Four hundred years of silence and then the promised Messiah comes. That single act would surly dispel any feelings of disappointment with God..........Right?......... So what went wrong? Two thousand years later and disappointment has not vanished yet.
Instead of what went wrong Philip decides to ask the question another way. What did Jesus life contribute to the three questions?
Is God silent? "Follow Me!" "This, then is how you should pray." "We are going up to Jerusalem." God's will made clearer than ever before. Anyone could walk up to the Son of God and ask any question and even disagree with Him. Four hundred years of silence and now Jesus, God's Son, the Word was made flesh.
Is God hidden? With Jesus, God became absolutely real. He now had a name, a face, and address. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father." Yet in the midst of being able to hear, see and smell this man named Jesus there was still nagging questions. Where was the smoke, the fire, the burst of light? Jesus did not match what the people thought or imagined that God should look like. Born in Nazareth, the son of Mary and Joseph a common carpenter. The Messiah, playing in the streets with other children? Jesus, ordinary yet wondrous.
Is God unfair? For the Jews, Jesus was to set all the wrongs of the world right. The prophets spoke that the Lord would swallow up death forever and wipe tears from all faces. While Jesus healed some many more went unhealed. He raised Lazarus from the dead but many more died during His time on earth. He did not wipe away all the tears from all faces. If Jesus had the power, why didn't He use it for all mankind?
This question is by far the most troubling for most. I mean just read the new testament and you'll see the reason for this question. One story illustrates dozens more. The disabled of Jerusalem, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed used to come to a certain pool of water. They waited for the water in the pool to ripple and then they would run, limp, crawl just to enter the water while it was stirring. They had a hope of being healed by the water during these times. Jesus starts a conversation with one of the crippled men who had laid there for 38 years. Thirty eight years and this man never made it to the water as others would push ahead of him. Jesus then fairly or unfairly tells the man to get up and walk. And just that quick the man was healed as he picked up his mat and walked. No disappointment from this man.
But the story goes on and says, Jesus slipped away, into the crowd. WAIT! What about all the rest of the disabled people. One was healed and all the rest were not? One word and they could have all been healed, but not to be on that day. WHY? Explain please! Disappointment with God was more prevalent than not on that day. Even John the Baptist had doubts and what appears to me to be disappointment with Jesus. John serves God faithfully, only to end up in Herod's prison. While there, he sends a message to Jesus, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"
So..., more hope, yet more uncertainty is what Jesus brought to the three questions.
For the people of Jesus day His use of the word kingdom caused some confusion. The people thought of kingdom in terms of gold, silver, ivory, grandeur. The people wanted a visible kingdom of power and glory not just a sprinkling of miracles here and there. Jesus on the other hand talked of the "kingdom of heaven." An invisible kingdom. While Jesus expended some energy to solve a few problems of this world he spent most of His energy in the battle against unseen forces. Faith, the forgiveness of sins, the power of the Evil One, these were the concerns that drove Jesus to His Father in prayer each day. The crowds were confused as poverty, illness, oppression, remained in the fore front of the world they lived in. In the end Jesus failed to measure up to the expectations. Has anything changed?
Philip says that in 1988 he knew of many ministries that directed their focus to physical healing and prosperity but few that focused on persistent human problems such as pride, hypocrisy and legalism, the problems that so troubled Jesus. Has anything changed?
Jesus was arrested and put on trial. "My kingdom is not of this world." he declares. A purple robe, covered in blood from the beatings and a crown of thorns on His head overwhelmed the loyalty of the disciples and they ran away in fear of their own danger. If Jesus would not protect Himself, why should He protect them?
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