A god of expectations

Daniel chapters 8 and 11 predict the rise of the king of the North. This man was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, ruler of Syria. Secular history remembers only dates and wars and another big man in the Middle East. The Jews remember Epimanes: The Madman.

This king marched down through Israel to fight against Egypt. The Romans were not thrilled with this plan. Roman ambassador Gaius Laenas drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus and in a very egalitarian display gave him an option: turn around and go home, or be cut down where he stood. Antiochus chose to go home in humiliation. He took out his rage on Israel. He murdered 100,000 Jews in and around Jerusalem. In an act of utter abomination he slaughtered a pig on the altar in the temple. Finally, he erected a statue of Zeus in the Temple courts. He laid waste to Israel.

Out of the carnage, a hero arose for Israel: Judas Maccabees. Using guerrilla warfare tactics, he led an army of dissenters against the Syrians. His efforts and the subsequent death of the Madman allowed religious freedom to return to Israel.

While the history lesson is fun, here's the point: Maccabees was a physical savior. He threw off the oppression of Syria. He avenged the people. He returned the system of worship and law to the Jews. He was loved for being a physical savior.

He was not the Messiah.

But the Jews wanted him to be.

Or at least, that's the Messiah they had in mind. They wanted a warrior to rise up, rally the guerrillas, and throw off Roman rule. They wanted the king to return, so they might rule the nations.

Jesus did not look like Judas. He preached radical and gritty sermons on forgiving our enemies, praying for our oppressors, and rendering to men their due. Jesus did not throw the Romans out of Israel; He threw Israelites out of the temple. He cared more about souls than rights. Jesus did not look like the Savior they were expecting.

So they crucified Him.

What do we expect our God to be? Do we demand salvation in the temporal and forget that he cares more for our spirit than our rights? Do we expect our God to fit in the box we have made for him, to purr tamely, to succumb to our will and vision? Why do we rage when our prayers are not answered? Why do we mourn when our perspective is challenged? Is it any less than the belief that Jesus Christ should be everything expected?

"You musn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion." The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Luke 19:41-42 "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes."

What saviors will we embrace when the One who died for us fails to meet expectations? You cannot tame your God. And I cannot imagine a single reason we ought to try. He is better wild, powerful, loving, holy, merciful, saving, forgiving, saving, righteous, saving, saving, saving.