14 Days to PeaceSample

 Are you ready for some good news? 

Jesus doesn’t heal our disappointments by curbing our desires—He heals us by giving us even greater desires. 

We  have much to learn from Jesus’s encounter with disappointed disciples in Luke 24. Cleopas and an unnamed disciple were walking the road to Emmaus with their heads down. Jesus joined the dejected disciples, but they didn’t recognize Him. 

With raw irony, the disciples declare: “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21, ESV) 

We had hoped…. It’s a refrain on almost everyone’s lips during pandemic. We had hoped to have a big wedding. We had hoped to celebrate graduation. We had hoped the new business would take off. We had hoped…. We had hoped… We had hoped….

Some religions or philosophies advocate lowering desire in an effort to curb disappointment. Buddhism teaches that, since unfulfilled desires causes human suffering, the goal of life is to eliminate desire. The problem, of course, is that we can’t eliminate desire because the desire to eliminate desire is a desire. 

I once saw a clip of Oprah interviewing empathy and shame researcher, Brene Brown, in which Dr. Brown asserted that joy is the scariest emotion. She said that although she studies scary emotions like anger and shame that the most terrifying human experience is joy because, when we feel truly happy, we are terrified that it won’t last.

So, we’re scared to dream big because we’re worried that our expectations will be dashed. 

Interestingly, Jesus had no habit of lowering anyone’s expectations. Instead, He seemed to always fuel the fires of desire. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7, ESV) 

The disappointed disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t need to lower their expectations—they needed to raise their hopes. They had hoped Jesus would be a great prophet would restore political rule to Israel. What they needed was an even greater dream—He was the Lord who would rule the universe on a throne of grace. If you’re facing disappointment, Jesus walks in empathy with you and then He points you to an even greater dream. And that’s the Gospel! 

Questions for Reflection:

1) Do you agree that joy is the scariest emotion? Why or why not?

2) C.S. Lewis wrote: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Write down your reactions. Is that true of you? Why or why not?

3) Is there anything you think is too big for God? Take time to pray and ask God to raise your hopes!