There’s this SNL sketch in which High School Musical’s Troy Bolton (portrayed by Zac Efron himself) returns to East High to deliver the graduating class a sobering message.

In the real world, no one spontaneously breaks into song.

It's highly worth the watch.

The sketch’s message boils down to this: Expectations don’t always line up with reality.

Russia, Locusts, and Bears- Oh My!

Think about relationships for a moment.

The expectations we have about a certain person or relationship will no doubt influence the way we treat them. Generally speaking, the better the expectation, the better the treatment.

Of course, the opposite is true as well.

The Pharisees are a great case study in this but it certainly wasn’t an issue unique to them.

Just Google “When is Jesus going to return?” and you’ll find all kinds of theories that interpret the Bible through a modern lens. Whether that’s the bear of Daniel 7 being Putin’s Russia or the demonic locusts of Revelation 9 being Apache helicopters.

I’m not joking.

Expectation Formation

It’s quite easy to shape our expectations of God and His Word around our day and age.

It’s a validation of sorts. A validation of our own opinions and biases. It certainly was for the Pharisees.

But, in reality, the person of Jesus forces us to reassess our expectations, and, more often than not, He challenges us to let go of our opinions and biases.

In doing so, they’re traded for something far better than we could ever expect.

So, what can we do to prevent our expectations from being shaped by our biases?

An amazing question! And one we’ll devote tomorrow’s newsletter to.

In the meantime, I recommend revisiting one of the High School Musical movies. The second one specifically, it’s the best of the bunch. I will not apologize.

We’ll be back tomorrow! You can “bet on it.” ;)

For now, be blessed.

Jon,

Theophilus Newsletter