I encounter a lot of disappointed Christians. Whether raised within the church or finding the message of Jesus later in life, it seems like more are expressing a sense of disillusionment. Sometimes this is directed at the church as leadership scandals, political idolatry, and culture warring push aside the faith, hope, and love they expected to find among Christ’s people. In some cases, disappointed Christians are tempted to abandon their faith altogether by dismantling not only its flawed cultural expressions but its theological foundations as well.
Almost daily, I receive an email or post from someone barely clinging to their faith and expressing painful disappointment with their Christian community. Reading these messages can provoke my own disappointment and anger as I see the damage being inflicted—especially to a younger generation hungry for a life with God but failing to find it from those claiming to represent him. This moment in which many of us are feeling so disillusioned, however, is not without hope because, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.”
As I’ve wrestled with my own disappointment, I’ve found myself turning regularly to the Gospel of John, chapters 14-16. These chapters are known as Jesus' Farewell Discourse. They record his conversation with his disciples after the Last Supper and shortly before his arrest. Jesus was aware that his friends were about to experience the greatest disappointment of their lives. Their expectations of a revolution, Jesus’ seizing of political power, and their own fame would be shattered the next day as they watched their Master be humiliated and tortured on the cross.
And yet, in their looming disappointment, Jesus recognized an opportunity for love. He wanted to comfort them by realigning their vision and redirecting their faith. The disciples’ disappointment, like our own, was rooted in false expectations. Shaped by their culture and their own sinfulness, the twelve projected desires upon Jesus that he never promised to fulfill—something we still do today. For that reason, Jesus used his farewell discourse to deconstruct their false expectations and replace them with the truth, and the first truth he presented was about himself.
He said, “Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). Remember, Jesus’ followers were all devout Jews who believed it was their covenant duty to trust God. With his statement, Jesus wasn’t just saying “You can trust me.” He was saying “You can trust me just as you trust God.” It was a declaration of his unity with Israel’s God; it was Jesus announcing his divinity to his disciples. It’s also a stunning statement coming from a man who, moments earlier, had taken the dishonorable role of a servant and washed their feet in another expectation-shattering event.
In these destabilizing days when so many of us are having our expectations shattered and our faith deconstructed, when the Christian culture of our youth is being shaken by scandals and stripped of its idols, we need to hear Jesus' words again—"Do not let your heart be troubled." We have known the disappointment that comes from the false expectations we've put on fallible leaders, ministry structures, and cultural power. But rather than abandoning our faith altogether, now is the time to discover our true hope by putting our faith, maybe for the first time, where it rightfully belongs—in God and also in Jesus Christ.
John 14:1-7 (NIV)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Proverbs 3:1-8 (NIV)
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
From Thomas Wilson (1674 - 1748)
Grant, Lord God, that in the middle of all the discouragements, difficulties and dangers, distress and darkness of this mortal life, I may depend on your mercy, and on this build my hopes, as on a sure foundation. Let your infinite mercy in Christ Jesus deliver me from despair, both now and at the hour of death.
Amen.
