“He lived in alert expectation of the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 23:52 MSG)
Expectant. It’s a word that has been following me around for a while now. Almost like a taunt. Life’s been so tough for so long that a word like ‘expectant’ can taste bitter on the tongue. Yet, that was the word this Sunday in pre-service prayer and a pebble in my mental shoe since. I wonder if it’s maybe my 2020 word? It feels a bit brazen in the wake of so much upheaval. Unlikely. Maybe even ignorant.
And then last night, in my evening reading, this verse caught flesh; the tiniest sliver of something my soul wants desperately. We find Joseph of Arimethea, out-voted by his colleagues and deeply disturbed by their diabolical behavior; he’s the one who managed to maintain alert expectation for the Kingdom.
We’ve got to consider context. This isn’t Palm Sunday, when its of people were anticipating great things from a new Messiah. This wasn’t Christmas. Joseph wasn’t a wise man bent over a make-shift cradle, offering frankincense or myrrh. No, this was amidst the darkest hours of the blackest Friday in the history of humankind. The sinless Son of God had been falsely accused, attacked and crucified. It was in this ugly dark that Joseph offered his new tomb to a Messiah who would only need it a few days.
It is in the blackest night that Joseph is labeled “with great expectation.” What if he had misplaced his hope as the sun went dark? The Savior wouldn’t have had a tomb to empty. Think on it a minute. If our Lord had hung on the cross over the long weekend (as was Roman tradition) the resurrection could have been reduced to mere birds of prey picking away the remains of a holy man. If He had been buried in a shallow grave and covered with rocks, grave robbers or fools could have claimed credit. Instead, a tomb was offered and a stone was sealed. Joseph of Arimethea managed to move forward while everyone else was still stumbling around in the dark. Somehow he knew that God’s Kingdom was still coming and he operated out of great expectation instead of crushing despair.
Sometimes speaking expectation in the dark is the bravest word we can whisper. When the world is hiding and we are hurting, we need a Joseph of Arimethea. We need to speak belief in the hours and seasons where nothing makes sense.
“Hope is like the sun. If you only believe it when you see it, you’ll never make it through the night.” Leia Organa
Joseph of Arimethea moved forward in hope when the lights went out. His faith and obedience opened the next door for the gospel to go forth. What dark space can you speak into today?
Lord, we can admit to being scared to speak expectation into 2020. We’ve crashed from high branches before, entering new years with high hopes only to find new lows. Give us the courage to cultivate expectation in the weeks to come. We want to be a Joseph, filled with courage even when the world is quaking. Helps live in alert expiation of the Kingdom despite our own dark hours and days. Blow on any ember of hope in our chest and light the way forward. Amen.