There's a gathering of friends and acquaintances. Jesus is still at it, trying to help the folks understand what God is up to.
Then the crowd arrives. Increasing numbers of Jews are beginning to believe that Jesus is more than a rabbi, or a prophet. The pool of believers is growing is because they see Lazarus walking and talking and eating, just as he did before his terminal and mortal illness. Now they have concrete evidence that Jesus defeats dead ends in life, and they are given a surge of hope. Surely if Jesus can raise the dead, he can work miracles in their suffering as well. They have some specific expectations of how Jesus will unleash His power.
But they are thinking in terms of relief from their own difficulties, while He is thinking of the transformation and salvation of the whole world. If only they could see what the magnitude of what His love could accomplish!
Truth be told, we all may have some specific expectations about where we most need to see God's action. We may be yearning for relief and resolution in some aspect of our life. We may be hoping for a reversal of some impending challenge. But if we are fixated upon what we think God should do for us, we may actually be blind to what God knows needs to be done.
Perhaps before we can see what God is going to do we need to set our our eyes upon Who God Is! Let God, our focal point, be God!
The Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it,who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it...
I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.
Isaiah 42:5, 8-9
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