Sunday, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we heard in the first sentence from Luke’s gospel that was proclaimed, “the people were filled with expectation.” The people came to John the Baptist thinking he was the messiah they longed for. For thousands of years, we, God’s people, are always filled with some type of expectation. We have expectations regarding ourselves, other people, relationships, institutions, and even expectations of God and Jesus. In some instances, we set low expectations, so we are less disappointed when they are not fulfilled. In other instances, we have high expectations only in reality to find them impossible to be achieved. We have expectations of others but do not want to involve our own gifts to help bring them to fruition. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the one they were expecting and the one who satisfies us when we open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts.
In Sunday’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah, we find the people of God in exile, with all their dreams, hopes, and expectations dashed for hundreds of years. They wondered if God would ever re-claim them as God’s people. In that place of disappointment God gave a word of hope that the Savior will feed the flock and bring them to safety just as a good shepherd provides with his flock. God promises that he is not finished with us and to see where He is providing for his flock. Sometimes we are quick to let the gift of Christmas, Emmanuel (“God with us”), escape our mind and heart as we move on with our daily life with its brokenness and rubble. We continue to think God has abandoned us because our expectations are seemingly unfulfilled.
The lessons given to us on this great feast should give us reason to pause and see something else at work in our life. How often we place great expectation in one person, or one part of our life, only to learn God is in another great work, in another place, through another person. John the Baptist directed the crowd’s attention to Jesus and not to himself. Jesus is the source of our fulfillment in all our expectations. What we might be expecting of others may only be met rightly by God in Jesus.
In the reality of our life, we have all had many expectations dashed during the past two years. Who has not been able to do something or go someplace because of the pandemic? Who has not had plans changed or cancelled? Who has not been disappointed because of issues out of our control? Nonetheless, look to see where the blessing of God exists and is still assisting us in our need, despite it not being as we planned.
I think of the blessing of our teachers. We have been blessed that our teachers, administrators, and staff returned at the start of this school year. (That was not the case with some of our surrounding schools where they are still lacking permanent teachers in the classrooms.) I am thankful to God for the safety of our teachers, administrators, and staff, for their own health and thereby doing their best to keep our students healthy. (With the current situation substitute teachers are a rarity, it is a blessing we have been enjoying while surrounding schools have not.) I am thankful for their dedication to provide a consistent, solid, and creative education even when faced with a very short period of remote learning. I am also thankful for the families who are doing their best in protecting their families and the sacrifices that entails by curbing travel, gatherings, and other activities. I share all your frustrations and disappointments, caused by our health situation, that many aspects of our life have not returned to “normal.” The fact is we will never meet the expectations we have for others. However, let us always remember that, even in the midst of dashed expectations, God is still at work in our lives and blessing us in untold ways within our families and our community. God summons us to take our focus off what others can do for us and, in their place, see what God comes, in Christ, to do within us. God is here to help us in ways that goes beyond all our expectations! Christ alone is our Rock.
As we return to the classrooms today, we thank God for the many and continued blessings He bestows upon us in a variety of ways. May Our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Lourdes, continue to console the sick, strengthen health care workers, and wrap her mantle around all of us as we pray for one another.