“We were hoping…” Those are the words of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in today’s gospel. Hope is such a happy word, yet here were are told the disciples are “looking downcast.” This is because they “were” hoping, but now they are not. They had hopes about what Jesus would do as the Messiah, and now it all seems to be over. We call these kinds of hopes “expectations.”
We all know the feeling of having our expectations dashed. Perhaps the only thing more difficult than bad news is bad news when you were expecting good. But tying our happiness to expectations is a dangerous game. The disciples on the road were actually walking with Jesus. They were on the verge of the greatest moment of their life. But they were stuck thinking about the past and what they thought should have happened. They were unable to recognize that Jesus was with them at that very moment.
God always surpasses our expectations. The disciples had a certain expectation of the Messiah, but Jesus intended way more than simply conquering the Romans. Even when the disciples overcame their sadness, their expectation was still that Jesus would “stay with us.” Jesus again breaks all expectations as he celebrates the Eucharist with them and leaves a presence so real that his visible presence is no longer even needed and so he vanishes.
What expectations are driving your life? Maybe you thought you’d have a certain job by now, have made some money, been married. Maybe you never expected to be unemployed or divorced. What are the ways that you’re living in the past in a spirit of “we were hoping?” God will not disappoint. He will not fulfill your expectations the way you expect… he will exceed them beyond anything you can imagine.
1 comment
Thank you. Wonderful.