More Than We Expected.

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Mark chapter 11, Jane read it this morning. As we celebrate Palm Sunday and enter into this holy week, I want to take a few moments today to continue setting the stage for how we prepare for Easter, looking at who Jesus was and what he did. As we've been reading in Isaiah, what we see is that Jesus is coming, and here, starting in Holy Week, he's not just fulfilling the promises in Isaiah, he's embodying every single one of them.

Before we get into it, I want to talk about some of the things we commonly see around Palm Sunday, the palm branches, the shouting of Hosanna as Jesus enters in. Sean was already saying Hosanna earlier, he's ready for it. I've been known, especially in my preaching, to make cultural references where I think everybody knows what I'm talking about, and nobody does at all. I think the only thing I could say right now that everybody, no matter your age or background, could relate to, is if I said, six, seven. That's about it, nothing else. When we were in Thailand, the kids there looked at us and said it right away, and we thought, how did this make it to Thailand? But sometimes I'll reference a movie and people say, I've never seen that, I don't know what you're talking about.

We have to remember that when we open up the Bible, things can have completely different cultural significance than what we're used to, than the lens we're reading it through. On Palm Sunday, the palm branches they were waving represented victory, pride, freedom. And as they waved them, they shouted Hosanna, essentially saying, God, save us. They were declaring that this victorious king was coming. Hosanna really just means, save us now, this declaration to say, come, save us, save us. Psalm 118 lifts this up:

I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success!

Psalm 118:21-25

This is what the people are shouting as Jesus comes riding in, not on a mighty horse, but on a donkey, looking a little different than they expected.

The prophecy fulfilled

As we see Jesus entering into Holy Week on this Palm Sunday, this is not the beginning of the story. This story has been told for generations, and now it's the fulfillment and embodiment of what Isaiah and all the other prophets had been prophesying for years. We read Isaiah 53, where Isaiah, in verse four, is prophesying who the Messiah will be, because the people reading it in Mark 11 were waiting for the Messiah, the Savior, to come.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:4-6

This is who Isaiah is prophesying, that a Messiah is going to come. And then Jesus comes, the one they'd been waiting for, a God, a Lord, who literally embodies it and doesn't avoid the pain, but enters into it. I love what Gregorio was already preaching for us on, this idea that sometimes we can look at hard things and feel the temptation to look away, because it's too hard to keep staring into it. But when we recognize we were made in the image of God to bear his image, and that because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit inside us, we are the light that transforms the darkness, we don't have to avoid the pain, we can step into it, knowing that as we're there, Jesus is going to bring that light to pierce through the darkness.

Because we serve a God who steps into our pain rather than avoiding it. What I love about what we see is that when Jesus comes in on Palm Sunday, he's not just meeting people's expectations, he's exceeding them.

More than they expected

They were looking for someone, because Isaiah was speaking to people who had just overcome, sort of, a moment where the Assyrians had defeated everyone else but not them. They were longing, in Isaiah, for a Messiah to come and take over Assyria. Now, when Jesus is entering, they're under the captivity of Rome, and they're saying, come on, Messiah, save us from Rome, this is our expectation. And God is saying, wait, I'm actually going to save you from sin, for all of eternity. We have these specific things we're looking for because we only see through our individual lens, what's right in front of us, and God is saying, I have so much more happening behind the scenes. Will you trust me, welcome me as the king that I am, the kingdom I'm ushering in, and let me exceed and embody all of those expectations?

So first, how did Jesus come? He came in unexpected ways, riding in low, humbly, on a donkey. They're saying, save us from Rome, and he's saying, I've got a little more planned than that.

Come, all who are thirsty

Then we see why he came.

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me. Listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

Isaiah 55:1-3

Can you imagine food with no cost? This is why he came. He came for the thirsty. He came for the exhausted. He came for the ones who've tried everything else and are still saying, I'm not satisfied. We see Jesus embody this prophecy, not just fulfill it. In John 7, he literally says, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. He's looking at these words from Isaiah, words they would have recognized, and saying, this is me, come and drink. We see him in John chapter four, with the Samaritan woman, saying, whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst again. Even in that moment, she has this temporary, physical need for thirst, and Jesus is saying, I love that you have this expectation, but I want to give you eternal rest and satisfaction, found only in me. The invitation Jesus has goes deeper, way beyond our expectations.

Isaiah asks, why spend your money on bread and things that don't satisfy? And in John 6, Jesus shows up and says, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never go hungry. This is the good news Jesus is not just telling us about, but living, embodying, and fulfilling in every prophecy. He's reminding us that even the very things we're saying, if only this would happen, I'd be satisfied, will never satisfy us the way only Jesus can. It's an everlasting covenant, established on the cross, when Isaiah says, I'm going to make an everlasting covenant with you, speaking on behalf of God. Then Jesus comes, and we're going to see Good Friday, and the day before, on Thursday, where he gathers his disciples before going to the cross, the Last Supper, and he tells them, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. There is a new covenant now, no longer just temporary access to God, but the veil has been torn, and there's eternal access to God. It's no longer based on performance, or your sacrifices, or what you lay down at the altar. Because of Jesus, you have access for all of eternity.

And who did Jesus come for? Isaiah 56 says, my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. Jesus fulfills and embodies this in the life he lived, the way he welcomed, the way he sacrificed, learning how to speak and interact with people others were looking at and saying, I can't do that, they don't look like me, they don't talk like me, I'm not going near them. And he said, watch me embody the heart of God for all nations to come. He heals a Gentile man in Mark 5. He goes and eats with the sinners, the marginalized, the oppressed. He continues to show us what it looks like to make way for all people to come to him.

Naming our own expectations

Our so-what today is really simple: the promises of God are not just words for us to believe, there is a person longing to encounter us, and that is Jesus. But here's what I want us to lean into for a few moments as we enter Holy Week. Sometimes, if we're honest, whether you're exploring following Jesus or you've been following him your whole life, we still have expectations of who he is, how we think he's going to show up, how we think he'll come and meet our needs and satisfy our soul and our desires.

If that's you, you're not alone. It's incredibly normal, and a lot of it is based on the culture we find ourselves in, the places we were born, the family we were born into, which wasn't by our choice. We all have preconceived notions about how to pursue faith and pursue Jesus, about the church we grew up in or didn't grow up in. All of that contributes. It's normal to have an expectation about what it looks like to enter worship through music and song, or what it looks like to serve in the community. They had expectations in that moment, and Jesus didn't ignore them. But what they didn't know was that he wasn't just saving them from Rome, that was just the start of what he was going to do.

I think of what it would have been like then, maybe some of the frustration or tension you feel in your own life and what you see now. Just as the people there were saying, God, why haven't you saved us from Rome by now, what are you doing, what is that for you today? If you're honest in your heart, is there an expectation of saying, God, why haven't you saved me from this yet? Maybe as you look at things happening in our own country, in our own neighborhoods, things we might not even be aware of, and I know so many of you see that, and think, God, why haven't you intervened yet, why haven't you done this? Going back to Isaiah, in that moment they're sitting there thinking, why haven't you defeated Assyria, why haven't you saved us, you've been promising for generations and generations. And then in the middle of that, Jesus comes riding in on a donkey, saying, here I come, but it's going to be more than you expected. I'm going to exceed your expectations as I embody the love of the Father and lay down my life for you.

Because of Jesus, we have confidence that we have access to the kingdom of heaven. But the way it looks might not always meet our exact expectations. It might not always be on our timeline. So in the meantime, what do we do with that? This is the invitation I sense for us right now, as we enter Holy Week: that we would continue to live centered on this, that in the meantime, as we're still waiting for Jesus to save us from specific situations, still waiting for him to help us enter the kingdom for all eternity, we continue to encounter the presence of Jesus. And we continue to embody that love, because it's through us, as his hands and feet, as his image bearers, that others will encounter Jesus, as we embody his love, his sacrifice. That's why, as a church, it's so important that we say, we want to worship together on Sundays, but this is a place where we're empowered to go and worship throughout the week.

For some of us, that's the community meals at Enzo on Monday nights, or Laundry Love on Mound Street on Thursdays, looking for ways to support our friends here today, whether it's some of you looking for employment or connections. But saying, God, what does it look like for us to embody your love? Because as we embody the love of Jesus, other people encounter the presence of Jesus. And for us to embody his love, we have to encounter his presence over and over, saying, God, here I am, will you fill me, will you support me, will you strengthen me?

So what do we do if Jesus isn't meeting our expectations right now? The first thing is to simply look. Look for Jesus. I think of how many people were there on that day when he rode into the city, and because it didn't look the way they thought, because it wasn't mighty or powerful, because they weren't seeing Rome thrown down in that moment, how many looked away, thinking, we're still waiting. And Jesus is saying, I'm right here, I'm trying to come into your city, I'm trying to show you the kind of king I am, the kind of savior, the kind of ruler.

I sense this invitation from the Spirit, to remove the shame, to say, if you're feeling frustrated by what we see happening in our world, if you're feeling frustrated by areas in your own life where you're longing for God to come and save you, to free you, pause today and say, Jesus, will you show me where you're at? And let him not just meet that expectation, but give him permission to exceed it, permission to surprise you in how he's showing up. What does it look like for us to be people who say, God, we're willing to be surprised by the ways you'll use us, the ways you'll usher in your kingdom and your presence?

The first step is to name your expectation. Maybe now, as you're taking notes or jotting something in your phone, say, God, what are my practical expectations right now, how am I expecting you to come and move, and name it, and surrender it to the Lord. Then look and say, Jesus, where are you right now, will you show me? And then comes the hard part, trusting his way over your expectation. Trusting that even though you thought, at this point in your life, you'd be here, or this would be happening, even if you thought, at this point in the state of the world, with all the technology, all the communication, all the resources we have, why do we still see this evil happening, if you're in that place of frustration, say, okay, God, I'm going to lay these expectations down, the ways I want you to come and flip some tables and overthrow what's happening in our world, and God, I'm going to look for you, Jesus, and trust your ways are better. And then say yes to embodying the love of Jesus, in the same way God didn't just tell us he loved us, he sent Jesus to show us, as a living sacrifice, that I'm willing to lay my life down and embody your love, your ways, and your kingdom.

That's the hard part, because as we step into that, as we sacrifice, there's pain we're not going to avoid, but we're going to enter into it, because we trust the presence of the Holy Spirit is with us. And when we know his presence is with us and we're trusting that process, we know it's not about us, not about our comfort, not about our control, but about what God has been doing, the story he's been writing, that we get to participate in, in the same way Jesus participated with us. Jesus participated in our pain and our suffering, and as he rises to glory, he invites us to participate with him in that. On this side of eternity, what does it look like for us to let go of those expectations, to welcome God to exceed them, and say yes to embody that?

Closing prayer

I want to invite you to stand today, and take a moment to close your eyes and invite the Spirit to speak. Thinking of Holy Week, on Monday, Jesus goes into the temple, and because of the injustice happening there, he flips tables. There's permission for us, sometimes, to say, God, I have these expectations, and I'm angry because I'm not seeing it, and to know that God has a heart for justice. So rather than sitting in that anger, say, Jesus, where are you, lay down the expectations, and look for Jesus. Jesus, where are you, where is your heart? And then trust, trust that there's a new covenant coming, as Thursday brings the Last Supper, and Friday his death, and after those three days, his resurrection. Because of the power of the resurrection, we have access to the presence of the Holy Spirit for all of eternity, and on this side, as we wait and long for Jesus to come again, we can embody his love everywhere around us.

I want to give you space to name those expectations, to lay them down, lay them down at the feet of Jesus. Release any shame that comes from that. And then begin to look for Jesus and say, where are you? Where are the invitations, Holy Spirit, that you have for me, to step into pain and to embody it? Even as we think of Isaiah 55, where he says, come to me, all you who are thirsty, I will give you rest, I will quench that thirst, I will satisfy you. If you're in that place today, where you're thinking, God, before I even think about embodying it, I'm sitting here empty, would you invite the Holy Spirit, as we sing and worship and pray today, to fill you and sustain you, to show you where he's at in the midst of your story? Let's continue to lean in and say yes to the story God has been writing for all of eternity, that we get to participate with Jesus in suffering and in glory, laying down our lives for the sake of the gospel.

Holy Spirit, we thank you today that as we celebrate this Palm Sunday, you rode into that city, and you wept over it because you saw the pain and the darkness, but you did not look away. You rode in, and you endured that pain and that sacrifice, because you saw the eternal perspective, the story God has been writing, and you said, it's worth it. So would you help us now, in the midst of our pain, in the midst of our brokenness, in the midst of the brokenness and darkness we see around the world, to not stay stuck in the suffering, but to continue riding through, proclaiming a new kind of kingdom, a new kind of power, a new kind of victory? Would you help us not be afraid, but to embody it with confidence, because we know that as we encounter your presence, Jesus, you empower us with boldness to continue to go and participate in ways that don't just meet our expectations, but exceed them. Holy Spirit, would you bring comfort to those right now who are in a place of hardship and longing? Would you fill them, would you sustain them? God, for those of us who are saying, we can't see you right now, it's too dark, would you show us, Holy Spirit, where you're at? Open our eyes to see you, Jesus. Would you give us faith to trust you in these moments? And God, would you give us boldness, and empower us to say yes to embodying your love, and being your hands and feet? Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this place.