March 22, 2026 · Rev. Susan Moran · Isaiah 43:16-19; Mark 5:24-34
Expectations, Rev. Susan Moran warns, can be premeditated resentments, but set too low they shrink our lives. The woman who touched Jesus' cloak expected to be healed against every reason and social rule, and was: healing came from what both of them brought to the encounter, so don't forget your power.
Transcript
Thank you so much for inviting me to your pulpit. I appreciate Reverend Derrick's trust in me to deliver a sermon here. Although I served up the street at the UU Society of Rockport for many years. Derrick has told me you are in the midst of the Lenten season, and he has been preaching around the theme on the way. A phrase I assume he used in the Christian sense of following Jesus on the way, but on the way can mean something broader than following Jesus. As challenging and as wonderful a path as that may be. Many of us try to walk a spiritual path. Millions of us are intentional about being of service, about trying to find joy and to offer kindness. Indeed, doesn't everyone want the lives of meaning and mercy and love, no matter who we are and where we may be going?
Our lives are filled with expectations. I assume some of us will not have their expectations met at this service. Some of you may walk away disappointed. I am sure some of you are familiar with the expression expectations are nothing more than premeditated resentments. My own experience tells me that when my expectations for myself and for my loved ones, and even for God, are out of balance with reality. Expectations can be health hazards.
For example, I stand up before you this morning. I'm pretty relaxed. I wish I'd had another cup of coffee, but I have learned over the many decades of being a minister that I hope you hear what you need to hear, which may not be what I have said. It was not always like this when I started my ministry in the early nineteen nineties. I expected to have a heart attack up here. I remember exactly reading in the bulletin of the Unitarian Church of All Souls of New York City that I would be preaching on September twenty seventh. That was in twenty two days. My immediate reaction was complete paralysis. I yelled at myself for not taking better notes in seminary. I chided myself for thinking a master of divinity was a good idea. What possessed me to think I could do this? I drifted off to sleep, imagining a forty five minute. Him saying, I suffered greatly from ridiculously high expectations when I had no reason for them. I was still in training for this new career. I had no experience in the ministry. My previous career had been in real estate, finance and development, not typically known for its focus on theology. In my overzealousness to be perfect, I was like a child who, having been given a brand new wristwatch, winds it so much that it breaks.
Our high expectations of ourselves are stressful and isolating. This also applies to others. We expect that the children will want to stay with us for several weeks every summer. And they do want to stay, but just for the long weekend. And can I bring my friend Sarah and Sally and Susie? We expect big raises at work and are told there's not going to be any raises. In fact, there'll be some cutbacks. We expect our friends to support our decision to go to seminary, and they think we have lost our minds. We expect our spouses to grow old with us, and then they die unexpectedly.
Our religious lives are not exempt from this problem of high expectations. How much do we expect from God? We attend church. We sing and study and care for our souls. Still, so often we don't feel satisfied with our spiritual lives. Whether our expectations concern the holy or other people or ourselves. We remain unsatisfied. And I have to wonder whether some of this dissatisfaction is caused by our excessive pride. To expect ourselves to be in a better position, or to know more than we do. To expect ourselves to be there when we are here, is to deny who we are right now, right here.
I do not encourage complacency or lack of ambition or discipline. But before we can change direction and seek a new path. Seek a better path. We better understand and accept the path we're on. This acceptance, or humility, creates the room for growth and understanding. It creates some space in our souls for compassion and gratitude. Everyone needs this room to expect others to fill our needs at a given time is to put ourselves first. But we all have needs. We all have dreams. All of us live expecting what makes mine more important than yours.
One of the dictionary definitions issues this series to wait for, to look forward to. To look forward with some Confidence to look for as due to demand to require interesting progression. Don't you think the further we are from waiting, the closer we are to demanding, the more likely we are to be resentful, disappointed and let down. And we are increasingly isolated. Expectations that are too high separate us from our own souls, our loved ones, and from spirit. So that's all very interesting.
But I'm going to turn this on its head now and say that sometimes our expectations can be far too low. Earlier, I spoke of winding our watches so much that they break. But watches need to be wound. If we don't find them, they're not going to work. To be in this world means to be in relationship with others. I don't think we can do this well without some expectations. So why not think of them as premeditated enchantments? The fact is, sometimes we don't expect enough from ourselves or our loved ones or God. Our lives are diminished when we do this, and our lives are enlarged and enhanced when we allow our expectations to grow.
So what should we expect? What would our days be like if we expected to feel happy and content no matter what? If we expect to be treated well, do we have a better chance of that happening. If we look forward to being loved and cherished. Will that be the case? Of course not. None of us are so naive as to believe that our expectations won't get dashed from time to time. But won't our lives be better in the meanwhile? Don't we enlarge our world and ourselves and others as a result of higher expectations?
What should we expect from God? Why not expect our prayers to be answered? Annie Dillard promises us each and every day the divine Voice issues from Sinai. Are we listening? Isaiah has God promising. Do not remember the former things Or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing. I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
The gospel reading turns on one woman's incredibly high expectations. Curiously, she seems to have absolutely no reason for feeling as confident as she does. She's been bleeding for twelve years. She has spent all her money visiting many doctors, but rather than being cured, she has become sicker. We know this woman was rich. We know rich folks didn't typically hang around with Jesus. Further, it was very unusual for a woman to be traveling alone. In the Bible, women are in the company of men most of the time, and they are described by their affiliation with men. Someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's mother. But this woman is presented as nobody's mother, nobody's sister or daughter. To be traveling alone and in such a crowd is against all the social codes of the day.
Another point of historical and religious significance is that this woman is impure due to her bleeding. Do you remember reading the Red tent in the women being isolated from community during certain times of the month? Because this woman is bleeding all the time, she's considered impure. She would not be allowed to touch anyone. No one could sleep in a bed she had just slept in without risk of being infected. I cannot imagine the sense of isolation for someone in her condition.
But Mark writes of her confidence. If I but touch his cloak, I will be made well. So she pushes through the crowd and touches Jesus. She has acted in defiance of every law and social mores of the age. To say her expectations inspired remarkable behavior is putting it mildly. She expected to be healed, and she was. She looked forward with confidence. Jesus says to her, your faith has made you well. He also brings her into the community by calling her daughter. She's given an identity and her isolation is over.
This woman's expectations cause her whole life to change in one moment. How many of us can claim such a moment? And how many of us have paid such a dear price before having our expectations met? The woman has been suffering for over a decade. Is it desperation that sparks her faith? Are suffering and faith somehow twinned? After seeing all these doctors and living that way, one would assume she would have zero expectations. I'm sorry. But she had the highest confidence in Jesus. She was not let down.
Why did it work? Jesus explains the healing by saying, daughter, your faith has made you well. Granted that the woman did bring the highest expectations to the encounter. But Jesus remark does not seem entirely accurate. After the woman touches his cloak, Jesus is immediately aware that power had gone from him. The woman brought her belief, her desire, her discipline, her expectation, her confidence. But Jesus delivered God's power to to heal. He felt it leave his body. Both the woman and Jesus were changed by the experience.
Perhaps the question what can we expect cannot be answered by only one of us, but rather by a combination of what people bring to the encounter. Well, Jesus is known to have spectacular healing power. This woman had spectacular faith. Perhaps he needed her as much as she needed him. We all bring gifts and talents to one another. We all have the power and the ability to influence events and behavior. Please, please, especially in times like these. Do not forget your power.
Wherever we are on the way, whether we are on a straight and narrow path, or wandering aimlessly wondering why the compass won't work, we should not expect too much or too little. We cannot and should not surrender our expectations. But we might remember that definition and aim for requiring less and waiting more. look forward without demanding. We can surrender rigid requirements without sacrificing thoughtfulness and intention. One can live in reality and still also live in hope. The woman in the gospel story reminds us that no matter what has happened in our past, the future is always mystery. We live only in today. We can prepare well for the present day by seeing clearly what is in front of us, and remember that we play no small part in the outcome of expectations. May clarity and confidence remain with you today and always. Happy Palm Sunday, happy Easter. Amen. Blessed be.