John 6:35-51

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 

Folks complained about Jesus because he didn’t meet their expectations. The irony, is that he had just fed them thousands of them with a few loaves and fish. What were they really expecting then?

They expected him to be like them. They knew his family, how he grew up, what his life circumstances were like. Who was he to promise them something different? How could he claim to be like a new Moses, that iconic leader who brought people out of Egypt and into the promised land.

This stubbornness , on their part, blinded them to what was standing in front of them. They expected him to be like them. He was calling them to follow him.

It was frustrating for  the early followers of Jesus that their contemporaries couldn’t see what they saw. That everything that had been asked and hoped for, for centuries, was right there in front of them in Jesus. If they would just believe it.

Changing expectations is hard. I think only God can do it. I think only God can change our hearts and minds and, through us, the hearts and minds of our world. What do you think? How do you change expectations?