Expectations (1) – 2/16/25

When the Civil War began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, many people expected that it would be short and unremarkable. Governor Pickens believed,

“It would all be over in three weeks.”

Confederate War Secretary Leroy Walker was confident his flag would fly over Washington by “the first of May,” which was only a few weeks away. Some predicted six months. Many soldiers on both sides signed up for what they call “90 -day papers,” assuming this is going to be quick and painless.

Eric Larson in his New York Times bestseller, “The Demon of Unrest,” writes,

“A common expression often attributed to Colonel James Chestnut forecast that the total amount of blood likely to be shed in a war over secession would fill ‘a lady’s thimble.’ Chestnut also made the vivid pledge to drink whatever blood actually did get shed.”

He was not able to fulfill that pledge. The war was not over in three weeks. And the bloodshed was more than would fit in a lady’s thimble. The Civil War would claim more lives than the Revolutionary War, World War I, World War II, and Vietnam combined (more American lives).

South Carolina would lose over one out of every three men who fought in the war. Just imagine that. Line up your men and kill over one out of every three.

Ironically, Charles Dickens published his classic novel “Great Expectations” a few months after the war began in 1861. An expectation is a feeling or belief that something will or should happen. Managing our expectations is one of our most challenging tasks. If you don’t have any expectations, you’re probably dead. You at least have a little sense of purpose or hope. As G .K. Chesterton said,

“There is one thing which gives radiance to everything. It is the idea of something around the corner.”

But if you have too many expectations, you’re set up for despair. And if our expectations are unrealistic or false, our interpretation of life will be skewed, our emotions will be chaotic, and our choices will be disordered, or at least unwise.

The first half of Matthew 11 is a stunning example of the significance of expectations. Matthew makes it clear that he is transitioning from the instruction of the Sermon on the Mission of Matthew 10, that’s where we’ve been all year — Matthew 10, Jesus’s Sermon on the Mission — but now transitioning from instruction to action in chapters 11-12. If you recall, Matthew uses a repeated statement to tip us off to the transition. You’ll see it in verse 1, Matthew 11.

“When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.”

That first statement, “when Jesus had finished instructing,” that or something similar appears at the end of each of the major sections of Jesus’s instruction launching us back into action. It’s Matthew’s way of helping us “Behold the King” through show and tell. See him. Hear him. This interplay between action, instruction, action, instruction.

In other words, he’s not just stimulating our minds. He’s calling us into a new way of living. So that image right before you is the breakdown of the entire gospel of Matthew. Today we are moving again from the instruction in 10 to the action in 11 and 12. The section could be called “No Middle Ground,” as you’re going to see a rising opposition to Jesus. And Jesus is calling us off the fence to “come to me.” We’ll get that at the end of this chapter.

But the first half of Matthew 11:2-19, can be broken into three sections: Expectations of Jesus, Expectations of John, and Expectations of John and Jesus. We’re going to do the first two today and the third, Lord willing, next week. Let’s pray for help.

Father, you know how easily I create expectations that I am not even aware of. Expectations of you, expectations of people, expectations of the way my life should go. We need your help. Help me, help us be honest about our expectations and then to learn how to lament our unfulfilled ones well, and then to experience your renewal as you renew our minds, bringing them into alignment to who you really are and what you’re really doing. Please, Holy Spirit, do this in very personal ways in each of our hearts, we pray in Jesus’s name, amen.

Let’s start.

1. Expectations of Jesus.

Verse 2, “Now when John heard in prison…”

That is John the Baptist who is in prison. According to Josephus, who is the Roman-Jewish historian, Herod Antipas, who was king, imprisoned John the Baptist in a prison called Machaerus, which was a palatial fortress east of the Dead Sea. You can still see the remains today.

We have learned back in Matthew 4 that John was arrested. We will learn in Matthew 14 why he preached against Herod Antipas’s adultery with his brother’s wife Herodias.

The fortress of Machaerus had been turned into a lavish palace by Herod the Great, complete with courtyard, gardens, Roman baths, and of course, a dungeon. John is not in the Roman baths. He is in the dungeon down below, and John is able to have visitors who bring him food. During one of those visits, he spoke with his disciples and asked them to go find Jesus and ask him this question. Verse 3, and this was prompted from verse 2, the works or the deeds of Christ.

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Now what he means by that is something very specific. Are you the one, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, who is to come? Or are you like me, one who comes in order to point to another? Look at Jesus’s answer in verse 4.

“And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not [tripped up or] offended by me.’”

That’s the verb “skandalizo,” to stumble by me.

Now, John knew these things, right? John knew what Jesus was doing because it was the works of Christ, the deeds of Christ, that had prompted his question. So, why was John confused? Short answer, he knows his Bible.

Have you ever thought of that? Sometimes we can have just enough understanding of the Bible to be utterly confused. I feel like I live in that space often. What parts of the Bible was Jesus referring to when he listed these miracles? Because he’s being very specific. Well, jet back 700 years to Isaiah 35:5.

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,”

He’s talking about when the Messiah comes, the eyes of the blind shall be opened.

“the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.”

Jesus is linking everything he’s doing to these prophecies regarding the coming Messiah. Look at another example, Isaiah 61:1.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;”

What was that last statement? The opening of the what? Prison. Where’s John? Prison. You can see John’s thinking okay, Jesus, I’m tracking with you. Blind eyes. Deaf here. Poor. Good news with you. All that right out of these kinds of prophecies. But didn’t you keep going and say that the prison would be opened? And look at the next verse in Isaiah 61:2,

“to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

Did you say vengeance? A few verses later in Isaiah 61:7,

“Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;”

Why?

“For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrong;”

All of these passages are referring to the coming One. Look at the verses right near, I quoted some verses from Isaiah 35 that Jesus’s ministry mirrors, the verses right before those verses, Isaiah 35:3.

“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’”

Can you imagine John’s thinking? He knows his Bible. He knows these prophecies. He knows, yes, the Messiah will heal. He will help the poor. But he will also bring vengeance and shatter prison doors. And he hates wrong.

And I’m all, (John’s saying, thinking) I’m all for these wonderful miracles. But I’m still in jail for speaking the truth. And Herod is still on the throne for living in adultery. Where’s the justice? I thought you were the Messiah. I thought you were the coming One, and you would bring all of these to fulfillment.

You could imagine John in a weak moment saying to Jesus, it sounds like you’re selectively fulfilling the prophecies. Look at Luke 3:15. This is John before he was imprisoned.

“As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

That’s judgment language. Do you see why John’s expectations are unfulfilled? Why he is confused? Now, to be clear, Jesus is going to fulfill all of those promises. And as we continue through Matthew, he will lay out the timetable. But at this point, John is experiencing what we all understand, and that is unfulfilled expectations. These are the expectations of Jesus.

2. Look at the expectations of John in verses 7-15.

Verse 7a, “As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John”

Verse 7b. “What did you go into the wilderness to see?”

What do you expect to see? And he gives three options.

• Did you expect to see a politician? Someone easily swayed?

Verse 7c, last part, Jesus asks,

“a reed shaken by the wind?”

Now, the reeds Jesus is talking about are the tall cane grass that all the hearers would have been familiar with that grew and were blown, swayed back and forth on the edges of the Jordan River.

Jesus is saying, were you expecting to see one who bends to the breeze of cultural fads? Someone who can be shaken out of the rigidity of his beliefs by public polls or cultural pressure? Someone who is afraid to be on the wrong side of history so they become fickle, sticking their finger to the wind? Is that what you came to see?

And there’s so much irony here because if we jump forward where we’ll be in Matthew 14, there Herod, who — remember, is upstairs from the dungeon at Machaerus — is described as someone who fears the people and ends up being swayed by his wife and daughter to take the head off of John the Baptist. Jesus is saying, is that what you came to see? A politician who is unstable and easily swayed by public opinion?

• Or did you expect to see a privileged person, someone lavishly clothed?

Verse 8, “What then did you go to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.”

Soft clothing is not going to be found in the desert or the dungeon, but upstairs in the banquet halls of kings. And here Jesus is contrasting John’s camel hair clothing — rough, simple — with the lavishly dressed king who imprisoned him.

• Or did you come to see a prophet, someone sent by God?

Verse 9, “What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”

Why is John a prophet yet more than a prophet? And here Jesus suggests three reasons why John is more than a prophet.

1. His prophecy was prophesied.

His prophecy was prophesied. What does that mean? Prophets proclaim God’s Word. They prophesy. John does that but he was also prophesied about. Look at verse 10.

“This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger [that’s John] before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’”

This is a condensed summary of Malachi 3:1 from hundreds of years earlier.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

John is the messenger who prepares the way for Jesus, the Messiah, the coming One, the anointed One, who is the manifestation of Yahweh. John is more than a prophet. He is prophesied about.

2. His prophecy was anticipatory.

Anticipatory. Look at verse 11.

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”

John is not an average human, greatest of humans. But look at what Jesus says next, verse 11.

“Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

He is more than a prophet because he is the greatest of humans, but yet the least in Christ’s kingdom will be greater. As John himself said in John 3:30,

“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John was killed before he could see the commencement of the kingdom of Christ. So in this way, he is the greatest of the past and the least of the future. His prophecy was anticipatory.

And then finally … are you still with me? This is tough, and it’s about to get deeper. So hang on. Get a very long snorkel.

3. His prophecy was climactic. Verse 12.

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”

Now these verses are extremely difficult. Interpretations abound. But I believe the simplest way to think about this is just think about what’s happening to John. John is in jail. He’s about to be beheaded. When kings feel threatened, they often respond violently. Think about Herod Antipas’s (the guy who imprisoned John) father was Herod the Great. Matthew 2, when he felt his kingdom was threatened, what did he do to all the two-year-olds and below? Yeah, all of them in Bethlehem and the region surrounding, he had them executed.

This is what Jesus is talking about. You’re seeing a clash of kingdoms. This is what kings do to protect their kingdoms. There is a violent reaction from earthly kingdoms. But this violence, I believe the best way to understand, is to think of a hinge, the friction. Wherever you have a hinge, you have friction. And Jesus explains in verse 13,

“For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,”

All the prophecy is pointing in the direction toward John to Jesus.

2 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [in Jesus].”

Now the King and his kingdom have come, and the resistance is violent.

One more thing. Jesus labels John as Elijah, despite in the past John’s hesitancy to receive that name. Once again, if you think of the hinge, Elijah was promised in the last chapter of Malachi, Elijah. Now at the beginning, the end of the old covenant, beginning of the new covenant, Elijah. You have Elijah as the hinge, linking the climax of the old covenant and launching into the new covenant.

Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

What do we do with this? We can at least learn this. There’s a lot here, but we’ll just settle on this one.

Learning to discern our expectations is vital to following Jesus.

Learning to discern our expectations is vital to following Jesus. We’ll see next week when we do the third section, it’s actually vital to growing up, to moving out of immaturity. But here, John is …

• Discouraged by his circumstances,
• confused by Jesus’s actions,
• unaware of Jesus’s timing.

He’s in a dungeon longing for justice. Jesus will bring justice, but not in the way John expects.

Another aspect of this is notice how Jesus completely flips our understanding of greatness. John is in prison. He’s not on the throne. He’s in the dungeon, and yet Jesus calls him the greatest. The little ones of this new kingdom of Christ are the least of these, and yet Jesus says they’re even greater.

Jesus is flipping our understanding of greatness. Why? Because greatness is being redefined in Jesus. Or you could say it this way.

Greatness equals nearness to Jesus.

Greatness equals nearness to Jesus. That’s why he describes John as the greatest, because he’s closest to this new kingdom, and then those within this kingdom are even greater.

This is dramatically portrayed in Matthias Grunewald’s painting, “The Isenheim Altarpiece,” created from 1510-1515. This massive work folds and unfolds to reveal behind there are sculptures and paintings originally created in the monastery at St. Anthony’s in Germany, which is attached to a hospital that treated plague victims and people with skin diseases.

To the right, and it’s hard to see there, but to the right of the cross is John the Baptist. Now, of course, he would not have been at the cross because he was executed earlier, but notice John’s pointing finger — his hair is like pre-Renaissance — but his finger is key. He is pointing to Jesus, anticipatory. And it’s hard to see those words, but those are Latin for, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

And notice the book communicating that he is fulfilling the prophecies that Isaiah and others spoke hundreds of years earlier. If you look down at his feet, you will notice his feet are bare, which is unusual. He’s not practicing grounding. He is communicating that this scene of horrific injustice — like there’s never been on earth in history a more unjust scene where the Son of God, sinless, is crucified as a criminal on behalf of sinners — and yet it is holy ground. This is a sacred thing.

The pure, innocent lamb is picturing,

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,”

And it’s hard to see, but there’s actually blood dripping from the lamb into the chalice there at the bottom. Nothing in this scene is as we would expect. The gospel of Jesus shatters our unrealistic expectations on every level. Let me give you three examples.

1. The gospel of Jesus communicates quite clearly that we are way more messed up than we would expect.

The good news has to start with bad news, that we are way more broken, sinful than we would have thought. That’s the first expectation the gospel shatters.

2. The gospel of Jesus communicates quite clearly that we are way more loved by God than we would ever dream of.

Imagine the person, most of us can think of one person in our lives who loved us or loves us really well. You imagine that person, and then those pieces of love that you have experienced, now multiply them by millions. And you’re not even getting close to the way God loves you. The gospel of Jesus shatters our expectations of what the real problem is. The gospel of Jesus shatters our expectations of how much God loves us.

3. The gospel of Jesus shatters the way we think God deals with our sin and sorrow.

The way we think, the way we expect him to deal with our sin and our sorrow. The remedy. Because instinctively we think, if my life is difficult, then it’s probably because of you. There’s someone in my world that is causing me to act the way I’m acting or be miserable, so if I can just fix you…

Or like every religion in the world, personally, if I can just get my good works to outweigh my bad works, I will be able to have a right relationship with God.

The gospel of Jesus kiboshes all of that. Jesus didn’t die because you need a little help. He died, was buried, and rose because you’re dead in your trespasses and sins, and you need a new life. And he provides that.

It’s a way down. The gospel takes us down before it takes us up. It doesn’t put a Band-Aid on. It’s not a quick fix. It’s not an Advil. He’s getting to the root of the problem. That is big, all about expectations. We would never in our natural state, apart from the grace of God, expect that.

One beautiful expression of this is 2 Corinthians 5:21,

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, [so you’re talking about someone who has no sin to be treated as if they have sin] so that in him [in Christ] we might become the righteousness of God.”

He became like us so that we could become like him. Who would have expected that? That’s the gospel.

There is a little exercise at the bottom of your notes. I want us to take a few minutes to consider this. It’s wide open, but I want us to think for a few minutes.

I expected …

I expected. It is really important for us to be able to name our expectations. Just like John. He is in prison. He is assuming that if Jesus is the Messiah, he’s going to do A, and then B, and that’s going to equal C, and Jesus isn’t cooperating.

The people who went out to see John the Baptist were assuming if he’s really the messenger, he’s going to look a certain way and minister in a particular style. All these expectations. And we’ll talk more about the style next week.

But can each of us think about an expectation that we have that maybe we’re not naturally bringing it to our minds? It’s something that’s just there.

Secondly, when this didn’t happen, I felt like …

What? When this expectation went unfulfilled, I felt like God lied to me. I felt betrayed. My heart was riddled with doubt. I questioned everything about God. In this part of the exercise, I think it’s really important that we learn how to lament our unfulfilled expectations. Lamenting unfulfilled expectations is different from ruminating or grumbling. How is it different? It sometimes sounds similar. Read the Psalms. But the difference is we’re going to Jesus with our unfulfilled expectations.

You notice that’s what John did? He’s in prison. He sends his messengers, go to Jesus, ask him. And you notice Jesus doesn’t mock John. He didn’t blow him out of the water. John, dude, you’re my messenger. You’re my co-pilot. What are you doing? You’re riding shotgun and you’re questioning the whole thing. Doesn’t do any of that. Calls him the greatest.

Lamenting is being honest with God about our expectations. We’re not just complaining to the neighbors. We’re not just ruminating within our minds, which can turn into a psychological cesspool. We’re taking it to God and lamenting that struggle of doubt, anger, disappointment. And then as we do that, number three there,

But I believe God is calling me to …

As we lament well, you will begin to notice the cacophony of noises that come when we just ruminate about unfulfilled expectations settle down so we can begin to hear God’s voice. We can begin to hear what he is saying to us because we’re beginning to shut down what we assume he should say to us.

And the beautiful thing is, God has grace for every grief, every shattered dream, every deep disappointment, every unfulfilled longing, every expectation that is strewn across the floor. We can go to God and his favor meets us right there. Isn’t it beautiful? He’s not pouring on shame. He’s not telling us we’re dumb, we don’t get it, none of that. He has grace for each of our griefs. But the key is we got to be honest about it.

Name the expectation, if you’re able, with God’s help.

Secondly, learn how to lament well.

And then third, we can hear, Lord, what are you really doing? What are you saying to me now? What are you calling me to?

Because that’s what’s happening in Matthew 11. You’ll notice — I know there’s a lot of technical stuff we walk through — but essentially Jesus is saying, pray the Lord’s prayer. Your kingdom come. That’s what he’s doing. He’s inviting us out of our unfulfilled expectations to experience the fullness of his kingdom, not as we would imagine, but as he is bringing about. It’s a world of difference.

If we could take a moment now and consider this. Now I know we don’t have enough time today to actually respond, but I hope next week we will have an opportunity to hear from some of you because I think it is super encouraging to hear how our brothers and sisters, and this week in life groups, and in accountability groups, being able to share these three things. And then hopefully next week we can do so more publicly.

Let’s take a moment in quietness — and then I will pray — to walk through those three. We can leave them on the screen.

Father, you know it is so hard for me to turn the volume down on my expectations. My heart is an expectation factory and they can grow louder than your promises, louder than you actually, who you actually are, and what you actually are doing. And I end up missing out on the blessing of actually being in the moment of what you are doing and experiencing the grace that you have for me.

Lord, I’m assuming my brothers and sisters have that experience as well at times. We’re asking for your Spirit to give us grace to be able to give over after having been honest about our expectations, to give them to you. They’re safe there. Thank you for pouring out grace. Continue to minister as we respond in Jesus’s name, amen.