WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.080 Well, I wanna I want to talk to you today uh on the subject of unmet expectations. 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:08.080 Unmet expectation. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:15.519 It would be ridiculous for me to ask for a show of hands of like, how many of you in the house today have ever had unmet expectations? 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:17.519 That would be crazy because that'd be everybody. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:18.239 We all have. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:26.800 It would be probably a better survey to say how many of you have ever actually had an important thing in your life go according to plan. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:30.640 You know, there may be only a handful of people that have actually had that. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:48.640 I think for the most part, the reality is when you're on your way to something, whether it's a new situation or a new life uh season or a new city or a new relationship, often it looks different in your imagination than it ends up actually turning out to be in reality. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.600 I'm talking about unmet expectations. 00:00:51.840 --> 00:00:54.640 Uh you might be thinking, Pastor, come on, man, it's Christmas. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.399 What are you talking about unmet expectation? 00:00:56.560 --> 00:01:00.960 Well, you're about to open some presents, so you may you may have a few unmet expectations, all right? 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:03.119 You open, like, didn't see that coming. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:06.480 We've all had ever had your poker face tested on a Christmas present? 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.200 You're like, exactly what I was hoping for. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:10.000 How did you know? 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:20.799 Okay, uh beyond that, I want to think bigger about this, though, because I because I do think this is something that we all have to figure out how to navigate our way through unmet expectations. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.879 Like, I know there's some of you you you'd really wanted to fall in love. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:33.120 You you desired all your life, hey, I want to fall in love, and then you finally met your person, and now you're in this relationship, and it it maybe hasn't met expectations. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:40.799 It's not exactly what you thought it would be, or maybe you um you decided, you know, I want to be an entrepreneur, I want to start my own business, I want to be my own boss. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:45.120 Because you thought by being your own boss, it would feel really free. 00:01:46.319 --> 00:01:54.959 And any business owner will tell you that when you're your you are your own boss and you own a business, it doesn't feel like freedom, it feels like responsibility. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:59.599 Uh you own the business, but really the business kind of owns you. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.159 And it doesn't feel like what you thought it would feel. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.280 And yeah, you're your own boss, but you ain't that good of an employee. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.359 And you've been thinking about firing yourself. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.719 I'm gonna call HR on me because I'm I'm I'm pretty hard to manage. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:14.800 Okay, so it doesn't always feel the way you think it's going to feel. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:18.800 Home ownership doesn't feel the way you think it's going to feel. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:28.719 Some of you uh imagined you expected to have a really good relationship with your adult children, and now your children are grown up and it's not what you thought it was gonna be. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:33.039 Uh, some of you outlived somebody that you never thought you were gonna outlive. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.120 It's not what you expected. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.240 Some of you had a partnership that turned into a lawsuit. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:39.840 You didn't think that was gonna happen. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:47.840 You didn't expect for that to happen, you didn't expect to be single this long, you didn't expect to be married this many times. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.280 Life has a way of bringing unmet expectations. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:53.360 What do you do with those? 00:02:53.520 --> 00:02:56.080 How do you navigate your way through it? 00:02:56.319 --> 00:02:57.840 All right, we're talking about Jesus. 00:02:57.919 --> 00:02:58.719 It's Christmas. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:06.319 We, you know, obviously we focus on the birth of Jesus, but it's all connected to his life, his death, and his resurrection. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:23.199 And I want to talk about Jesus in a really the truest sense, like to understand that actually Jesus, when he showed up into the contemporary world that he came into, did not meet the expectations of the people of the world that he came into. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:31.439 They were expecting a much different Messiah, a different chosen one, deliverer, savior. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:36.080 In order to help you understand exactly what they're expecting, let me give you a quick history lesson. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:38.080 I promise you I'm going somewhere with this. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:39.360 Stay locked in with me. 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:45.360 But I want to give you maybe the the best uh understanding of the context of the world Jesus came into. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:45.759 All right? 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:52.879 To do that, I want to talk about the intertestamental period, the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, 400 years. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:56.159 You've maybe heard of it referred to as the 400 years of silence. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:58.080 Well, why is it called 400 years of silence? 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.199 Well, it's not because there wasn't a lot of activity, because there was a lot. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:05.840 400 years of silence is basically there was no revelation that was turning into scripture. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.280 So it's it's that time. 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:09.360 Here's what's happening historically. 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:16.319 You have Alexander the Great trying to take over the world, and in 323 BC, he dies. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:18.800 And he dies at 32 years old. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:19.920 He's young. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.519 And because he died so young, he had expected to live long. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:28.399 He had done a lot in a short period of time, but he had no succession plan. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:33.040 And so now his kingdom is divided among three different people. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:38.160 One is his brother Philip, and then two other generals that divided up his kingdom. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:44.800 The nation of Israel, or Judah, was right on the border of two competing empires. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:51.360 And for a hundred years, between 300 BC and 200 BC, there was what was called the Syrian Wars. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.319 And so it would, they were like a ping-pong ball. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:05:05.759 Okay, Jerusalem was going back and forth from this empire to that one, and when it all the dust settled, they ended up in the hands of the Seleucids, the Seleucid Empire, and a guy by the name of Antiochus. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:10.959 Antiochus was the ruler, and the way he ruled the Jews was he basically let them rule themselves. 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:21.519 He would appoint a priest, and then the way it worked is they could rule themselves as long as they paid plenty of taxes and they didn't try to revolt or do anything rebellious. 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:29.519 Well, over a period of time they did do some rebellious stuff, and so Antiochus decides these Jews are a lot of work, they're painful. 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.759 I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna put the smack down so I make them easy to rule. 00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:48.720 And here's what he tried to do: he comes into Jerusalem, he tears down the walls, he makes a decree that it is illegal to practice any Jewish traditions or spiritual rituals. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:50.079 It's illegal. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:52.720 And then he goes into the temple. 00:05:52.959 --> 00:06:00.079 Okay, now mind you, to the Jewish people, the temple is the holiest place in the world. 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:09.199 The temple is so holy that in the holy of holies, only one dude, once a year, can go in. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.920 And only after a thorough cleansing ritual can he go in. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:20.079 They believe that the literal presence of God is in the temple. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:35.839 So Antiochus goes in their holiest of holy places, and he thinks if I can desecrate this holy place and suck the holiness out of the temple, I can break the spirit and the culture of the Jewish people, break their will and make them easy to rule. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:44.639 So he goes in the temple, desecrates it, and puts a statue of the Greek god Zeus right in the middle of the temple. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.680 Well, he thought he was gonna make them easy to rule. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:50.079 Sorely mistaken. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:07:05.040 He leaves there and goes and focuses on the perimeter of his kingdom, trying to expand, and the Jewish people, who it's now illegal to practice their religion, to do their thing, they rise up. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:16.319 And there's a group of men called the Hasmoneans, and they were in the rural areas, and while the Seleucids are trying to make the force them to sacrifice to Greek gods, they say, I think not. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:24.720 If if you do a uh a transliteration from Hebrew to English, it's uh cash me outside, is what it was, cash me outside. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:27.920 They get they become violent people, violent. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:32.480 In fact, they kill other Jews who would sacrifice to Greek gods. 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:33.759 They were very serious. 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:39.120 So they go, it's like guerrilla warfare, like Braveheart, like the 300, okay, that type of thing. 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.600 They're outmanned, outgunned, don't care. 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:45.279 And they go for three years and they fight to reclaim the temple. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:48.879 They take the temple back, they kick Zeus out of the temple. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.079 And this is, by the way, the story of Hanukkah, okay. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:08:03.439 If you're familiar with the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah is when they took back the temple, they reclaimed it, they restored it, they purified it, they get Zeus out of it, and then they light the menorah and it stays lit. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:04.399 That's Hanukkah. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:21.360 Now, the people that did this, the leaders was the Hasmonean family, and and the the national hero that emerges from this guerrilla warfare is this alpha male, and his name is Judas Maccabees. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.680 The Maccabees, Judas Maccabees. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:27.199 His nickname is Judas the Hammer. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:30.160 Come on, what a nickname. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.360 There's not a dude in this room that wouldn't want to be Judas the Hammer. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:33.840 Okay. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.000 Judas the Hammer. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:50.000 These guys became such national heroes that by the time Jesus is born, about 150 years later, when he's born, six of the most popular Jewish boy names were the Hasmonean boys. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.080 You've heard the name Judas, right? 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:53.200 That rings a bell. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:58.559 Two of Jesus' disciples were named Judas, and Jesus' brother was named Judas. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:01.919 In the book of Matthew, it names all four of Jesus' brothers. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:05.279 Three of his four brothers were named after the Hasmonean boys. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:05.679 Why? 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:07.919 Because these guys are national heroes. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:13.360 Not only did they take back the temple, they then fought for 20 years for religious freedom. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.519 So now for the first time, think about this. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:16.960 You're the nation of Israel. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:21.679 You know, in your history, you were captive to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians tried to make you Egyptian. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:24.720 Then you were to the Assyrians, and the Assyrians tried to make you Assyrian. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.600 And the Babylonians, and they tried to make you Babylonian. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:32.000 And then now you had Alexander the Great, and the Greeks tried to Hellenize you. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.399 And now you're free. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:43.840 And for 80 years the Hasmoneans or the Jews ruled themselves until they had a civil war, and then the Romans came in and took over. 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:46.639 And that's what Jesus was born into. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:53.840 So when you think about expectations, you're like, Pastor, hey, thanks for the history lesson. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:55.279 Who cares? 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:59.840 What matters is what I'm helping you understand is the expectation. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:17.039 Judas Maccabees, as fierce of a warrior as he was, and as amazing it is to clear out the temple and restore its greatness, you have to understand that what Judas Maccabeas did was created a profile of a Messiah, of a deliverer, of a savior. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:27.200 So when the nation who's now back in captivity to now the Romans are thinking about being free once and for all, who is going to free us? 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.039 It's gonna be the hammer 2.0. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.519 We're looking for somebody that looks an awful lot like Judas Maccabeas. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:38.159 We're just looking for a bigger hammer. 00:10:38.960 --> 00:10:45.360 And then you have Jesus showing up looking very, very, very different. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:47.519 On a very different mission. 00:10:47.600 --> 00:10:52.399 And because of the expectations of the nation, they expected something. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.039 Jesus was something totally different. 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:59.440 They could not see Jesus for who he was. 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:07.039 Their expectations became their biggest impediment to actually seeing what God was up to. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:10.000 And honestly, I don't blame them. 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:17.679 When I really imagined putting myself there, because it wasn't just, you know, that Judas the Hammer was an alpha male. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:18.879 It wasn't just that. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.799 It was his values, right? 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:21.679 They came out of that. 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.480 They said, you know, we're tired of people trying to make us what we're not. 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:27.200 We're not Greek, we're not Roman, we're Jewish. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.320 So what did they do? 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:30.080 They really highly valued. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:31.679 They went back to the radical. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:33.840 They said, we're tired of compromising. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:35.519 Okay, we're gonna be uncompromising. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:36.720 We're coming back to our values. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:37.759 What did they value? 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:38.559 The law. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:39.600 What did they value? 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:40.480 The temple. 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:41.519 What did they value? 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:42.240 The Sabbath. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:43.519 What did they value? 00:11:43.679 --> 00:11:44.480 The nation. 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:50.240 So what they expect is the chosen one of God would come in and would hold those values high. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:53.759 This makes your New Testament make a lot more sense. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.159 Because there's a lot of things that you see in there, you're like, I don't get why that's such a big deal. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.200 Like when Jesus is healing on the Sabbath. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:03.039 And then people get upset about it. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:04.559 You're like, what do they care about that? 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:08.320 Because the Sabbath was part of we're not compromising. 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:12.000 And so Jesus is healing on the Sabbath and he's working on the Sabbath. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.480 Or the temple was such a big deal. 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:22.240 And Jesus, you can see how it would rub people the wrong way when he goes, tear down the temple, I'll rebuild it in three days. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:32.639 You can see why it was a big deal when you know part of the compromise of that 400 years was people cozying up to the Greeks and cozying up to the Romans. 00:12:32.799 --> 00:12:38.480 That Jesus now has followers that are tax collectors, that are in cahoots with the Romans. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.159 That can't be of God. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:44.879 That Jesus is healing a Roman centurion's child. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:45.440 Okay. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:50.639 When they say, Jesus, you think we ought to, should we pay taxes to Caesar? 00:12:50.799 --> 00:12:52.000 He goes, sure. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.240 Render unto Caesar what's Caesar's. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:55.679 We read that, it's no big deal. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.679 To them, they're going, well, that's not very Judas the Hammer of you. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:01.600 That's not very revolutionary of you. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:04.720 It sounds like you should have more beef with Rome. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:14.960 We expect that God would send a chosen one that would be anti-Roman and pro-Jew, and yet they didn't see ultimately what God was up to. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:22.799 And you can imagine now when you get in the book of Acts and Jesus is sending his disciples out, and they say, right? 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:25.279 He says, Hey, I'm going to send you now, you're going to go out. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:27.360 He gives them their big mission, the Great Commission. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:29.200 Go into all the world, preach the gospel. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.240 He's like, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.399 I'm sending you into the ends of the earth. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:37.120 And they're like, Oh, yeah, yeah, that's cool, that's cool. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:41.360 Um, but now are we gonna go in and put the hammer down into Jerusalem? 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:42.399 They don't get it. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.240 Jesus did not meet their expectations. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:54.559 As I understood this, it forced me to ask a question I would encourage you to ask yourself. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:57.679 And it's really to examine your expectations. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:02.000 Are you really seeking God? 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.679 The will of God, the plan of God? 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:11.039 Are you really fully interested in being in lockstep with what God is doing? 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:18.879 Or am I just focused on my expectations of what I want Him to do or what I think he would likely be up to? 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:34.320 Because what I want to tell you is oftentimes it's our expectations, it's your expectations of what you want God to do that will actually keep you from seeing what he's actually up to. 00:14:34.879 --> 00:14:36.960 And that's what we see from the nation. 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:41.919 The nation, now get this, this is really important because we're about to compare and contrast. 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:51.759 The nation had an expectation of a Messiah, and when Jesus did not meet that expectation, they rejected him. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.080 They rejected him. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:00.159 And all throughout your life, you're gonna have unmet expectations, even around God. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:14.080 And if you want to, you can do as the nation did, and you can choose to reject what is the reality, or to even be open to what God might be doing that's different than what you expected him to do. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:18.879 We see this not just from the nation, this is from Jesus' own disciples, as I just mentioned. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:32.720 But actually, I want to take a few moments and I want to compare and contrast the reaction to unmet expectations that the nation had versus the way that Jesus' mother Mary dealt with her unmet expectations. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.120 Okay, let's talk about Mary for a minute. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:41.759 Okay, she's probably the second most popular character in the in the Christmas story. 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:47.279 Um, Pastor Shane talked this last week about Mary and Joseph and uh that whole thing. 00:15:47.360 --> 00:15:49.519 And you know, but I want you to think about Mary. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.840 You know, there's that famous song, Mary Did You Know. 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:56.399 You know that song it's like Mary Did You Know? 00:15:56.559 --> 00:16:04.159 Um the whole song about Mary Did You Know is really about Jesus over-delivering Mary's expectations. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.879 It's about over-delivering expectations. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:10.080 Mary, did you know how great your son was gonna be? 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:15.759 Mary, did you know how much better being the mother of the Messiah was gonna be than you ever thought? 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:18.960 Mary, did you know that your baby boy is gonna walk on water? 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:22.720 Mary, did you know that your baby boy is gonna open up blind eyes? 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:27.759 Mary, did you know that your when you kissed your little baby boy, you're kissing the face of God? 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:30.720 Mary, did you know that the one you delivered is gonna deliver you? 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:34.559 Did you know how great this was gonna be, that he's gonna be the great I am? 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:37.840 It was all about Mary's over-delivered expectations. 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.399 And and I I want to be I wanna be clear. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:42.879 I think it's a great song, and I think it's true. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:54.240 And you have to think that Mary, at certain points in her journey, had to feel so divine, had to feel like unmistakably like I'm in lockstep with God. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:59.600 I mean, the whole thing begins with an angel appearing to her. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:07.359 Okay, so when your whole beginning of your mission starts with a conversation with an angel, you're like, yeah, this isn't normal. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:09.759 So, in a sense, she knew this was different. 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:14.319 Then the angel says to her, Hey, you and I both know you're a virgin. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:18.960 The Holy Spirit's gonna overshadow you, you're gonna conceive, you're gonna become pregnant. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:24.799 Okay, she knows she's a virgin, she knows she now has a baby kicking, she's there the whole time. 00:17:24.960 --> 00:17:29.200 So she knows this is not normal, this is supernatural. 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:37.119 And so that part of the journey, no question, had to feel like an intersection with the divine. 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:48.880 But there's a lot, if you just kind of look just a little bit beneath the surface of Mary's story, where you see areas where her expectations were probably underdelivered and not met. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:56.160 Like, for example, we know Mary didn't just have one child, Jesus, she ends up with at least seven children. 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:01.039 So, like in the book of Matthew, it mentions Jesus, and then he has four brothers. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:05.519 So four brothers named plus Jesus, and then it said he had sisters, so that's at least two. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:08.000 So we're at at least seven, maybe more. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:13.279 What we know is after the Luke chapter two, Joseph is not mentioned. 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:19.440 And Joseph is dead by the time Jesus is crucified, probably dead before Jesus starts his ministry at 30. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:24.160 So somewhere between when Jesus was 12 and 30, Joseph dies. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:25.039 Right? 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:31.680 When Jesus is dying on the cross and he says, John, take care of my mom, he wouldn't have said that if Joseph was standing next to her at the cross. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.119 Joseph's dead. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:34.799 Okay. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:45.359 So if I'm Mary, I'm confused by the will of God and the plan of God because I'm praying something like this. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:46.400 Okay, God. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:19:07.759 You send an angel to tell me I'm gonna have a baby, you cause me to have this immaculate conception, then you send an angel to tell Joseph not to leave me, but you didn't send an angel to keep Joseph alive so we could go the distance. 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:27.119 I expected, if you're gonna come give me as a teenage girl, the Immaculate Conception assignment, which I took on, and you're gonna be so proactive with your angels and your messaging that you would make sure that I wasn't alone with seven kids. 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:29.680 At some point, Mary's gotta be wrestling with this stuff. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:30.640 That's not the only thing. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:31.359 There's more stuff. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.799 You just, it's right there. 00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:38.240 Like in Luke chapter 2, when you know Mary has to flee. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:44.160 Mary and Joseph have to flee to Egypt because Herod is jealous because he hears there's a new king of the Jews, right? 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:44.960 You remember this? 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:49.200 They go into hiding, and Herod issues a decree. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:55.440 All male Jewish boys in and around Bethlehem are to be slaughtered. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:00.240 And so he slaughters a bunch of little boys while they're away. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:06.400 And then they come back eventually, after years, they come back, and they're coming back to a community that's been devastated. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:11.440 She's coming back to look in the eyeballs of other mothers who, because of her son. 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:12.480 Mary, did you know that? 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.799 Mary, did you know that because of your son, other ladies were gonna lose theirs? 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:24.240 And so now, you know, when when he's at the temple at 12, he has no peers because they were all murdered as babies and little boys. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:26.240 And so you got to deal with that. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:36.480 And of course, not only deal with the shame and the guilt and the confusion of the you know, the other women in the community, but even with God, like, God, I don't understand your will. 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:37.200 I don't get this. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:41.119 Why would you go out of your way to do this, but you didn't do anything about that? 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:51.920 And what Mary wrestles with is what every sincere believer wrestles with, which is the relationship with the perfect will of God and the permissive will of God. 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:53.440 Okay, what are you talking about? 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:00.319 Well, okay, Romans 12, 2 says, hey, don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:05.519 If you'll do that, it says then you'll know God's will for your life, which is his good, pleasing, and perfect will. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:07.279 So it talks about the perfect will of God. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:08.559 What is the perfect will of God? 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:13.920 Well, there are some things that God does without anybody, he doesn't ask anybody's permission. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.079 God imposes his will. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:24.000 For example, when he went to Mary and sends an angel to tell her, it's God's will, you're gonna conceive a child, you have this assignment. 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:33.920 There was no consultation, there was no collaboration, there was not like, hey Mary, if you here's your mission, if you choose to accept it, let me know in the next seven days. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.640 There's none of that, it's just this is what's gonna happen. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:41.920 So there are some things within the will of God that God will do proactively. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:45.839 That God will open certain doors that he chooses to open. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:50.400 God will slam and close certain doors that he chooses to close. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:53.519 And he alone knows why and when and how and where. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.759 He allows to happen. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:10.960 So he told Mary, this is going to be your assignment, and he proactively sent angels to communicate, but then he permitted for Joseph to die. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:13.359 What? 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:24.720 Every sincere believer, I don't care how much you love God, I don't care how much faith you have, how many verses you know, every single person wrestles with that, and no one's got the code cracked. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.759 No one's understands exactly why God does. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.480 A lot of that it makes sense in the mind of God. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:39.519 It doesn't to us because I don't understand why you would send an angel to do that, but you would let children be slaughtered, or that you would let Joseph die and leave Mary with seven kids. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:43.519 But somewhere within that, Mary learned to come to peace with that. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:56.319 We see her attitude in Luke chapter 1 when she receives her assignment and she says in Luke 1, let everything you've said about me come true. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:04.000 In other words, I don't get this, but not my will, but your will be done. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.759 That's Luke 1. 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:17.599 In Luke 2, we see in the Christmas story, right, which they uh Shane talked about last week, where you've got, you know, Mary is like, she's like lived 10 years and two days or three days, right? 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:33.440 She's she's coming, or a few days, she's coming on these this donkey, and you know, nine months pregnant as a teenage girl, and she gives birth in this dirty environment, and then you got these these uh really excited shepherds come in, you know, and they throw a big party, confetti, you know, they're excited, they go out. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:43.839 And so you have her there, and it says in Luke chapter 2, when all of this is happening, it said Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:45.440 She treasured these moments. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:24:07.920 And what she's learning, even as a young girl, to do is to embrace the plan, the will of God, to find peace with both the perfect and permissive will of God, to find peace with it, as confusing as it might be to come to peace with it, and to continue to move forward and to treasure everything that's happening in its totality and to embrace what's next. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:25.759 Same thing, it says the same thing later in the same chapter in chapter two, I think it's verse 50, 51, when Jesus 12 years later is lost in the in and she finds him in the temple, and she's confused, but it says she treasured all of these things in her heart. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:28.640 And she pondered them and she thought about them. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:37.039 So throughout Mary's life, Mary started to learn, she learned that often you have unmet expectations. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:43.279 I mentioned losing Joseph while she had at least seven children. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:49.440 I mentioned Herod brutally killing a bunch of children, but there's a lot more. 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:50.960 Mary, did you know? 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.759 Mary, did you know that your son was gonna love people who didn't love him back? 00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:09.519 Mary, did you know that when your son was really vulnerable, at the one of the most vulnerable times of his life, he'd be on a high at a high place, and an evil spirit, an evil voice would be trying to get him to jump off that high place? 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:17.359 Mary, did you know that your son was going to love and serve and accept people you were raised to hate? 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:22.000 Mary, did you know that your son wouldn't be a national hero? 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:25.680 He would be a pariah because he didn't look like Judas the Hammer. 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:30.960 Mary, did you know that your son would be convicted on trumped-up charges of things he didn't do? 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:39.680 Mary, did you know that you would ultimately be the only person that saw him at his birth and death, that you would see him die on a cross. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:41.440 Mary, did you know all of that? 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:48.160 I'm a hundred percent sure at certain points the experience and the assignment was over-delivered for Mary. 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:52.720 Wow, can't believe you walked on water, can't believe you opened blind eyes, can't believe all this. 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:59.599 But at other times she had to contend with and deal with unmet expectations. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:07.440 And she learned in a mature way how to handle all of this together. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:14.720 Because often I think what we naturally think is that pleasure and pain cancel each other out. 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:18.400 Good experience, bad experience cancel each other out. 00:26:18.640 --> 00:26:22.640 And the reality is Mary says treasured all of it. 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:27.119 The confusion, the chaos, the overdelivery, the underdelivery. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:29.279 She treasured, she held all of it together. 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:43.519 Because if you really think about it, if you really think about it, it is the juxtaposition of the opposites coming together and holding them in tension that actually it kind of all works together. 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:50.319 Like being full feels a certain way when you felt really hungry. 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:57.279 If you've been experiencing a lot of loss in your life, it feels really good to win. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:27:04.480 If all you do is win and you never lost, you don't value winning like you do if you've gone through a lot of loss. 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:16.079 If you know loneliness, like you've really been alone, lonely, and then all of a sudden you have somebody, a soulmate, a companion. 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:21.200 You value companionship a lot more when you've known loneliness. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:27.279 You value health a lot more when you've experienced prolonged sickness. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:30.400 Now health takes on a whole new thing. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:39.680 So Mary was able to take the totality of her experiences, the over-delivery, the under-delivery, hold them all together, and to embrace what's next. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:46.880 I think the place we see this most profoundly, I mentioned this scripture a couple weeks ago when I was talking about John. 00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:53.920 And John writes the book of John, and it's in the book of John that John is referred to as John the beloved, the beloved disciple. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:55.680 It's the only gospel that calls him that. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:59.039 Matthew didn't call him the beloved disciple, Mark or Luke, none of them did. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:28:07.680 But John calls himself the beloved disciple, and in um chapter 19, he tells of the time when Jesus is dying on the cross. 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:10.079 And I want you, I want us to take a look at this. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:16.000 It says in verse 26, when Jesus saw his mother standing beside the disciple he loved. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:17.279 So picture this. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:23.200 Jesus is on the cross, he's about to die, he's about to die. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:27.920 And he sees, he looks down and he sees his mother standing next to John. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:33.119 And he said to her, Dear woman, mom, here is your son. 00:28:34.160 --> 00:28:39.359 And he said to his disciple, John, here is your mother. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:40.799 Now look at the next sentence. 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:41.920 Don't miss this. 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:50.559 It said, and from then on, this disciple took her into his home. 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:57.839 I want you to picture Mary, who's been given this divine assignment. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:05.680 Mary, did you know that you would have over-delivered expectations and under-delivered expectations, just like you and me. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:12.079 You told me, if you told me your story, you would tell me about, man, I had no idea God was gonna do that. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.240 Oh man, here's where God's over-delivered. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:15.839 I'm so blessed, I'm so fortunate. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.680 You have things that you never thought were gonna happen that happened in an over-delivery. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:27.839 And yet every single one of you, just like me, have areas of underdelivery as well. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:38.240 You can imagine Mary standing at the death of her son in the present, thinking about another tomb she had stood at of her husband Joseph. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:44.160 She loved Joseph before she ever knew who Jesus was. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:46.319 She loved Joseph. 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:50.319 She expected to grow old with Joseph. 00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:54.640 With each one of the children that she had, seven or more children. 00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:57.519 We're gonna raise these kids together. 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:03.519 She treasured the moments in her heart, and it one day comes to a closed door, a finality. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:05.200 Joseph's dead. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:13.759 And now Mary, at the death of Joseph, before she ever gets to the cross of Jesus, had to decide what kind of life she was gonna live. 00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:16.319 I have an unmet expectation. 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:18.960 I thought we were gonna go the distance we didn't. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.599 So Mary has the same option you have. 00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:22.480 Two options. 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:27.680 One, I can go, wow, that really hurt to have that expectation unmet. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:31.279 So now I'm gonna hold everybody at arm's length. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:36.079 Now I'm gonna lower my expectations that I think everybody's gonna leave me. 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:37.599 It's only a matter of time. 00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:41.440 And people that begin to develop this, everything's gonna go wrong. 00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:43.839 I'm gonna lose everybody, I'm gonna lose everything. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:52.079 And because of that, I'm gonna try to defend myself with low expectations or by putting up walls and creating distance. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:55.519 Often it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 00:30:55.680 --> 00:30:58.559 The other shoe does drop when you keep thinking it's going to. 00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:07.279 She had the option to do that or to do what the nation did with Jesus to reject the next season because it doesn't look like my expectations. 00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:11.839 But Mary learned something at the death of Joseph, which is this. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:16.079 Wow, I treasured what we had. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:20.000 And now more than ever, I know how precious the moments are. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:32.000 There were some moments that I rushed through because I didn't realize, even though I knew cognitively they were temporary, I didn't really value them as I should have. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:40.319 But now I'm gonna move forward with Jesus and my other children and the people that are still in my life after I bury Joseph. 00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:41.440 And I'm gonna come here. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:43.680 Now here she is with Jesus. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:45.920 He's at the cross. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:52.880 Mary, who in many ways is now being offered John, and you could see her going, I don't want John. 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:55.680 I want Joseph and Jesus. 00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:01.759 But the reality is life has some over-delivered and some under-delivered, unmet expectations. 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:07.680 And here she is about to lose her son, and Jesus says, Here's John. 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:16.000 And Mary has the option, will I harden my heart or will I embrace John? 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:19.599 And the Bible says she went with John. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:21.839 She embraced what was next. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:23.440 I'll give you this last thing. 00:32:27.200 --> 00:32:34.559 In Luke 1, as a teenage girl, Mary gets this crazy assignment. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:39.119 And essentially she says, Not my will, but your will be done. 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:50.880 Jesus, before he goes to the cross to live his mission, is in the Garden of Gethsemane and he's pleading with his heavenly father. 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:53.680 I really don't want to do this. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:55.519 I really don't want this. 00:32:55.920 --> 00:32:58.240 I don't want to take the sin of the world upon myself. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:32:59.759 I don't want to complete this assignment. 00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:00.720 I don't want to. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:07.119 Father, if there's any way for another plan, please take this cut from me. 00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:08.880 I don't want to do this. 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:14.240 But not my will, but your will be done. 00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:18.160 That was his mom coming out in him. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:42.160