Finding God's Appointments in our Disappointments - Part 1

Imagine how disappointed Jesus must have been when He died. His own inner circle of friends had abandoned Him. One of the disciples betrayed Him in a cold, calculated fashion which delighted His enemies. Another, a leading member of His small group of disciples, disowned Him three times when challenged.

And when Jesus was arrested, all the disciples fled to save their own skin (Matthew 26:56). Not a single one remained with Him to go through the trial He went through. How disappointing this must have been to Jesus who spent more than three years pouring His life into these men.

The Saviour of the world must have had many lonely, disappointing moments. He came as the Messiah to God’s chosen nation which had been carefully nurtured over the centuries despite their regular acts of disobedience and apostasy.

But they did not recognise Him. God had given them all they needed to recognise Him – they had the Law that reflected the character and ways of God, their temple with its spiritually rich patterns of worship, the Scriptures that brought God’s voice from heaven into their midst. Yet they failed to recognise Jesus. How disappointing!

Again and again, Jesus tried to show who He really was to those around Him. Few really understood and believed. The majority were looking for some entertainment, wanting to see if Jesus would perform more spectacular miracles. The religious leaders, with all their training, not only failed miserably to recognise God’s presence, but deliberately rejected Jesus and plotted to dispose of Him.

Even in His own family and hometown, Jesus met scepticism and ridicule. The members of His family believed that He was mad and questioned His strange ways (Mark 3:21). Everywhere Jesus went He saw mainly unbelief, superficiality, spiritual blindness and foolishness.

Even His close friends were disappointing. When He visited Bethany in search of spiritual friendship, He was looking ahead to the violent climax of His life on earth. But Martha was too busy preparing an impressive banquet for Jesus, not realising that what Jesus needed was the listening ears of loving friends.

At the Last Supper, when Jesus revealed with the pain of betrayed friendship that one of His close disciples would sell Him to His enemies, the disciples “began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this” (Luke 22:23). But how quickly their discussion degenerated into an argument about who among them was the greatest!

Jesus must have looked at them with great sadness, deeply disappointed with their worldliness and failure to understand.

When Jesus wrestled in agony in anticipation of the impending crucifixion and what it meant for Him and His eternal relationship with His Father, His three closest disciples slept in total disregard of what He was going through (Matthew 26:36-46). It was one of the loneliest moments in the life of Jesus – and one of the most disappointing.

When Jesus carried his cross to Calvary, it must have been with a heavy heart. What was difficult to carry was the disappointment He felt – with His own family and close friends, the holy city of Jerusalem which had rejected Him; with the religious leaders who had engineered His execution, and with a world that was blind to its Saviour.

Discussion Questions:

Reflect on and discuss the many disappointments that Jesus faced – from His family, disciples, people and enemies. What can we learn from the way He handled His disappointments? In what way have you contributed to His disappointments? How can we please Him and bring delight to His heart?