn Luke 24:13-35The Walk to Emmaus
This past Monday was the solar eclipse, and you may or may not have been like me persuaded by the media that this was going to be a massive phenomenon, so that I honestly expected the world to stop and stand still. One article told me the birds won’t sing as they will think it’s night. And the animals of the night will wake up. Another told me that it will be so dark outside that the lights will need to be turned on. But when I stepped out at 3:20pm in Hershey, it was pretty bright outside; very noisy as I was on 422, which is always busy on a weekday afternoon; and through the glasses, I could see a small dot with a slight covering.
I thought it would be like this… (Picture of eclipse) and (Picture of eclipse that Pastor saw) and I got…. I had developed this great expectation, that led to disappointment.
I gotta think that as these people were walking to Emmaus, they were being confronted by their expectations too. They had expected the Messiah to come to set them free from the Roman Empire. It’s what they and their ancestors had been praying for since the time of the exiles, hundreds of years prior. This Messiah would be similar to King David, a warrior, and in fact be a king they could hold to the world and say this is our God ordained leader. All this was a common expectation in Jesus' time. So much so that notice when describing Jesus to this stranger on the road, they called him a prophet. Verse 19, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, they weren’t certain he was the Messiah even now. Plus, they were upset because while they knew Jesus died, word is he might be alive, or his body is missing. It’s like that game telephone, you whisper something in someone’s ear like “happy spring” and by the time it gets to the 10th person it’s “orange juice”, right? Obviously, these disciples were confused for many different reasons. And the text states that when they do talk to the stranger who happens to be Jesus, “their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (24:16). Now, you could read these two different ways, one they were kept by Jesus to recognize him. Jesus didn’t want them to see who he was just yet. Or the other school of thought is because of their expectations and ideas, they could only see what they were open to seeing, and they certainly would not expect to see Jesus. Again, he died, they knew that, and he was buried, so they did not expect to see him risen from the grave, nor walking on this road that they probably walked many times before.
The gospel confronts us today with this challenge: Is it possible our eyes keep us from recognizing Jesus around us? Is it possible our expectations get in the way of seeing God at work today? I believe so. Because when the unexpected occurs, it can be difficult to experience the Divine.
Are you familiar with the story of Balaam and the talking donkey? It’s one of my favorites, and no it’s not a children’s book, it actually is found in the Bible, in the book of Numbers and takes place as the Israelites are still wandering in the desert. While they are doing that, God is at work beyond them to get things ready for their arrival to the promised land.
Now, we need to remember that the promised land has inhabitants already, and in this text, we meet the Moab, leader of the Moabites, who fears the Israelites taking their land. He does not know that God told the Israelites not to cause problems with the Moabites as they were the descendants of Abraham’s nephew, Lot.
So, in Numbers 22 we read that Balak, king of the Moabites sends messengers to a religious man named Balaam stating: A people has come out of Egypt; they have spread over the face of the earth, and they have settled next to me. 6Come now, curse this people for me, since they are stronger than I; perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land; for I know that whomsoever you bless is blessed, and whomsoever you curse is cursed.’ Balaam is persuaded to go, but God will stop this as God’s word was given to the Israelites to receive this promised land.
So, God sends an angel to stop Balaam in his travels, and as Balaam draws nearer to where the angel is the donkey sees this angel, and the donkey, being a faithful servant of Balaam since his childhood, works to save his owner not once but 3 times, straying away from the angel in order to protect Balaam. Sadly, Balaam responds to this disobedience by beating the donkey. That’s when the text says, 28Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ 29Balaam said to the donkey, ‘Because you have made a fool of me! I wish I had a sword in my hand! I would kill you right now!’ Notice he doesn’t blink an eye about this experience, the donkey talks to him, he talks right back!30But the donkey said to Balaam, ‘Am I not your donkey, which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I been in the habit of treating you in this way?’ And he said, ‘No.’ 31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.
Isn’t that a great story? The Israelites are wandering, and they have faced some trials and errors, yet through it all they had the promise that God would deliver them. And God was working to deliver them, even beyond what they could see or know. The Israelites have no clue any of this is going on, they are wandering, and God is taking care of them.
God does the same for you and for me. And that is what we should be expecting. I like how Jeremiah 29 states it: Jeremiah 29:12 For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Friends, sometimes we need to lower or eliminate our expectations because none of us can say we know what will be.
Saying that, what we can and should believe and trust is that God has promised to deliver us, to save us, to bless each one of us, not curse us, and God is working actively in each of our lives to fulfill that promise in dynamic ways that we are unaware of.
Be it through the power of the Holy Spirit or the blessing of His Son Jesus Christ who in the breaking and sharing of bread was recognized by the disciples in our lesson today so that they became apostles sharing "The Lord has risen indeed” (v34)
Today we are invited to come to the table and bring all that we have, all that we hold, and open our eyes to see the way Jesus is leading us, the way God is desiring for us. It may not be what we expect, but it promises to bring a future with hope.
Let us pray: God, as we are present with you now, and have received your Word and wisdom, we thank you that we can come to this table not because we must but because we may, not because we are strong, but because we are weak. Help us come to this table you have prepared and given so we may meet the risen Christ, and know your grace, your hope, your future for us in Jesus’ Name. Amen.