Have you ever stopped to think that we can never disappoint God? To do so would suggest that He is not omniscient. He knows all – past, present, and future (although Hebrews 8:12 informs us He graciously has chosen to forget His children’s sins). Therefore, He may be saddened or angry with us but never disappointed. 

On the other hand, I have spent a good portion of my life being disappointed with people – myself and others. If you haven’t experienced this, you will eventually. And it can be excruciatingly painful. Often we do not live up to our promises and commitments. We selfishly do what is in our own best interests to the detriment of others. It has happened so frequently in the most folk’s experience it is safe to conclude we will continue to relive these types of situations. So, it is easy to become cynical. 

Jesus, in His humanity, was not isolated from the reality of being disappointed in others. He was familiar with the failures of those that were closest to Him. Often He experienced the weakness and frailty of the very folks He had given His life and ministry for. I must believe that these disappointments caused Him grief and pain. Let’s look at but a few instances: 

  • His own people (the nation of Israel) – refused to accept Him as the Messiah and their rejection caused Him great sorrow (Matthew 23:37)
  • His family – they thought He was crazy and for the most part (as far as we can tell) did not accept who He was until after His resurrection (Mark 3:21)
  • His disciples in general – they consistently didn’t understand Him or His message. In the end they fled in fear as He was being sacrificed for their sins (John 16:31-32)
  • His hometown – they rejected Him, drove Him from their town, and wanted to kill Him (Luke 4:14-30)
  • His followers – many heard His divine message and temporarily embraced it but, in the end, chose to ignore His teachings and were nowhere to be found as He was crucified
  • Judas – sold Him for 30 pieces of silver and committed suicide as a result of his betrayal (Matthew 27:3-5)
  • Peter – the most boisterous of His followers, he denied Him 3 times and deserted Jesus when He most needed him (Matthew 26:75) 

So, as followers of Jesus, why would we think that we would be treated any differently? As a matter of fact He predicted that we would be treated poorly just as He was. Listen to His words in Matthew 10:22-26:   

“All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!  So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.” 

So what should we learn from this: 

  • In this life we should expect to be disappointed with people as we are all sinners by nature
  • The pain of dealing with other’s failures toward us is part of living in a fallen world
  • Those closest to us will fail us the most
  • We will fail others as well
  • Jesus understands our experience of being disappointed by others
  • The score is not settled in this life – the truth will eventually come to light
  • Jesus is the one thing that we can truly count on 

Since we can’t avoid being failed by others (and failing ourselves), what should we do?  We must look to Jesus. He is our sympathetic High Priest (Hebrews 4:15).  He is the author and completer of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). He is the one who suffered and died so that all of this might be made right for all of eternity (Hebrews 2:17).  And we must look to His cross. For it is there alone that we find the forgiveness of the sin that causes us to disappoint one another. So when others disappoint (and they will) we have no other redemptive solution than to cling to Jesus and His cross and know that He understands and has the ultimate remedy. That is because He alone said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And His cross proves it.

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