"The people were filled with expectation." While these words set the scene for Jesus' baptism, they are not referring to Jesus or to his baptism but of how the crowds were hoping that John the Baptist would be their Messiah & change their very hard lives. But John disappoints them when he says, "Sorry, but I'm not the one. Jesus is!"
We expect and hope for new things from time to time...for a new president, knows, relationship, career or new relationship. Then we feel like our prayer is finally answered but realize that we were wrong and we become discouraged, disappointed. Just like the people who thought John the Baptist was the one.
But those people of faith eventually learned that God still came through for them. And we must do the same. People of faith express this all the time. Like when they pray for a loved one who is ill they can say, "I know God has a plan for them." Or even when things are more dire and someone dies, I hear people of faith say, "I know that God has something better for them." We don't give up. We keep praying, hoping, searching and believing. The people following John the Baptist were expecting a Messiah. But they received much more...God's own beloved Son.
