Expectations

- July 15, 2025

The best possible phrase I could use to sum up my experience being married with children to date is this: “expectation management.” Growing as a family is a dynamic process of managing a lot of expectations. Expectations of ourselves as parents and a couple. Expectations of our kids, who God is growing them into during different seasons and through various challenges.

And expectations that our kids have of us as their parents. That’s a lot of managing in a house of six people! I’d be lying if I said that I did not occasionally feel like a project manager. It is easy to imagine how unmet or even unrealistic expectations can cause a variety of reactions and feelings in any family dynamic.

When my husband and I were watching the most recent season of the show “The Chosen,” I was struck by the portrayal of the very real feelings of disappointment by Judas, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Spoiler alert for the season! Judas does in fact betray Jesus. And that’s what we expected – we know the account. But what affected me most was watching the deeply negative emotions of the actors portrayal over many episodes of Judas’ unmet expectations of Jesus. Anger, hurt, intense frustration that this Jesus, the Messiah, was not fulfilling his expectations and plan for what Jesus was supposed to be doing as the promised Anointed One.

What did Judas expect? Like many of his contemporaries and ancestors who had been under the rule of various oppressive empires – Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome – Judas expected a warrior king to enter Jerusalem and relieve the people of the Romans. Other contemporaries had different expectations of who and what the Messiah would be. The religious leaders expected a Messiah who would come and uphold all of the laws and traditions. Yet, what the people got in Jesus was something far from their expectations both in His person and in His work of salvation and proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven.

So what does this have to do with us today? In a cultural and historical moment when we see people leaving churches and walking away from their faith, we need to humbly ask ourselves what do we expect from Jesus? And why? How did we get to these ideas of who He is? And is it possible that, for whatever reason, our expectations of Him, like Judas, are not in fact what He is offering to us?

These are really big questions to consider. What I would like to offer are a few ideas to get you thinking that center on what God’s Word teaches us about what Jesus is offering us when we accept His gift of salvation and what He is asking us as His Followers. This is not an exhaustive list, but a way to get the conversation going in our own minds as we prayerfully seek Him.

First, what is Jesus offering us from His own words and the overarching narrative of God’s love letter to us written in Scripture? Here are a few things to consider:

Jesus came to redeem us, reconciling us to God the Father as an atoning sacrifice for sin. John 3:16 tells us explicitly from the mouth of Jesus, “For God so loved the world that He sent His only son, that whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus is like the bridge that spans the gap between us and God, the chasm between the two being our sin, all of the things that make us fall short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23) He offers us salvation, being saved from God’s wrath and rejection through Himself by what He has done, not by our own works, moralism, or traditions. It is Him and Him alone that we place our faith in. A gift of radical grace – something we didn’t earn or deserve.
Jesus offers us eternal life with God in Heaven. The afterlife remains a mystery to us in many ways, but we can be certain from Scripture that when we enter the gates of Heaven either in this life with Jesus’ second coming or in death, it is only through Jesus, the Door (John 10:9) Through that Door we will enter the presence of God. A presence in His full glory! We have an eternal hope in the living, risen Savior.
Abundant living now in our union with Christ. The Door by which we enter in Jesus leads us into eternal life in God’s presence and also into green pasture now with His as our Good Shepherd (John 10:11-14) Jesus calls Himself the true Vine and His Followers are the branches. (John 15:1-17) We are unified with Him when we accept Him as Savior and He becomes our Lord. As the branches get their nutrients for life and eventually produce fruit from their union with the vine, when we abide in Jesus as He has said He will be with us always (Matthew 28: 20), we can be confident in our expectation of Him to provide for us abundant living now. That produces true joy, love, and peace that can never be taken from us through the trials and tribulations of life. This abundant living is what transforms or sanctifies us, bringing us into His likeness here on earth as we live for His Kingdom now, shining His light in us to the world.
The power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promises that He will not leave us as orphans when He is not physically with us, but that He will live in us. Jesus promised to send to us a Helper or Advocate, and that is the Holy Spirit. When we repent and come to faith in Him, we are filled with the promised Holy Spirit. As we learn to abide, or remain, in Christ, we can be confident in the ways that we are led to walk by the Spirit. While pruning is a part of being of the branch of the True Vine, we can be confident that remaining in Him will bring us to bear good fruit for His Kingdom.

Second, and equally as important, what is Jesus calling us into when we accept His gift of grace by faith? What does He expect from you and me?

Love God and Love others. Jesus is clear in His teaching that the Great Commandment is to love the LORD our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and to then love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39) This is the fulfillment of the law and the Prophets, and it happens when we deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus (Matthew 16: 24). It is a response to His love for us – we love Him back and love one another as He has loved us, this is how the world will know that we are His Disciples. (John 13:34)
Follow Jesus and obey His commands. Jesus is not only our savior, but He is also our King. He is clear in John 14:15, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” It is important as we grow in discipleship that we seek Him prayerfully in God’s Word, learning His commandments. Growing in obedience isn’t a burden to us when we love Him for who He is and His work of transforming us! It is not legalism, it is love. That does not always make it easy, but we know His ways are better as we learn to allow Him to dwell in us, for His “yolk is easy” and His “burden is light”. (Matthew 11:30) His commands allow us to grow into a right relationship with others as we live out glimpses of His Kingdom now.
Live life abundantly. In John 10:10 Jesus states, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus did not come selfishly to take away from our lives here on earth. He came to give so that we may receive! We can expect that as we learn to Follow Jesus as a response of love to His gift of love to us, that He will give us all of the spiritual blessings. In Christ we have abundant peace, joy, hope, and love through the storms. In Christ we have a life of meaning, purpose, and service. It is counter-cultural and always has been. Living for His Kingdom and storing treasures in Heaven has always been what will set His people apart when we remain in Him. While this requires that we yield to His ways and teachings with a heart of humility, we can trust that He is going to bless us with His Way, His Truth, and His Life. It is a beautiful and exciting journey to experience this transformation in our lives starting from the moment we invite Him in and into eternity.
Make Disciples. Before His ascension, Jesus gives His disciples the Great Commission, to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Brothers and sisters, we may all have different spiritual gifts, talents and callings in service, but Jesus is clear. His expectation is that we will grow in discipleship and go make disciples. We do not always know what soil we are throwing the seeds of faith we plant, but we know that this is His command to us. As Pastor Drew Shofner, Sr. Pastor at The Church at Severn Run, says, your first mission field is your home. As God does heart surgery on each of us through the Holy Spirit in our relationship with His Son, we can be confident to expect that He will equip us to share the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, with the people around us. We can live this expectation out! We are able, because He is faithful.

Wherever you are in your relationship with Jesus Christ, whether you are just getting started or coming back into His light, you can be confident of the Great Expectations that He has to give to each of us and for us to accept from Him for our walk of faith. I pray that we can all continue to seek Him with confidence that He does find us where we are and grow us into the person He expected we could become in Him for His purposes, His glory, and our great good.