Expect the unexpected. Why? Because our
God is the God of the unexpected!
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women bring spices to anoint the body of Jesus expected to find a large stone over the entranceway of the sepulcher. When they arrived, they found the unexpected for an angel rolled the stone away. They expected to find the decaying body laying in the sepulcher. Jesus body was not in the sepulcher for He was risen from the dead that was unexpected. In her grief, there was Mary Magdalene weeping, looking for the body of Jesus, in the tomb. I can imagine her thought process “I know his body should be here. We watched them put in this tomb. Why isn’t it here? I need to find his body. Where did they [enemies of Jesus] put it? Then her ears are filled with the unexpected, the sweetest sound in all the earth, “Mary.” She blinks away her tears and could hardly believe her eyes and calls out “Rabbonai” [Master]. What happened that morning at the sepulcher was expected for God had promised to raise jesus from the dead on the third day.
Later that night the disciples gathered in an upper room behind a locked door. They were trying to make sense of the events that day – there was the report of the woman followed by Peter and John’s report even as they were filled with fear for their own safety. Then the unexpected –there was Jesus; literally he came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, everything was all right. Peace overcame their fears and the visage of Jesus’ body brought gladness. While this was happening in Jerusalem, two disciples were walking home, home to Emmaus. Their hearts are heavy, despair has set in for their hopes had been dashed and all of a sudden nothing made any sense. As they walk along the road to Emmaus they are joined by a stranger walks along with them and they share their grief, despair with him. The stranger tries to comfort them by explaining the events of the day in light of their scripture. As they reach there home, they invite the stranger stay with them for the night. The meal has been prepared and the stranger blesses the food and then the unexpected – this isn’t any ordinary stranger, this is Jesus. Their hopes haven’t been dashed, their despair is gone and now everything made sense.
When life is filled with difficult tasks, dreadful activities, dashed hopes, unfulfilled dreams; it is time to look for God to do the unexpected. And yet it is not altogether unexpected. The resurrection was an expected event. It was a foretold event. After the disciples realized that Jesus had been raise from the dead, they remember what they had been foretold. Luke records the angel’s message: “He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words.” [Luke 24:6]
The fact that God is means we can expect Him to meet us in our hour of need. But when God is at work, expect the unexpected! When unexpected events or the unanticipated happens, we can expect God to do that which we least expect. That’s the way God acts. He meets the unexpected events of life doing the unexpected expected. On that morning, the most unexpected thing happened. The angel said, “He is not here, for he is risen!” Unexpected words of an unexpected event for those disciples and yet for God, it was just a normal day doing what he always does - keeping His word, meeting His children in their hour of need.
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women bring spices to anoint the body of Jesus expected to find a large stone over the entranceway of the sepulcher. When they arrived, they found the unexpected for an angel rolled the stone away. They expected to find the decaying body laying in the sepulcher. Jesus body was not in the sepulcher for He was risen from the dead that was unexpected. In her grief, there was Mary Magdalene weeping, looking for the body of Jesus, in the tomb. I can imagine her thought process “I know his body should be here. We watched them put in this tomb. Why isn’t it here? I need to find his body. Where did they [enemies of Jesus] put it? Then her ears are filled with the unexpected, the sweetest sound in all the earth, “Mary.” She blinks away her tears and could hardly believe her eyes and calls out “Rabbonai” [Master]. What happened that morning at the sepulcher was expected for God had promised to raise jesus from the dead on the third day.
Later that night the disciples gathered in an upper room behind a locked door. They were trying to make sense of the events that day – there was the report of the woman followed by Peter and John’s report even as they were filled with fear for their own safety. Then the unexpected –there was Jesus; literally he came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, everything was all right. Peace overcame their fears and the visage of Jesus’ body brought gladness. While this was happening in Jerusalem, two disciples were walking home, home to Emmaus. Their hearts are heavy, despair has set in for their hopes had been dashed and all of a sudden nothing made any sense. As they walk along the road to Emmaus they are joined by a stranger walks along with them and they share their grief, despair with him. The stranger tries to comfort them by explaining the events of the day in light of their scripture. As they reach there home, they invite the stranger stay with them for the night. The meal has been prepared and the stranger blesses the food and then the unexpected – this isn’t any ordinary stranger, this is Jesus. Their hopes haven’t been dashed, their despair is gone and now everything made sense.
When life is filled with difficult tasks, dreadful activities, dashed hopes, unfulfilled dreams; it is time to look for God to do the unexpected. And yet it is not altogether unexpected. The resurrection was an expected event. It was a foretold event. After the disciples realized that Jesus had been raise from the dead, they remember what they had been foretold. Luke records the angel’s message: “He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words.” [Luke 24:6]
The fact that God is means we can expect Him to meet us in our hour of need. But when God is at work, expect the unexpected! When unexpected events or the unanticipated happens, we can expect God to do that which we least expect. That’s the way God acts. He meets the unexpected events of life doing the unexpected expected. On that morning, the most unexpected thing happened. The angel said, “He is not here, for he is risen!” Unexpected words of an unexpected event for those disciples and yet for God, it was just a normal day doing what he always does - keeping His word, meeting His children in their hour of need.