6 Apr 2017
(School Mass)
There once was a little child who was nine years old;
actually, she was nine years, eleven months and twenty nine days old. She was about to turn ten years old, and she
could hardly sleep the night before the party.
There was going to be cake and decorations and friends and lots and lots
of presents. She was especially hoping
to get a particular toy she really, really wanted.
So the next day the party happened. There were lots of people there. The cake was all eaten up before they
finished singing Happy Birthday. They
played games and then, finally, she was able to open all her presents. She torn into each one, hoping to see that
special toy she wanted. It wasn’t in the
first package. It wasn’t in the second
package.
At long last, she opened the last package—and the toy wasn’t
in there either. While all her friends
and family were having a wonderful time, she just sat there—without the toy she
was hoping to get.
It’s too bad she was so focused on getting that one toy, not
only because she didn’t get the toy, but because she missed the party. I mean, she was there, but she didn’t even
enjoy herself. She couldn’t even see all
the gifts around her: the ones that came in packages, of course, but also the
food, her friends, and lots of people saying Happy Birthday to her.
She couldn’t enjoy the party because she was expecting one
thing and got something else. And that’s
what happened with “the Jews.” They were
expecting the Messiah to be a certain kind of person, and all they got was
Jesus. And they were very disappointed,
to say the least. They were expecting
one thing and all they got was Jesus—it’s too bad they couldn’t see the gift of
God staring them in the face.
It’s good to have expectations, but God works in surprising
ways. And so, with God, we have to
expect the unexpected. And, I suppose,
that’s a lesson from Scripture today: With God we have to expect the unexpected
. . . so be sure to keep your eyes and your minds and hearts . . . open!
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