Unexpected

We live in a world where things pretty much work out exactly in the way we expect them to.  The Sun rises in the east, winter turns into spring and day follows night.  But there are other expectations that feel that way, but really aren't.  We expect that every commercial for prescription medication will include 50% side effect disclaimers.  We expect Black Friday shopping will be overblown and bit ridiculous.  And we expect that the election season will mean the saturation of outrageous attack adds.  But it doesn't have to be, it just is very, very likely.

As people we have roles with certain expectations,  I am a husband, a father, a teacher and oh yeah, a blogger.  And each of those roles come with certain expectations.  I was at  a meeting recently and the subject came up about teachers getting in trouble through social media.  The problem is that there is a certain expected standard of conduct for a teacher whether on or off duty.  It would be the same for a police officer, politician, athlete or pastor.  There are expectations.

One thing that we expect out of everybody is that they will act in their own self interest.  By and large, people act in the way that is best for them.  That is why we are so blown away when people defy this expectation and do something selfless.  

Which brings us to the story of the Roman Centurion in the eighth chapter of Matthew.  (You can Read it Here.)  The centurion had a paralyzed servant.  The centurion went to Jesus Christ and asked for him to be healed.  Jesus was moved by the centurion's faith and healed the servant.

The amazing thing about this story is the degree to which this centurion defied the expectations that were placed on him.  He was a Roman of standing.  He had much to lose in standing even showing compassion towards his servant, let alone seeking Jesus as a means to that end.  

As Christians, we need to be willing to defy the expectations of self interest.  We need to be willing to go beyond what society expects and embrace what God expects, to love our neighbors as our self.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

The expectations of society are different than those of God.  We need to decide which expectations are most important for us to meet.