What are your expectations of God?

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In our Gospel today (Luke 24:13-35), two of Jesus’ disciples are talking about the crucifixion of the Lord in Jerusalem when Jesus starts walking with them. In what can rightly be called a moment of dramatic irony, we readers know they are speaking to the Risen Christ, but the two disciples are clueless.

If what preceded this scene were not so tragic, we would find the exchange bordering on comic. The disciples ask Jesus himself, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” We can imagine Jesus giving a playful wink to the audience before replying, “What sort of things?”

Why weren’t the two disciples able to recognize that while they spoke about Jesus in the past tense, Christ was there with them in the present?

One possible answer: They were blinded by their grief. Since I often think in song, in my head, this would be the background music of that scene as the disciples retold the story of what had transpired during the first Good Friday:

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,
When hope was high and life worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die...

But the tigers [came that] night [when they arrested Jesus],
With their voices soft as thunder,
As they [tore our] hope apart,
And they [turned our] dream to shame.

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living,
So different now from what it seemed...
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...

“I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables suggests another possible reason why the disciples were not able to recognize Jesus: They had different expectations, different expectations of what Jesus’ mission was supposed to achieve, different expectations of how the story would unfold, and different expectations of what death meant.

Psychology might file this under the perceptual expectation effect. Our brains suppress information that does not fit predicted or expected events. Two thousand years later, I think we still fall into the same trap. We get attached to our dreams of how God should act in our lives, and we detach ourselves from him when these dreams are not fulfilled.

Jesus, however, does not detach himself from us. As he did with the disciples who wanted to leave Jerusalem behind, he continues to walk with us and teach us. In my head, the next song on the journey to Emmaus playlist is the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”:

You can't always get what you want
No, but if you try sometimes, you just might find
You get what you need

“Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to [the disciples] what referred to him in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27). He challenged them to see: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (v. 26). Isn’t what happened better than what you could ever have imagined? This may not be what you wanted, but, if you try, you just might find it is what you need: Easter Sunday.

I am not sure if the disciples truly understood what Jesus was explaining to them, but they must have wanted to listen to him more. As they approached Emmaus, Jesus pretended to be going on farther, but they urged him, “Stay with us.” The Risen Lord joined them for a supper that would have felt like the Mass. As Christ gave them the bread he had blessed and broken, their eyes were finally opened and they recognized Jesus. But then Jesus disappeared. Why didn’t Jesus stay with them, eat with them, and teach them some more?

Maybe Jesus felt that staying with them physically would actually be a step back. Perhaps Jesus wanted to keep on pushing them forward, to keep on looking for him beyond what their eyes could see and beyond their expectations.

Taking off from the perceptual expectation effect, maybe Jesus wanted to trigger the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. This is the experience that what you have recently become aware of, you begin to notice more and more—just like how a word you just learned now seems to be popping up everywhere or how a song that caught your attention now seems to be playing so often. Psychologists say that this is a kind of frequency illusion, but people of faith can believe that it is growth: The more deeply you understand something, the more sensitive you become to it. When we have seen how God many times defies expectations, we start looking and finding him in unexpected places.

The disciples, after finally recognizing Jesus, started to see how he was already making his presence felt long before they knew, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way...?” The final song in this Emmaus playlist is from another musical, “Unexpected Song” from Song and Dance:

I have never felt like this
For once, I'm lost for words
Your smile has really thrown me…
Now, no matter where I am
No matter what I do
I see your face appearing
Like an unexpected song
An unexpected song
That only [faithful people] are hearing

A now-retired missionary priest just pointed me to a detail I had never seen before: The disciples then returned to Jerusalem (where the people who killed Jesus were still prowling) and they did this in the middle of the night (when more dangers were lurking). They were so excited to share what they had seen that fear was forgotten. Perhaps, it was because even in darkness, they knew they could count on encountering Jesus—beyond what others may expect, as they would need.

Your prayer assignment this week:

Go through the Emmaus playlist I have suggested above. As you listen to the first song “I Dreamed a Dream,” recall your Good Fridays, the times when expectations were dashed, hopes were defeated, and dreams died. Grieve and mourn as the two disciples did on the road to Emmaus. Then pray with the second song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Try and find that while you might not have gotten what you expected, you got what you needed. End with “An Unexpected Song,” and ask for the grace to see that no matter where you are and no matter what you do, you will see God’s face appearing. Then it will truly be Easter for you.

Fr. Francis teaches Theology, Education and Scripture at both the Ateneo de Manila University and Loyola School of Theology. As a classroom teacher, he is first and foremost a student. As a professor, he sees himself primarily as a pastor.