The Expectations and Realities of Christ

Image Credit: Son of Man, by J. Kirk Richards

Few people – if any – have subverted expectations more than Jesus Christ. He was prophesied of, sought after, and hoped for for generations. People have taught about Him and His truth throughout the entire history of mankind, and they will continue to do so throughout eternity.

Yet with all of this teaching and prophesying, there were many who came face-to-face with Jesus during His mortal ministry who didn’t see Him for who He was. He wasn’t what they expected.

Even today, many people expect Christ to be one way or another, and often He is much more than what anyone expects.

What People Expected Christ to Be

A Military Leader

The Jews who lived around the meridian of time had a long history of oppression. From the time they were enslaved in Egypt all the way up to Roman rule, the Jews couldn’t seem to get away from tyrannical empires.

Understandably, they were tired of it. Out of this tiredness was born groups of rebels, like the Zealots, who wanted to bring down Rome militarily. Additionally, the Jews all held on to the hope that their Messiah would come and liberate them from the reign of Rome and all other oppressors.

So when Jesus came and people began to believe in Him as the Messiah, many people expected Him to rally the people to war against Rome.

He never did.

And because Jesus did not pursue a military campaign against Rome, many people doubted whether He was, in fact, the Messiah.

But Jesus came for a different battle – a battle He would win against sin and death.

Adherent to Cultural Laws of the Day

The Jews notoriously had many laws and commandments they followed. The laws that began with the 10 commandments from Sinai expanded to become more detailed, even to the point of limiting how many steps a person could take on the Sabbath before they were no longer keeping the holy day holy.

Laws and commandments are good, and Jesus, during His ministry, did adhere to the commandments. But He did not always adhere to the laws of the time that had been added by men and not by God. Jesus challenged people to put their focus and attention on God’s direct commandments.

He also taught a higher law, a law of turning your cheek and pure thoughts. A law that raised the expectations for people from “don’t kill” to “don’t get angry.”

A lot of people struggle with change, and Jesus never hesitated to rock the boat or call out incorrect perspectives. This challenged people to either choose to follow His new teachings or turn away from Him.

High-Ranking and Grand

Jesus was raised in Nazareth, a small place that was generally looked down on in Jesus’s time. He was raised by poor people and learned the trade of Joseph, becoming a carpenter or craftsman.

Though He was called a king, He did not live in a palace. He did not wear a crown. He didn’t even have a home, often traveling from place to place. When He entered Jerusalem, He didn’t ride a horse; He rode a donkey. There wasn’t really anything that appeared particularly impressive about His station in life.

Christ was a great teacher, but He wasn’t claimed as one of the great theological leaders of the time. He wasn’t a Pharisee or a Sadducee.

Ultimately, Jesus lived a simple life that led Him to be among the people instead of above them. He spent time teaching on mountains and streets, defending sinners, recognizing faith in people who had little (if anything) to do with the Jewish faith, and welcoming any and all who were willing to come to Him.

Who Christ Really Was

A Spiritual Leader and Savior

Jesus didn’t come to be a military leader; He came to save our souls. He came to teach and testify of God the Father. And He came to suffer, die, and be resurrected so we could be saved from spiritual and physical death.

So He didn’t join in with the Zealots or the Pharisees. Doing so would have kept Him from His true purposes.

Instead, He taught about higher and holier ways to live. Loving God and loving neighbors. Letting go of anger, hate, jealousy, and sin. Embracing obedience, kindness, and purity.

Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. He accepted the regret of those who wanted to be better. He freed people possessed with devils, and He healed the sick and infirm. He walked among people and learned about their pain, their sorrow, their weakness, and their hearts.

He took on the sin and pain and sorrow and weakness, carried the weight of it, and made our yokes easy. He bled from every pore. With every step He took toward the Garden of Gethsemane and the cross, He became more and more alone.

Jesus was arrested. He was crucified. And as He was dying, He asked God to forgive those who had done all those things to Him.

Jesus Christ paid the price of our sins. He took on our other experiences and difficulties so He could succor us. And He died so death could be defeated and we could all be freed from its bonds.

There was not glory in this at the time. Jesus didn’t have a crowd of cheerleaders next to Him who knew what He was really doing and what it was costing Him.

It was sacrifice. It was heavy. It took everything He had in Him.

As He described in Doctrine and Covenants 19:16, 18:

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent… Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink…”

It was the worst pain, the heaviest load. And He took it so we wouldn’t have to.

So, no, Jesus didn’t free the Jews from the Romans. He didn’t take on armies.

But He did bring salvation, and He brought it for everyone.

One Who Served the Father Entirely

There are many things that Christ was, but one of the most consistent things Christ did was honor our Father in Heaven. Though Jesus is our Savior, He continuously directs us to God the Father and testifies of Him.

Jesus is our way back to the Father. That is why He became our Savior – so we wouldn’t be lost from our Father for all of eternity.

One example of this I love is when Lazarus is sick. Jesus learns of the sickness and says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 11:4). His first focus is God the Father, and this pattern continues in the story when Jesus finally does arrive in Bethany after Lazarus dies and is taken to his tomb. Before calling Lazarus back to life, “And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 11:41-42).

Jesus directs the attention of everyone around to God the Father, indicating that Jesus is operating through the power of the Father and that the glory of the moment really belongs to the Father because of it. Jesus never looked to claim the power and glory for Himself.

This becomes even more clear when we look at His sufferings in the Garden of Gethsemane. As the suffering for our sins builds on Him, He prays to the Father, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). The suffering Jesus faced was so great that He didn’t want to take it on, but He loved the Father more than He feared the suffering, and that gave Him the strength to do the Father’s will.

No matter the situation, Jesus chose to follow and obey the Father. He never considered Himself too great to do so. He set the perfect example for us.

There are many characteristics of Christ that we could spend time on. But identifying Him as our Savior and remembering His great desire to obey the Father teaches us a lot about who He is. There are also a lot of things we can say that Jesus wasn’t. Looking at who He was can clarify why He chose not to be certain things in His life.

This article comes nowhere near giving a full picture of Christ, but beginning to see Him clearly is always an important step. Even more important, though, is to put our faith in Him. We don’t need to understand Him perfectly to do so. His disciples didn’t perfectly understand Him, but they followed Him. We can do the same.

We can be the ones to trust that, though Christ isn’t always who we expect Him to be, He is our Savior. He loves us and He loves God. He is more than deserving of our trust. And miracles will follow when we give our trust and faith to Him.

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