WHEN EXPECTATION BECOMES WEIGHTY

Thursday: August 20, 2020

Reference: Matthew 22:1-14

Matthew 22:3 He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they refused to come.

When the wedding time was due, the king we read about sent his servants to call the invited guests, but these guests did not show up. On the second calling however, he deemed it necessary to give them a sound reason. This was what he came out with: “I have prepared the banquet, fattened calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready, so come”. The response to this was more extreme than the first, with excuses, beatings, and even killings following.

This may have come a surprise to this King because it was possible that his mind was in a default position: ‘where it was expected that invitations would be honoured even without reason’. He was therefore expecting all invited guests to turn up without fail.

The same is true for our societies: we live in a time where many actions, reactions and outcomes are considered more than just requests, they have become expectations. There is thus little tolerance for weakness, such that regardless of what anyone goes through, the expectation is to dust yourself off and crack on because ‘Life goes on’. You are expected to be something at some age or have achieved some things at certain points in time.

However, some of these expectations become more than just expectations, they become heavy weights that hang around the neck of bearers and impede any advance. So let’s be careful when meeting any and every expectation.

#sly