Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22

“The people were filled with expectations.” What would fill us with expectations of what might be? Our needs and our trust in God birth within us expectations.

Father Ford and Father Walinski were on their way to a retreat when they were killed in an automobile accident. Upon arriving at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter informs them the computer is down, and they will have to go back to earth for a week. “My dear friends, ” St. Peter said, “don’t be disappointed. With the computer out of commission you can go back as anything you’d like and do whatever you want. Because the computer is down, nothing will count against you.” Father Ford tells St. Peter he had always wanted to be an eagle, soaring over the mountains. “Go,” says St. Peter, “You are an eagle.” Father Walinsky first reconfirms that whatever he does will not go into his record, and then says, “Well, I’ve always wanted to be a stud.” “Go,” says St. Peter, “You are a stud.” A week passes and archangel Gabriel comes to St. Peter to say the computer has been repaired. “Since you’ll be busy here minding the gates, I guess I’ll have to fetch those two priests,” says Gabriel. “Well,” says St. Peter, “it will be easy to find Father Ford. Right now, he’s flying over the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. Father Walinsky’s another matter, and it’s going to be a lot harder to find him. Right now, he’s in a snow tire somewhere in Minnesota.” He wanted to be a stud. His expectation didn’t match the outcome.

Our needs and our trust in God birth within us expectations. The people in Palestine were filled with expectation when John was preaching and baptizing in the wilderness of the Jordan River. They apparently believed God heard their prayers for deliverance from the Roman occupation because they thought of John as the possible Messiah. Their need of deliverance and their trust in God birthed within them an expectation. John had an expectation, as well. In fact, he expressed it. “I baptize you with water. . . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. (3: 16)” The people could’ve expected John to be the Messiah, but he disclosed to them not merely expectation, but revelation. He revealed to them the difference in their baptisms, and, with that, the distinction between John and the coming Messiah. Expectations change by revelation.

In the year 1870 the Methodists (United Brethren in Christ) in Indiana were having their annual conference. At one point, the president of the college where they were meeting said, “I think we live in an exciting age.” The presiding bishop said, “What do you see?” The college president responded, “I believe we are coming into a time of great inventions. I believe, for example, that men will fly through the air like birds.” The bishop said, “This is heresy! The Bible says that flight is reserved for the angels. We will have no such talk here.” After the conference, the bishop, whose name was Wright, Milton Wright, went home to his two small sons, Wilbur and Orville. And we know what they did to their father’s staunch opinion of flight. Who expressed true revelation? Expectations are  changed by revelation.

Again, from Luke 3, verses 21 & 22: “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'” This confirmed certainly that John the Baptist was not the Messiah, but that Jesus was God’s beloved Son and the recipient of the Holy Spirit. For all those there that day, they witnessed revelation being revealed. Everyone’s expectations of John were now corrected by virtue of this revelation. Light had come into the world in the form of Jesus, God’s beloved Son, filled with the Holy Spirit. Expectations, birthed from trust in God and our own needs, change, quite often, by revelation.

Finally, I want to share a biblical illustration of expectations shaped by revelation. From the Book of Acts, chapter 8, verses 14-17: “Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria (Gentiles) had accepted the word of God (the gospel), they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” The apostles had expectations for these new Gentile believers in Samaria. The apostles’ expectations were shaped by revelation they’d heard and experienced. They knew the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus at his baptism. They experienced the filling of their lives with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. They’d witnessed other believers being filled with Holy Spirit. The expectation of the apostles was that every believer was to be filled with the Holy Spirit, even Gentile Samaritan believers. Their expectation was shaped by revelation. The Gentile believers trusted in God afresh because of Jesus, and the apostles knew these same believers needed the filling of the Holy Spirit. Trust and need bring forth expectations, and revelation from God shape our expectations.

May the expectations you have for these days, this season, this year begin to be shaped by revelation of God brought to you by the Holy Spirit.

(Preached at Lincoln AL in Lincoln, AL, January 9, 2022)