For whom are you waiting?

by Dr. Corinne Wong

Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot is about two men, Vladimir and Estragon, who sit next to a tree waiting for a stranger named Godot.  They have no recollection of ever having met Godot and are unsure he will ever appear.  A boy arrives, saying Godot sent him to say that he will not come today but will arrive tomorrow.  Time passes,  and there are two other men who come and go, each time looking older and frailer, but Godot does not come. Another boy appears saying Godot will arrive tomorrow.  Godot never arrives.  Exasperated, Vladimir and Estragon contemplate suicide, but they have no rope, and they remain seated by the tree, depressed and despondent when the curtain falls.

In 2021, two scholars met at the Jewish Museum in Berlin to discuss the question “Is anyone still waiting for the Messiah?”  An independent American rabbi said, “Very few of us ever expected the Messiah. We spent most of our history hoping for one. And one day, indeed, the dove will return with those hopes grasped firmly in its beak.”  Rabbi Gershon Winkler of Thousand Oaks, CA, believes that one day a  buzzard will sing a song signifying that the Messiah has come, then “all our grief will be transformed into dance (Psalms 30:12), our weeping into song (Psalms 126:5), and every sigh you ever breathed will be breathed back into you as renewed life and joy.”

 King David and other poets through the centuries have expressed their longing for God, as in the following examples:

  My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.  (Psalm 84:2, NKJV)

I wish I knew where to find God so I could go to where he lives (Job 23:3, Expanded Bible)

          I waited patiently for the Lord;
                     he inclined to me and heard my cry.
          He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
                     out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock,
                               making my steps secure.  (Psalm 40:1-2)

 The people of Israel in the time of the prophet Isaiah neither waited nor longed for the Lord, as David did.  God had reared and cared for Israel like a father, but they had rebelled against him and did not acknowledge his love for them.  His disappointment was expressed in the words of Isaiah: 

           Even an ox knows its owner,
                     and a donkey recognizes its master's care --
          but Israel doesn't know its master.
                     My people doesn't recognize my care for them.  (Isaiah 1:3, NLT)

 There were people in the time of Jesus who were looking for the coming of the Messiah, but for the most part, the Israelites did not know or care about the God who had been  their faithful shepherd. 

           [The true light] came into the very world he created, 
                    but the world didn't recognize him.  (John 1:10, NLT)

 Like Vladimir and Estragon, many people today are looking for someone to lead them out of chaos, confusion, and uncertainty, into order, safety, security and assurance that our world has a future.  To whom are you turning?  For whom are you waiting?         

 Like Vladimir and Estragon, are you waiting for Godot, someone you have never met and who may never arrive?  Or are you like David, with heart and soul crying out to the living God, one whom he knew and trusted, who had proved trustworthy?  Jesus is not only a messenger sent by God to tell you that God is coming, but he is himself Emmanuel, God with us, who will be with us always.

 Charles Wesley's hymn “Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus” expresses the longing and expectation of the Jewish people for a Savior in times of hardship and oppression:

Come, thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit
rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit,
raise us to thy glorious throne.

 When John the Baptizer appeared offering a baptism of repentance and announcing the coming of the Messiah, people came from all over Israel asking whether he was the long awaited Redeemer.  When Martha's brother Lazarus died, and Jesus arrived to raise him from the dead, Martha confessed her faith in Jesus as “ the Messiah, ... the one who was expected to come into the world” (John 11:27, God's Word Translation). 

 God sent his Son to lead his people out of darkness into marvellous  light, out of bondage and oppression into freedom and abundant life, but when Jesus appeared the people did not recognize him.  Jesus came to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to  [God's] people Israel” (Luke 2:32, ESV).  Jesus came to be light and glory for you and me. But although the divine Son had created us and the world, many today do not know him (John 1:10)

 The Father gave us his Son to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, giving us eternal life.  Eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing God's Son, his representative, whom he loves, through whom we receive the Father's love.   Eternal life is a close and intimate relationship with God through his Son, participation in his life, his love, his power, and his glory, as God dwells in us, and we in him. 

 As he has given glory to the Son, he has given us the same glory, the same indwelling Presence, a relationship of love (John 17:22).   We, like Jesus, are temples in which God lives and dwells (John 2:22; 1 Corinthians 3:16).  Through the words of Jesus and his disciples, we have seen and received the glory of God (John 1:14; 17:6, 8, 9, 10, 22-23; 20:31).  The Holy Spirit dwells in us, making us one with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17, 20, 23).  We have the power to be sons and daughters of God (John 1:12), heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus, partakers of God's divine nature (Romans 8:17; 2 Peter 1:4).  As God's children, we are empowered through the Spirit to do the works of God, as Jesus did (John 14:12).

          You who bring good news to Zion,
                     go up on a high mountain.
          You who bring good news to Jerusalem,
                     lift up your voice with a shout,
                     lift it up, do not be afraid;
          say to the towns of Judah,
                     “Here is your God!”   

           See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power,
                     and he rules with a mighty arm.
          See, his reward is with him,
                     and his recompense accompanies him.
          He tends his flock like a shepherd:
          He gathers the lambs in his arms
                     and carries them close to his heart;
          he gently leads those that have young.

                                                   (Isaiah 40:9-11, NIV)