On Sunday Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem with crowds, praise and celebration, waving palms and welcoming him with joy. Celebrating with the disciples after his arrival, we learn of the Last Supper.
Nevertheless, on Spy Wednesday he’s betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, and by Friday he’s crucified.
How quickly public opinion changes and you fall from hero to zero. From being welcomed as the saviour to asking to release Barabbas, a Jewish bandit and rebel.
We have many examples of cancel culture in the past five years, for political motives as well as personal indiscretions. Whether it’s sexual indiscretion, badly handled brand messaging or simply holding an unpopular opinion.
So, what changed? Why did public opinion pivot so rapidly?
Personally, I think it all comes down to expectations, which play a huge role in our relationships.
There’s nothing like having hope and expecting a certain outcome, only to face disappointment.
If we don’t guard our hearts, bitterness and resentment grow within.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides into Jerusalem as a king, sitting on a colt, as prophesied in the Old Testament.
The crowds that welcomed him (all by word of mouth), have witnessed his miracles and healing hands. But now they are expecting more.
While they might be grateful for everything that he’s done so far, they still expect him to give more.
What they are looking for is that hero that will save them from the tyranny of the Roman Empire. The new king. The Messiah.
And Jesus is bound to disappoint them.
And as we’ve learned time and time again in our relationships, disappointment often leads to a cruel backlash.
Jesus wasn’t offering a physical salvation, but spiritual. While he had healed many physical ailments, many of those miracles went hand-in-hand with spiritual healing and a change of behaviour and habits.
Largely overlooked by the crowds.
Their faith and belief in his teachings, which overturned the status quo and Pharisees, seemingly overlooked the underlying message.
When they heard “the Kingdom of God is at hand”, they believed in a physical kingdom, returning to the glories of David and Solomon.
This crowd had real problems and real needs.
And they expected Jesus to be the Saviour and hero that would fix everything.
They were disappointed to find out that he offered spiritual salvation and a spiritual Kingdom of Heaven.
But don’t we still do the same now?
We elect politicians and then criticize them when they don’t fix all the problems in our community. But what about the community getting together and facing the problems and working together for healing and improvement?
We watch blockbuster movies, celebrating heroes like Ironman, Superman, Captain America and Daredevil. All heroes, some with a small band of misfits, that do the impossible and save the world.
Imagine how boring a movie would be to show a community that came together and worked tirelessly to improve their city, but with no heroes or individuals that stood out to take the lead.
Since time immemorial, like Bonnie Tyler, we’ve been singing “I need a hero”:
He’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight
And it’s these very same expectations that lead to disappointment, and ultimately lead to betrayal.
How faith turns into disappointment
Take a moment to consider your prayers this week.
What did you pray and ask for?
Were you asking God for a specific outcome or solution? Or have you learned, like Jesus in Gethsemane to pray for God’s will to be done.
Jesus alerts the disciples that night:
My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. (Matt. 26: 38)
Nonetheless, he prays (v. 39):
“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
As such, he’s not disappointed in the outcome, no matter how much it pains him.
But many times, we’re tied to a particular outcome. We pray for healing for a person, and the expected outcome is that the illness or physical healing take place and be immediate.
And in doing so, we overlook that sometimes that most profound healing takes place over time. It’s like building up strength and stamina from walking and doing exercise every day. It can only be built by repetition.
Many times, our healing only happens by repetition – like forgiveness that takes place 70 time 7 times. Regularly letting go of the hurt and pain and replacing it with forgiveness.
But we want the instant gratification. Give me the pill that can stop the pain and get me back up and running immediately. Who care what the long term side-effects might be.
We want miracles and instant healing, not gradual improvement.
As such, we’re disappointed and disillusioned when the outcome is long term.
What expectations are you putting on miracles?
Disappointment in our relationships
Think also about your relationships with friends and family. Or perhaps going a bit further to those that you know.
Do you know someone who received a lot of help and support from someone, and then when that person stopped helping and supporting them they almost became enemies?
What’s really happening? Often, the person receiving the help is initially angry and frustrated with themselves. They might even hate themselves for being helpless and needing to rely on someone else’s benevolence.
But over time, they begin to hate the other, because this persons generosity highlights their own shortcomings and feelings of inadequacy. Most of this lies deep within as latent bitterness. Covered up with an band-aid of gratitude and praise.
Nonetheless, the moment that benefactor fails to step up and meet a need, they become the subject of criticism. The hidden bitterness and resentment bubbles to the surface, and accusations fly of selfishness and pride.
Now imagine the crowds that Jesus faced in Jerusalem.
So many expectations placed upon him with different people expecting from him different things.
And he fails to give them what they wanted.
It all ends with the cries to release Barabbas, the bandit and rabble-rouser. He’s been known to revolt in small ways against the Romans. While he doesn’t promise to rebuild a kingdom, he openly opposes the Roman Empire.
And being disappointed that Jesus never had plans to revolt, they turn to the popular insurrectionist and rebel leader.
And just like that, Jesus gets cancelled by popular opinion.
Betrayal after disappointment
I wonder which hurt Jesus more: the betrayal of Judas or of Peter? Remember, Jesus predicts both of them.
At the last supper, he highlights that Judas will hand him over. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus warns Peter that before morning he will have denied him and turned his back on him.
Which one of us would have dared to respond differently to the crowd than Peter?
We’ll never know whether Judas betrayed Jesus to cover up slipping his hand in the till and expecting to replace the missing coin by using the funds he received from the Pharisees, or whether he was simply disappointed, like the crowds, that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah that would save Israel from the Roman Empire.
No matter what lay beneath his betrayal, Peter’s actions were much more about fear and peer pressure.
Was Peter afraid of being put in the same cell as Jesus if he was identified as being his follower? Or was he simply ashamed to be different? Had he lost complete faith in Jesus being the Messiah?
Your expections, your faith
So now, it’s your turn.
What expectations do you have when you pray and in your daily spiritual habits?
When you sit quietly in your heart, are you holding onto any bitterness or resentment towards God for unanswered prayers or situations in life that didn’t go how you expected God’s hand to move?
Each of us needs to be honest within about the state of our faith.
Divine Presence: Letting the Infinite flow in my life 