Christmas 2013 | Week 2 | Christmas is a time of year with great expectations, but those can also lead to great disappointments. John the Baptist had great expectations of Jesus. That he would be the messiah and bring a baptism of both Spirit and Fire to the world as the prophets foretold. Jesus however, had a different timeline. He came with a baptism of Spirit, yes, but the baptism of fire he has reserved for the day of judgement in the future. So John, imprisoned for speaking out against the adulterous Herod, is left to ask Jesus, are you the “coming one”? Behind his theological struggle to know if Jesus is the messiah, is also his personal struggle to reconcile why he is in prison and Herod is still reigning if Jesus is in fact “the One”. Like John, we too can put our own expectations onto Jesus, which ultimately leaves us disappointed when they aren’t met. Instead, he must let Jesus be Jesus and for Him to fulfill His promises in His timing.