It’s strange but true, that we tend to live up to other people’s expectations.

If someone expects very little of us, then it is likely that we will end up achieving next to nothing. Living up to high  expectations can feel daunting, but the surprising thing about great expectations, is that very often they have the power to transform us. Living up to great expectations can make us into better people.

In today’s gospel, Jesus meets Andrew’s brother Simon. He looks at him and says, “You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas, meaning Rock.” The new name must have filled Peter’s friends with astonishment. “A rock” Peter certainly wasn’t. Peter we know was a bit of a hot head. He was impulsive, rash, sometimes misguided and often passionate. To describe him as a ‘rock’ was surely inappropriate. Yet slowly and surely, Peter starts to live up to Jesus’ expectations, and slowly but surely, Peter changes from a hot headed fisherman, into a steadfast leader of the Church. As we see so often in the Bible, Jesus’   expectations have the power to transform.

By comparison, we seem to live our lives with fairly banal expectations. Our greatest ambition, as we wake each morning might be to clear our ‘in tray’ at work, or take the car to the car wash. Are we missing something? Is God calling us to greater things and we simply aren’t listening? For each of us God has a job to do. Of each of us God has great expectations. Surely amongst our resolutions for 2021, we must plan how to answer God’s call.