It was a time of expectation, like when the planets line up in a way they haven’t for a long time and won’t ever again in one’s lifetime which of course must mean something. In that kind of time a voice crying in the wilderness attracts attention and even casual conversations end up speculating about cosmic events. Most of the time the time has not lived up to the expectation but this time the expectation couldn’t live up to the time. They expected a Messiah exactly like John, even though he told them he wasn’t him. But with speeches full of fire, with clothes, diet and personal hygiene like the prophets of the past he was a figure to behold. And so the people heard his hell fire brimstone exhortation as good news and in the verses preceding these change their ways to escape the wrath that is to come. No wonder Jesus gets lost in the crowd. He can’t follow that sort of act and unless you were close enough to hear the voice or happened to be looking when the dove landed he would have looked like one of the crowd dipping in the Jordan hoping to come up clean. But if you were listening and looking your expectation would have been met by something you could never have expected. Though the voice declared him the beloved Son he was baptized like one of the crowd. That’s why expectation can never live up to Incarnation which in the end burns our chaff and saves our wheat.
Good point. We can't (I'm very guilty of this) live up to or hold others up to an expectation we have, because 99% of the time we are WRONG! We are not God, but we try to act like we know his plans. I have been praying that God will give me peace of mind and that my mind will stop wondering, because when it does it seems like it takes me to a place of fiction rather than fact. I think that is why the Pharisees could not accept Jesus, because he didn't come like or how they wanted him to come. They were looking for a different kind of power and wealth. I think we all kind of do that in life. We are all looking for what we want rather than what God wants. I am learning to step back and be grateful for what God gives me. Most of the time I find that it is better than "a sharp stick in the eye!" Thanks for the post.
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