Waiting for the Christ we did not imagine (Matthew 11:2-11)

 

God is the One who shatters our images of God. - Pseudo Dionysius

There are moments in life when the images of God we held, the expectations we clung to, the certainties we carried fall apart in our hands. And perhaps that is the beginning of real faith.  as we are in the season of Advent, a season of waiting, longing, and holy expectation, this truth feels particularly sharp. That is exactly where John the Baptist stands today. The fierce prophet of last week’s Gospel-confident, wild, certain-is now sitting behind cold prison walls, holding a question that cracks open his heart: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?” And if we are honest, we know that place well.

 Most of us carry a gap between our hopes for and expectations of who Jesus is and what he does, and who he really is and what he really does. It’s a gap between the Messiah we imagine and the Jesus who actually shows up. A gap between the God we want and the God who comes to us in ways we did not ask for, did not expect, and sometimes do not like. This gap becomes painfully real when life breaks our heart, when injustice wins the day, when our prayers feel like they evaporate before they reach heaven. The gap fills with disappointment, fear, grief, confusion, and anger. And like John, we feel trapped inside a prison cell of unmet expectations. When have you felt that gap tearing at your faith? What happened? What did it feel like?

Whenever we expect Jesus to display power like a classic hero strong, forceful, triumphant, he overturns our ideas. He reverses our assumptions. He reveals a kingdom we never imagined. John’s question “Are you the one?” - is not only about Jesus’ identity. It is also about what is happening inside John, and inside us. Behind his words we can almost hear the unspoken confession: “If you are the one who is to come, then you are nothing like what I imagined, nothing like what I hoped for.” What if that is  confession of John from the prison? And what if we allowed it to be ours too? And this is what Advent asks of us: to let go of the Christ we imagined so we can receive the Christ who actually comes. Haven’t there been moments when you weren’t sure who Jesus really is? Moments when he surprised you, disappointed you, or simply didn’t do what you hoped he would? We all know that experience-when our expectations collapse and our confidence thins.

But that confession, whether it’s John’s or ours, isn’t failure. It’s the beginning of reversal. It’s the moment our eyes start to see differently, our hearts begin to expand, and our hands become ready to reach beyond themselves. It keeps us open to the One who comes in ways we never imagined. This reversal doesn’t erase the gap but it transforms it. The gap becomes an invitation. to step forward in faith, to move the mountains before us.

- Lilly Pushpam PBVM