Expectations for God

The messageof the Prophet Haggai is set in the time of the return of the exiles in Babylon to Jerusalem (536 BCE). The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today present the second of three proclamations to the people of Jerusalem who are getting discouraged about the long time it is taking to rebuild the Temple amidst apathy of the wealthier Jews, the opposition of the Samaritans, and political difficulties in Persia. Sometimes, as Friar Jude Winkler, notes our frustration with projects, even religious ones, is rooted in our failure to accept the timing and method of God in our work. Jesus is declared by Peter in the text today from the Gospel of Luke to be the “Messiah of God” (Luke 9.20). The messianic themes of the Prophet Haggai point to the future Temple of God, Jesus. The expectation that the Second Temple would be greater in riches and glory than the Temple of Solomon transfers to the expectation of the Davidic Messiah in power and glory re-establishing the Kings of Glorious Israel. Jesus resets the expectations of the disciples and many believers reminding us that the Son of Man of the Book of Daniel, which was perhaps close to Haggi, is also the Suffering Servant of the Book of Isaiah. The reality of the Messiah as servant who blesses the poor is creates extreme cognitive dissonance in the Jewish mind. Our need is to seek and accept the timing and plan of compassion and Love and to check ourselves when our expectations and image of God try to dominate.