Are we done colliding yet?!! By Carl Kniss
How has our Lenten theme of “Christ Collides” felt to you? Are you excited each week to see which new aspect of our lives Christ collides with, anxious for another growth opportunity? Or has it felt tiring… and angst-producing… each week a reminder that we humans generally have it wrong, and we’ve got a lot of work to do to mature and “measure up” as Christ’s followers?
This week, we are looking at how Christ collides with our expectations. Sit with our text, the traditional Palm Sunday passage describing Jesus final approach into Jerusalem as we enter into Holy Week, and listen for what expectations Christ collided with in this story. Can we see who we might be in this story? How does it hit you as you try to read it with fresh eyes?
Luke 19:29-44
29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”
As we will reflect on Expectations this Sunday, prepare by thinking about how you handle expectations in your life…
– Are you one who manages expectations, focusing on how others may view you and seeking to temper their expectations so there’s less tension between you and them?
– Or are you one who does everything you can to meet expectations, attempting to avoid the tension by living up to what they expect to satisfy or please them?
What expectations do you think people in the world around us have of Christ-followers?
What do you imagine Christ’s call to us may be in relation to those expectations?
Would managing them or meeting them be our call?
Or are there ways in which we too would be called to collide with them?
Let’s ponder these questions together this week…
~ Pastor Carl
