Palm Sunday Special: When God Doesn't Meet Our Expectations
Time Stamps
00:00:00 - Welcome and introduction to Palm Sunday
00:02:04 - The Triumphal Entry: What happened when Jesus rode into Jerusalem
00:09:00 - Part 1: When God doesn't meet our expectations
00:25:00 - Part 2: What if Jesus' power looks nothing like ours?
00:36:00 - Part 3: Are you actually ready for what God wants to do?
00:48:00 - Closing thoughts and invitation to Easter Sunday service
Bible Verses Referenced:
Matthew 21:1-11 (The Triumphal Entry)
Zechariah 9:9 ("See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey")
James on prayer: "You do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2-3)
When God Doesn't Meet Our Expectations
Ever thrown a big welcome party for someone who then did the complete opposite of what you expected? That's essentially what happened on the first Palm Sunday.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey while crowds waved palm branches and shouted "Hosanna!" (which literally means "save us now"). They were expecting a conquering king who would overthrow Roman rule. What they got instead was something far more profound – but initially far more disappointing to their expectations.
When God Doesn't Meet Our Expectations
We've all been there, haven't we? We pray for something specific, believing God will act in a particular way, and then... nothing happens. Or worse, the opposite happens.
Sharon shared honestly about her own journey with Crowd Church: "I'm not someone who has a massive online presence... it's taken me five years to get my head around the fact that God does have me involved in this." Sometimes we miss what God is doing because we're looking for him to show up in ways that match our expectations, not his plans.
The crowds welcoming Jesus had specific expectations too – they wanted freedom from Roman oppression. But from God's perspective, that wasn't their greatest need. Their deeper oppression was internal: the darkness separating them from relationship with God.
When our expectations aren't met, we often respond with disappointment or even anger. Sharon described how in her own spiritual journey, she'd think, "God, why are you making this more difficult for me? I'm trying to get close to you." She expected God to instantly fix her struggles, but instead he took her on a longer journey that ultimately brought deeper freedom.
The pathway through disappointment with God often involves surrender – not giving up, but giving over. "I definitely know for me that point of surrender just completely changes how I feel about something," Sharon explained. "Not in a 'I give up then' kind of way, but in a hopeful way that as I give it to God, he can do something with it."
What If Jesus' Power Looks Nothing Like Ours?
The image of Jesus on a donkey is striking for what it reveals about God's understanding of power. In ancient times, kings rode horses as symbols of military might. Donkeys were for peacetime – a deliberate statement about what kind of king Jesus was.
"My understanding of Jesus is very much, if he wanted to, he could have gone in on a horse, just overthrown everybody," Matt explained. "But he didn't just conquer a Roman king at that point in time. He conquered so much more by doing it a different way."
Jesus turned power upside down. Throughout his ministry, he taught that true greatness comes through serving others. As he entered Jerusalem, he demonstrated this radical principle – the king of the universe arriving not with military might, but in humble service.
This challenges our own understanding of power. We see strength in assertiveness, authority, and control. Jesus shows us strength through vulnerability, service, and sacrifice.
"I like to try and imagine if all world leaders and all leaders at various levels actually acted like this, where their main concern was serving the people," Sharon reflected. "How different would the world look? It would be amazing."
This isn't just theoretical – it's practical. Jenny shared about a leadership course she'd been taking called "Servant Leadership," noting that even major corporations have found this model effective. Leadership that serves doesn't mean being spineless or weak – Jesus turned over tables in righteous anger – but it does mean having a heart focused on others rather than self.
Are You Actually Ready for What God Wants to Do?
Many people today maintain a kind of ambivalence about God – maybe he exists, maybe he doesn't, but either way it's not particularly relevant to daily life.
Palm Sunday challenges that ambivalence. As Jenny put it, "Jesus' life is a challenge, that you can't be ambivalent about this person who came and lived this radical life and died this radical death. It is inviting us to think more deeply: if God is prepared to do that for you, what are you prepared to do for him?"
Following Jesus isn't just a "bolt-on" to improve your existing life. It's an invitation to surrender control and follow where he leads. "Jesus said, 'Follow me,'" Sharon reminded us. "So it's him that's leading and we follow... I like to be in control really. I think we all like to be in control, but actually to follow Jesus, it's kind of like giving up that control."
The journey won't always be easy. When the mother of two disciples asked Jesus for special positions for her sons, Jesus responded, "You don't know what you're asking. They'll have to drink a cup of suffering." Those disciples did continue following Jesus, living radically different lives because of him.
"Being a Christian is a total amazing, incredible adventure. And I'm so glad God has me on this adventure," Jenny said, "but easy it is not, what I expected it is not."
Walking Through Holy Week
As we journey from Palm Sunday to Easter, we're invited to hold our expectations loosely. The same crowds that shouted "Hosanna!" on Sunday would shout "Crucify him!" by Friday when Jesus failed to meet their political expectations.
But Sunday wasn't the end of the story, and neither was Friday. Easter was coming.
Perhaps you've been disappointed when God hasn't acted as you expected. Maybe you've found yourself going through the motions of faith without truly opening yourself to what God wants to do. Holy Week invites us into a deeper story – God's story – where power is found in surrender and where preparing our hearts matters more than outward expressions.
Whatever expectations you bring to God this week, be prepared to have them transformed. The God who entered Jerusalem on a donkey rather than a war horse is still confounding our expectations today – not to disappoint us, but to give us something far greater than we could imagine.
Ready to explore more? Join us next Sunday for our Easter service as we continue the story and discover how resurrection changes everything.
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When God Doesn't Meet Our Expectations - Palm Sunday Special
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[00:00:00]
Welcome to Crowd Church
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Matt Edmundson: Well, good evening. Welcome to Crowd Church. My name is Matt and on my left is my beautiful wife.
Sharon Edmundson: Hi everybody,
Matt Edmundson: and on my right is our beautiful pastor.
Jenny Mariner: Hey, lovely to be with you this evening.
Matt Edmundson: We didn't actually feel line your camera in your stool, so hopefully it's worked out all right. Welcome. Ooh, let's just turn the volume down.
There we go. Uh, so yeah, very warm. Welcome. It's great to be with you. Today we are talking about Palm Sunday. If you dunno what that means, we're gonna get into it. We're gonna explain it. Don't panic. We are gonna go there, uh, today. So wherever you are, wherever you're watching from, make sure you click. All the buttons, you know, the like button, the, the, the wave emojis you tell.
I'm technical. Uh, just say hi in the comments, be great to hear from you, and just, yeah, let us know what, what's going on in your part of the world. Um, but yeah, anything from you today my dear.
Sharon Edmundson: Phil on the spot now. I was just waiting for you to launch into your, um, [00:01:00] introduction to, well, I'm going
Matt Edmundson: to, in a minute.
I just wondered if you had any, any other welcoming thoughts?
Sharon Edmundson: Uh, I don't know. It's just, uh, great to be here and I hope, uh, I hope that you get something good out of today.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, Matt's in the comments. Hey Matt. Hey aid. Good evening, warm. Welcome to you. Uh, great that you can join us. Uh, if you're watching on.
Facebook or Instagram, just want you to know, I don't have access to the comments right now. I will resolve that problem at some point. Um, but I can see the YouTube comments. So yeah, wherever you're watching from, great to be with you. Now let's talk about, uh, Palm Sunday. So tonight's gonna be a little bit different if you're a regular to Crowd.
Normally we do this, uh, sort of welcome. Then we have a talk for 20 minutes. Then we go into Conversation Street for half an hour chatting through the talk and your questions that you write in the comments from the talk. We are gonna do like a, an elongated conversation street tonight. Um, so no talk per se.
There's three of us, three hosts. We're gonna talk about, uh, three different ideas for a [00:02:00] couple minutes, then we're gonna chat about it. So a bit more low key. Hopefully, hopefully it works. Uh, it should be fine. Um, but we're going to wrap all that around the idea of Palm Sunday. So, um, Palm Sunday. The reason, the reason we call it Palm Sunday, just to clarify, uh, is because of something in the Bible we call the triumphal entry, which is where Jesus sort of rides into Jerusalem.
I'm gonna read the passage in a minute. Um, he rides into Jerusalem and people lay palms down in front of him. Uh, and we're gonna get into that. So let's read. I'm gonna read, if you've got your Bibles, you are more than welcome to follow along. Uh, you sound really tech savvy tonight. Thanks, Matt. I appreciate that he's running in the comments.
Intro: The Triumphal Entry
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Matt Edmundson: Um, so the Triumph ffl, I'm reading from Matthew Chapters 21. It is also in Luke. It is also in Mark. And apparently it's also in John. I think so. Yeah, we think so. It's, it is, it's okay. So I'm gonna read the, the, the one from Matthew. So, [00:03:00] uh, chapter 21, verse one. It says, when they drew near to Jerusalem. So Jesus and his disciples, um, uh, they came to Bethpage to the Mount of Olives and Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a cult with her and tie them and bring them to me.
If anyone says anything to you, you shall say. The Lord needs them and he will send them at once. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet saying say to the daughter of Zion. Behold York King is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a cult. Um, the foul of a beast of burden. So we're gonna get into all of this and what this all means.
But in effect, uh, Jesus goes and grabs this donkey, and the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. Verse seven, they bought the donkey and the cult, they put on their cloaks and he sat on them. And most [00:04:00] of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road. And others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
And the crowds that went before him, uh, and that followed him, were shouting, Hosanna. Two. The son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth, Nazareth of Galilee.
So. This is the triumphal entry, right? Um, this is Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem. This is a week before it all goes very wrong, uh, which we'll talk about next week at, um, in the Easter service. But yeah, this is, this is what happens. So the prophecy, um. Was from Zacharia, say to the daughter of Zion.
See, your king comes to you, [00:05:00] gentleman riding on a donkey. Um, that's from Zacharia. Nine. Nine. So this is something that was foretold. Hundreds of years beforehand. And so Jesus is riding in on donkey, want to fulfill the prophecy, and as he rides into Jerusalem, the crowds gather shouting, Hosanna. This wasn't actually just a sort of spontaneous celebration, which is how I kind of read this for the long.
It's just like everybody's went a bit nuts, but it wasn't, um, the palm branches were significant. They are symbols. Okay. Of victory and triumph in Jewish tradition. Um, and the word hosanna, which is what they were crying out means, save us now. Um, it was a plea as much as it was praise and the crowds were welcoming of Jesus', their sort of longer weighted messiah.
Um, the king who would restore Israel. And so this is where we find ourself. This is the start of the story and we've called this live stream when God doesn't meet our [00:06:00] expectations for reasons which will become very clear, uh, as we go through the story and what happens. So over to my lovely wife.
Part 1 - When God Doesn't Meet Our Expectations
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Sharon Edmundson: Okay, so there were three points that Matt wanted to bring out from.
The chat tonight. And he showed them to me last week and was like, which one do you wanna do? And I knew straight away which one I wanted to do. And that is actually the one of about when God doesn't meet our expectations. Yep. Um, and the reason for that was a few days before that I'd written this in my diary.
Just as many people miss the Messiah because he didn't come as they expected. So to, I miss God because he's not doing things. How I expected, that was literally what I wrote. So as you can see, very appropriate and I, I was actually referring to crowd with that, uh, because I'm not someone who has a massive online presence, um, before I did crowds.
I'm not really involved, to be honest. I have an Instagram, Instagram account and if you follow me, you'll know I've never posted [00:07:00] anything. Um, and I'm on Facebook, but all of my posts are either, um, does anyone local know of a good plumber, that kind of thing, or do you have, um, a car seat because we need them for refugees at work, that kind of thing.
So not big with the online thing and it is taken me. Five years to get around my head around the fact that God does have me involved in this and that he's doing stuff. And uh, I, I think I was struck this week like, God, you are so patient with me. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to kind of go, okay, God, you are working over here.
Let me just actually properly join in, not just physically, but you know from the heart. And you may well laugh at me, but I know there's a lot of you like it the same. So. And, um, we see in today's passage that, um, the crowds, they welcome Jesus, but many of them later would then turn against him as we'll see next week.
And the reason for that [00:08:00] was for some of them, they had expectations about what God should be doing. In that moment, and their expectation was that he would come and overthrow the Roman oppressor because to them their greatest need was freedom from oppression. But from God's point of view, that wasn't their greatest need.
It was in, not from the Romans anyway, they had a greater oppression, which was um, an internal one where the darkness inside of them was separating them from their relationship with God. And that was. What they really needed, but that wasn't what they wanted. And I think we can all be a little bit like that sometimes, whether you are someone who is.
Um, not sure if God exists even, and you are just searching. I think sometimes when we're in that situation, we can think if God does this, this and this, like if I see a unicorn and three flying [00:09:00] dragons, then I will know that God exists whilst not actually looking at what he has provided to show us his existence.
I, um, so yeah, so we can miss what he's actually put there in plain sight. Because we are, we have different expectations of how he should appear to us or how he should speak to us. Or maybe if you are someone of faith, again, it can be the same thing like I've been with Crowd. Um, another example from my own life.
Before I came to Liverpool many years ago, I was a struggling Christian. Um, there was lots of stuff in my life I'd not dealt with. My mind was a mess. And every time I tried to get close to God, my mind would like just completely kick off. And be even worse than it was before. And I used to get really angry with God going, God, why are you making this more difficult for me?
I'm trying to get close to you and you are making it harder. Um, he wasn't doing what I thought he should do. I thought he should just [00:10:00] come in, make it all good, sought me out like instant, no effort on my part. And it would all be okay, but actually that's not how God works. And he took me on a journey of many years and possibly this could have been shorter if I had got my, you know, engaged with the process a bit quicker.
I don't know. But took me on a journey where, um, I did have very. Low lows. Uh, I felt all the emotions, but then when he brought in his freedom and taught me how to actually deal with all this stuff, how to deal with my mind, the contrast was so great that it's like I enjoyed that freedom so much more. And um, a couple of weeks ago I talked about Abraham.
With, um, when God told him to sacrifice his son, um, and how that was a deep learning experience for him because he had to go through all the emotions and all the feeling of what that felt like to, from his heart, go, okay, God. And then [00:11:00] for that, uh, at the last minute for God to go, actually no, that's not who I am.
I never want you to sacrifice someone. Um, and what I really want you to do is to. To trust me. Um, so I think sometimes God takes us through those a different path because he's got a deeper plan for us. So, um, I think that was, yeah, all I had to say on that. So I'll open it up to you two now for discussion.
Matt Edmundson: Very good. So this idea then, that God does not meet our expectations, um, it's, it's kind of common. You're a pastor. Oh, you've been around a little while. Maybe not as long as me. Um, but you've been around a little while, Jen. Uh, this is quite a common theme that people struggle with, right? It's like, I expect a God to act out.
So the Jews, they're throwing palms down because its sign of victory. It's like Jesus is gonna be out all conquering king. Turns out it's not quite what happens. [00:12:00] Why do we, why do we get like that? Do you think?
Jenny Mariner: I mean, that's a pretty big question. Yeah. Yeah. Start off, but I'll, I'll pull some thought, a thought out to start us off.
I think. One of the things I think is interesting about that passage is they really expected Jesus to rescue them from the Romans. Yeah. And they thought he was gonna come and take the kingship in that moment in Jerusalem. And that's what most of 'em were expecting of him. And of course, we now see knowing the story to the end, that yes, Jesus is actually executed by the Romans, which looks like a total disaster, but he actually defeats more than just one Roman king in one place.
He defeats the power of sin and death. He enables us to rule with him fity. It's like such a bigger scale. Yeah. Yeah. And I just think as humans we so quickly and like, I mean this has been me literally just in the last couple of weeks of my life. I so quickly zoom in on what is happening to me right now that I can literally physically see in front of me.
And that's all my perspective. And you know, we've talked about it earlier in the Genesis series, that [00:13:00] sense of trying to see God's perspective. Yeah. And trying to understand what it actually is 'cause. You know, your, your expectations just marry so much up with that, don't they? You, you expect something that's within your quite small worldview when actually God's like, I'm doing something massive over here.
Yeah, just take the blinkers off. Yeah, yeah,
Matt Edmundson: yeah. It's important, isn't it? I think as you're talking that, the bizarre example I suppose that comes into my head is like, um, Hey Laura, I just noticed you said hi in the comments, um, is the. When my kids were younger, right? They wanted a whole bunch of stuff.
They still do. I mean, I still do, to be fair. Um, just wanted a whole bunch of stuff. It's like, I just wanna eat chocolate. That's what I wanna do. Chocolate and Turkey dinosaurs. That's what I want. Maybe with some chips and some ketchup, but I don't want anything else. And all they can see and understand is the world according to their viewpoint.
Right? [00:14:00] Um, now me as a parent has a slightly wider, hopefully slightly more educated viewpoint, which says, actually no, this is not good for you. I mean, as a treat it's fine, but this is long term. This is not good for you. I see a bigger perspective, which is what you're talking about, isn't it? And I think, and again, we've talked about this a lot over the last few weeks, how much bigger is God's perspective?
I'm like the kid who wants chocolate all the time and God is like, actually. There's a bigger perspective here. And so how do you, well, I'll ask you babe, how do you, how do you deal with the disappointment of God not meeting your expectations? Because I mean, you, you, we've all had expectations of that God would act a certain way.
He obviously hasn't for reasons which we may or may not understand, but inevitably, a lot of people deal with disappointment. As a result of that, how do you, how do you process that?
Sharon Edmundson: Uh, for me, we've seen very slowly, [00:15:00] I think one of the things is coming to the point of surrender and just going, God, you know what?
I don't understand, but I'm actually gonna surrender this situation to you and let you bring something good out of it. Um, and I think. I, I know that, oh, it is like when you're talking, you know, there are so many big situations going on in people's lives, so it feels in some ways quite. Almost a little bit flippant to say that, but I definitely know for me that that point of surrender just completely changes how I feel about something not in a kind of, oh, I give up then, and it's all hopeless more in a hopeful way that as I give it to God, he can do something with it.
And just, I think choosing to, sometimes I actually, I look at what I have been thinking and think, okay, what. Is God actually [00:16:00] saying and then purposefully choose to think that way instead? Um, yeah. What about you?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I, I think it's, uh, I think it's exactly right. I think oftentimes when I've, when God doesn't hack act, how I expect you come to that place of going, well, why did I expect that?
Right? Um, is it because. Of something that I, that is, that is in me that, um, James puts it this way. He says, when you pray, the brother of Jesus said, when you pray, you don't, you have not, because you ask not, but when you ask, you ask a miss. Right? In other words, well pray first. 'cause you know, if you're not getting what you need, question number one, or you praying, most of the time we're not, we, we kind of think we are, but we're not.
Um, you have not because you ask not. But then when we ask, we ask a myth, right? So. I think my experience of God is if God is fundamentally good [00:17:00] and if God is fundamentally merciful and he can see the beginning from the end and all of that sort of good stuff and his plan is perfect and his ways are higher than my ways and all these things that we know to be true about God, then I may be asking am miss.
It could be a possibility and quite often is with me and I think, um. That thing of surrender is basically saying, not my will, but your will be done. It's like, this is what I want you to do, God, but actually in this situation, it's not necessarily about what I want. It's what you want in me and through me and around me in this situation.
Let me get aligned to that. And let's see how this now fully resolves itself. Um,
Sharon Edmundson: and I know how differently I can actually feel about something from one second to the next. Having decided to surrender and then look at the situation differently. It's like I can suddenly feel very different about [00:18:00] it even though nothing has changed.
Yeah, I've just invited God in and got hope and yeah, it's amazing.
Jenny Mariner: Yeah, and I think even with, I was struck, I watched a video recently of someone who'd been through a really incredibly difficult situation, and I, in some respects, it wouldn't align with what you're saying and that I think that what he was praying for the situation, it, um, was not a wrong thing for him to be praying.
But there'd been a different outcome. He was in a really difficult place, but he was saying, you know, he did still believe, you know, what we've been covering from Genesis, he believed that God was real and he believed that what God was good and he, they still weren't things he felt He. He could walk away from in his life, and so he was just saying that every day for him, he was actually taking communion every day to remind him that God wants to be close to him, that God loves him, that Jesus died for him.
It's that choosing of, even when I don't just do not get this, we have a string of choices, don't we? We could choose to walk away, but that's still a choice. Yeah. Isn't it a choice [00:19:00] not to believe or it's a choice to say, actually do believe so I'm gonna find you in this God. And so many people who've done that through incredibly difficult circumstances have these just amazing stories of actually God taught me this and actually God showed me that.
And actually what I understand about God is so much deeper. And you can see that people are discovering gold and you're like, wow.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it's true, isn't it? And I think, and there are things which actually, uh, I was just going through the, the old. Becoming whole series, which we're gonna reintroduce, uh, in a couple weeks.
Um, but we, in one of those, we talked about persistence and patience. And actually sometimes it's not that God's not meeting my expectations, it is maybe God's not meeting my timeframe. Do you know what I mean? And, and, and so there are things which I can pray for, which absolutely I think are the right things.
Like if I'm sick, I pray for healing. But I know that healing [00:20:00] happens instantly. Sometimes, more often than not, it's a process that I, or the people that I'm praying for end up going through. And that's where patience and persistence comes in. And so sometimes I think it can be also be about timing.
Sharon Edmundson: So have either of you two got more personal examples of where God's not met your expectations?
Matt Edmundson: Oh,
Sharon Edmundson: yes. In a, you know, I really wanted you to do this, God, and you didn't.
Matt Edmundson: So for me, there was, um, I've told this story before and I, I'll probably tell it a lot more, but years ago I worked for a friend of mine, a guy called Simon Simon. If you're watching Good evening, sir. You are a legend and I. Simon decided he was gonna sell the business and I was one of the key employees of the business.
And um, and both you and I felt that God said to us, he's gonna give us the business, um,
Sharon Edmundson: as in God would give us the business, not Simon. Yeah. God not Simon.
Matt Edmundson: That God, God was gonna give us to clarify. Um, and so we felt really [00:21:00] strongly, and I was quite young in my entrepreneurial career at this point, that God was gonna give us this company.
And we prayed about it. We prayed about it together. What I didn't do was go to Simon and say, God's told me you ought to give me this business because that would be manipulation 1 0 1. Um, but we just prayed about it and I just had this deep assurance, I dunno how to put it any other way that God was gonna give me this business, um, or give us this business obviously.
Uh, and um, and the. I believed it so much that I tried to buy the business. I tried to borrow money off the bank and they would lend me an awful lot of money to buy this business unsecured. That's how good the business was, but it wasn't enough, and so somebody else bought the company. So not only was it not given to me, I couldn't buy it, but not only that, somebody else had owned it.
Not only that. He and I did not get on. Um, and so I ended up a few months after he'd bought the business, leaving the [00:22:00] company and getting involved in a case of unfair dismissal. So I. You, you go from, well, this is what I felt God say to this is my reality of life. Right. The two things were polar apart, weren't they?
Um, Josh had just been born at the time, uh, which he's our first son. He's a little bit older now, but, you know, um, we didn't have any, we didn't really have any means of income or any of that sort of stuff back then 'cause she'd given up work. And so this was all a little bit hair raising. So what I was expecting was.
I suppose if you'd have asked me, probably Simon was gonna walk in one day and go, Matt, God's told me to give you the business. Here's the keys. Have at it, knock yourself out and leave and let me get on with it. That's not what happened at all. Um, but if I fast forward five years from that point when I left the business, um, the business was in fact given to me.
Um, and what I was prepared to pay for five years earlier, hundreds of thousands of pounds to buy was. Given to [00:23:00] me on a plate. Now there's a lot more involved to that story, but what I can say is God fulfilled the promise. My expectations of how he was gonna do that were a little bit different, but we got there in the end.
Jenny Mariner: What about you, Jen? Yeah, I mean, I've had a couple of scenarios of different jobs with them. Situations with colleagues. I had this colleague who was kind of behaving in a way that I felt was quite unfair and unjust, and I'm like quite a justice person and I'm like, God, you've got a heart for justice.
Like this isn't right. Surely you want some this colleague to be exposed. Surely someone's gonna correct them. Surely. That's what the resolution to this scenario is gonna be. I don't have to deal with it. And actually the both times I've had this happen to me, I've spent a lot of time praying like, God would you deal with that person?
And actually all God's taught me is patience and then eventually has taken me out of the situation, so I've no longer had to work with them. And it's been miraculous [00:24:00] how I've been taken outta those situations both times. It's happened to me. Totally miraculous, totally gone in it. But neither time did I get what I wanted in terms of that person getting there.
Do you know what I mean? Like
Matt Edmundson: Yep.
Jenny Mariner: I just had to learn a whole lot of grace and patience and then see God's goodness to me.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. With you on that, Ellis wrote in the comments, actually, Jen, maybe you can talk to this. Patience is something I really struggle with.
Jenny Mariner: Yeah. And not a good one to pray for God.
To teach you either because all it'll do is put you in a excruciating situation.
Matt Edmundson: It is definitely one of the teaching methods, isn't it? You want patience. Here's a situation where patience is required. Let's see how you do.
Jenny Mariner: But somebody did say to me, I mean this might be quite personal, but I read really recently actually, how often, um.
When we're angry, it's actually an impatient, and I guess in terms of how [00:25:00] precious it is to pursue it. But I think say even in that situation, I was so angry at what that colleague was doing. And yes, it was unjust, but there was patience is a, is a beautiful thing. If you can cultivate it, if you can say Holy Spirit, it just calms you right down.
It does,
Matt Edmundson: it does. Patience, by the way, just means constancy in the Bible just means being consistent. Um. There's definitely topic. There's definitely talks on crowd if you wanna dig into that more. Um, but I'm aware of time. So we have talked about a little bit about what happens when God doesn't meet our expectations.
Part 2 - What If Jesus' Power Looks Nothing Like Ours?
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Matt Edmundson: The next question is, what if Jesus's power looks nothing like ours? And so this is interesting because Jesus, riding into the donkey is quite stark imagery. Okay? And there's, there's three things to think about here. Number one. Is a donkey was actually a sign of peace. It's what you rode in times of peace, not times of war.
You rode a horse, uh, in times of war, [00:26:00] not a donkey. And so as Christ is riding the donkey, it's like he is, he is. Not meeting everyone's expectations in terms of this all conquering king. He's riding on something which is peaceful. Now we know there was a prophecy about that years beforehand as we looked at earlier.
Um, so that's the second thing is one is a sign of peace, and two, it is a fulfillment of a prophecy. But the Romans valued horses. And horses were a sign of authority and power and victory. And it's why you see them in the movies, you know, with the horses and the chariots. This is a sign of a sign of someone who is king, who is rulers, someone who is conquered, and Jesus comes in on a donkey.
So the question is, what happens if Jesus is power or understanding of power is not like ours because. My understanding of Jesus is very much, if he wanted to, he could have gone in on a horse, just [00:27:00] overthrown everybody. And that was that. And like you said, he, he, he didn't just conquer a Roman king at that point in time.
He conquered so much more, um, by doing it a different. Way, you know, we have this, I dunno how you picture a king and how a King travels. I know King Charles likes to travel. Uh, or certainly the late queen used to like to travel on his train, didn't she? Up to Balmoral. If the Crown, the TV series is anything to go by, there's a train, which I just think is fantastic.
A few years ago I was flying back from Australia to the UK and it's a bizarre story, but I was with a friend of mine. Um. In Sydney. And I said to him, listen, I've never flown first class and I would really like to fly first class. Um, because, you know, this is how all the, the posh people, uh, fly, isn't it?
And I'm, I definitely don't consider myself posh, but I thought, let's have a go at first class. And so I prayed with my friend in Australia that I'd get upgraded, and sure enough I got upgraded to first class. It doesn't happen every time. I just wanna point that out. Uh, but I'm in [00:28:00] first class with people like Andy Murray and, you know, all kinds of interesting people flying with.
Uh, you know, access to a spa. I had my own private suite. I mean, it was, it was unbelievable first class. Um, it would've cost tens of thousands of pounds, I'm sure, if I actually paid for it, which I didn't. Um, but I got upgraded to first class and we. We would, I would've assumed a king would be the guy in first class.
I've also flown on private jets, you know, people's private jets, which is just a whole nother story. Um, you've, we live very different lives, don't we? We do live very, we're the same house, but completely different types of people. We do. So I've flown on jets, right? And you. You. This is how you expect the kings, the wealthy, the victorious to travel.
You don't expect them to be in the back of economy on the plane. Do I mean, and Jesus understood power very differently and we call it the upside down kingdom because [00:29:00] Jesus' understanding of leadership, Jesus' understanding of power is to serve if you wanna be greatest in the kingdom of God. You have to serve the most, right?
It's just this upside down approach to power, and we see that as he comes into Jerusalem and we see the very first thing that Jesus does when he gets there. I didn't read that passage of scripture, but if you carry on reading it in Matthew's gospel, very first thing he does is he goes to the temple and sorts out.
The, uh, the tables, he, there's this wonderful scene was wonderful. There's this very dramatic scene of Jesus overthrowing tables and, and chasing people out of the temple temple because they turned it into something it was never supposed to be. And so Jesus is actually, he's sorting out his own people before he is even thinking about the Romans.
Uh, and it's quite interesting. View, you know, of power that it's turned upside down. That power is about serving, it's not about getting, and we see this modeled by Christ. So, um, [00:30:00] any thoughts on that? Jen? You're reading the Bible. You can go next.
Jenny Mariner: I was actually reading your notes, but yeah, I mean there are so many times when Jesus does that, doesn't he, that he just subverts what people are thinking and expecting.
And the other really famous one is when he washes his. Disciples feet and it, it's just a real challenge to us, isn't it? I think we can fall into those ideas of like, well, if I've got any sense of power in any situation, this is what it needs to look like. I think even as Christians, we, even with the model of Jesus, we go down that path of, well, I need to assert myself and I need to be strong and I need to this and that and the other.
But Jesus just tips it on its head or something and teaches us. To love one another and to serve one another, and is extremely powerful.
Sharon Edmundson: I like to try and imagine if all the world leaders and all leaders of various levels actually acted like this, where [00:31:00] their main concern was serving the people. How different would the world look?
It would be amazing.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. It's it's true, isn't it? Like he would not have a, a war in the Ukraine. Yeah. Um, you would, there would be certain political differences, let's just put it that way, going on in the world. And I think the trouble with power, absolute power like that is it comes across as I need to get, get, get, whereas Christ turns it on its head.
Um, and I find this deeply challenging because I, I run a company, um, we employ people and so when I grew up, macro's gonna make some wise crack about this being years ago. But when I grew up in the workplace, you respected your elders. Do you remember this phrase? Did you grow up with this phrase, respect your elders?
Um, like if I. When I was a kid, I got pulled over by a policeman once for ride, riding my bike [00:32:00] through a one way thing the wrong way. And the copper pulled me over and gave me a clip round the ear, right? 'cause that's what coppers did back then. Um, I went home, I. The policeman followed me home and told my mum what he did.
What did my mum do? She takes a slipper and wallops me with it because I get walloped by, uh, get pulled over by copper. Right? Respect your elders. It was this very, very much this kind of, I'm a man in authority. You will do what I say. Um, and. We see it all over the place. You know, I am the man at the top.
You will do what I say. But I think the model which we have is fundamentally very different. Um, and I think actually the first place we need to see that, obviously not in this church, Jen, but we, I think we need to see it in church. I think. Um, the. The, when you talk about church leadership, I want to be in church leadership fundamentally, that is about serving, isn't it?
And it's about the willingness to serve, which actually I, I not to, you know, be too [00:33:00] kind, but you and Jack do that very well. I take it. That's intentional. I.
Jenny Mariner: Yeah, I mean I have actually been reading around this recently, I've been on this course called Servant Leadership, which was come up with this guy, he must have had some Christian roots somewhere, but he's done this thing with loads of companies in America.
He did it in the seven seventies. He's really taken off like loads of like top Forbes 100 companies, and so it's like a model of leadership that does work. That's what this guy has proven, that even in these massive multimillion pound companies, if, if as the people at the top you. Actually put the needs of the people who work for you first and serve them.
You. He, you can actually also make money. Yeah. You know, it doesn't mean just being like spineless all the time and pathetic. You can still have integrity and you can still do things right and you can still call out when things are wrong and bring challenge, but it's doing it with a heart of love, a heart of serving, a heart of listening, you know, of compassion.
Like we just. [00:34:00] There's some good examples in the world at the minute of people who just don't do that. Whereas actually this guy has proven with all these companies in America,
Sharon Edmundson: it can work. Yeah. Yeah. I think what you're saying, it's not a thing of weakness either. Again, I think we really seeing Jesus because like Matt said before this scene, he was turning over the tables like.
You know, with a lot of passion and are like, this is not right. You should not be doing this. And he was more than willing to call out the religious people who were doing the wrong thing. So it is not, definitely not about weakness. And, and as well, it's like, I, I do find this incredible, I think I say quite often in crowd that I like looking at the sky at night when you can see all the different planets and just like the immenseness and thinking of, okay, God.
Created all this, how big and how powerful must God be to do all of that? It blows my mind. But then to think of that same God coming to earth in a human body and serving [00:35:00] people is quite incredible.
Jenny Mariner: It's mind blowing, isn't it? And it also is such a better form of authority, don't you think? The fact that like.
We give our devotion to Jesus, not because he turned up and said, well, look at how powerful I am. So you'd better be devoted to me. But because he loves us, because he served us, because he took that to the point of dying on the cross. Isn't that a much kind of richer reason to say, actually that's the person that I wanna be devoted to.
Matt Edmundson: So how does this look then practically like, because like a lot of these things we talk about in Christianity, I. You know, we all go, or we should forget. We were talking about this earlier. We need to do forgiveness more. Um, we, we should do servant, you know, we should be servant hearted. What does that mean tomorrow morning for you guys though?
How does that work practically?
Jenny Mariner: I mean, for me at the minute, you know, as Matt was saying, we lead the church. It is constantly [00:36:00] checking my motivation all the time. Mm-hmm. And being like, okay, this is what I wanna do. Why do I wanna do it? This is how I wanna talk to that person. And just trying to be as humble as I can before God and saying, holy Spirit, just help me make good decisions here.
Check is it about my pride? Is it about my status? Is it about things like that, or, yeah. Is at the moment, the last kind of 12 months, it's been really regularly just trying to be humble before God. Mm-hmm.
Matt Edmundson: And how do you. Um, when you do this sort of servant style of thing, the thing that you I see a lot in church is people take that to mean they have to do everything for everybody else all the time, which means that inevitably burnout happens, um, and you have one or two people doing everything and it's, they almost become, they either burn out or they become martyrs.
Do you know what I mean? In their, in their own right. And how do you avoid that? How do you put in good place? How do you put in place good boundaries? [00:37:00]
Sharon Edmundson: Oh, I love boundaries. I think it's partly because I've done the burnout thing in the past and had to learn the hard way. Um, but I think again, throughout the Bible we see really good boundaries and um, we are told to be, you know, to give and be generous, but it's like from your heart and not to give if out of compulsion because you want to.
So I think a lot of it's like choosing, do I want to do this or not? And we do have the freedom to say no. And also, um, I think Jesus says that his burden is easy and his yokes like, so I think if we are feeling burdened and put down by stuff, something is wrong somewhere. Either maybe we've. Um, got wrong expectations of ourselves and what we think we should be doing, or we're just taking on other people's expectations and doing what they think we should be doing.
So I think sometimes we need to take a step back and go, okay, God, what are you asking me to do? Stick with that and say no to [00:38:00] other things and, and choose to give, um, and not feel like we have to give. If, you know, if my heart's not in it. Yeah, yeah,
Matt Edmundson: yeah. I think that's the key thing, isn't it? Grace? We're gonna talk more about this when we cover generosity in a few months time.
It's coming. Don't go anywhere. I mean, obviously go somewhere. But in a few months time, we, we are gonna be talking about this, uh, Jen, point number three.
Part 3 - Are You Actually Ready for What God Wants to Do?
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Matt Edmundson: Are you actually ready for what God wants to do?
Jenny Mariner: Wow. I mean, I think this takes us back to where we kind of started with Sharon in the sense of like, what are we looking for from God?
What are we looking for from the savior? Lots of people think. In current 21st century worlds are quite ambivalent about God. Mm-hmm. They might be like, oh yeah. You know, I think probably a God exists, but it's not something that we maybe see as relevant. Maybe we turn to God in the most desperate situations and expect that that's what God's there for to, to help us in those like life and death situations.
And for me, one of the things that, the whole story [00:39:00] of Easter. Encourages to reflect on is that Jesus' life is like a challenge, that you can't be ambivalent about this person who came and lived this radical life and died this radical death that it is inviting us to think more deeply if God is prepared to do that for you.
What are you prepared to do for him? You know, it is one of the invitations of Easter. It is not about being ambivalent, so I, I guess it's that thing of are we looking for God as a Bolton to improve our lives? Like I was sharing about. Those situations at work, when I just turn to God, I'm like, well, this is a bad situation God, and I expect you to make it a good situation.
Is that how I'm relating to God? Is that what I'm looking to him for? Or again, as Sharon's already touched on, is it okay? You surrendered everything for me, God, so I will surrender to you. And I was struck, we were praying beforehand and I was struck that the bit just before in Matthew, the bit just before, um.
Jesus goes into [00:40:00] Jerusalem, the mother of two of his disciples comes to him and says, you know, can my son sit your right and left hand in heaven? And Jesus says, well, you dunno what you're asking. They're gonna ha have to actually drink a cup of suffering. They're gonna go through suffering. But those sons do, do that.
You know, both of those, James and John, they continued to follow Jesus. They were apostles after Jesus' death. They both, um, lived radical lives and died. Difficult deaths because of Jesus. And there is that invitation of like, this isn't just a, this isn't just a self-help thing. Um, God's inviting you into a journey into a relationship with him.
We've already touched on this. It's beautiful. But that doesn't necessarily make it easy. And I think one of my kind of final thoughts on this, because Matt had said, you know, what, what does that look like? And I, it's like all relationships, isn't it? That it's not all honeymoons, it's not all roses. It is walking every day with God.
It is processing things like we've said [00:41:00] about, you know, how do you do difficult situations? It's not just turning up at church. Like you look at the New Testament Christians and they didn't just, it wasn't just about turning up and saying, well, I'm gonna do my communion, or No, I'm gonna do my prayers. But it was a daily life, lived with God and community and that transforms us.
And not in a, again, not just in a self-help way, but in a God meeting with us and transforming us. And like I think being a Christian is a total amazing, incredible adventure. And I'm so glad God has me on this adventure, but easy. It is not what I expected. It is not. So there's a, yeah, I mean, I dunno. That kind of answers your question, but there's, there's definitely that sense of surrender that Sharon touched on in the very beginning.
Am I after what I want or I after what God wants? Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Great. I, I think it's a really interesting point, isn't it? And I, I love it that, that whole, it's, it's, it's not as predicted. The [00:42:00] whole journey with God thing is not as predicted. Um, but it is an adventure. And you touched on the early church. Um, and how we, if you're with us, when we did the book of Acts, you know, uh, went through that, um, the early church was impoverished.
It was being persecuted. I mean, people were having their houses and property taken off them. They were getting thrown into jail. They were being murdered. Um, I mean, all kinds of stuff was going on, but they had the most joy. And in the West, I've, I've heard it said actually that the, the church in the west is.
Can be quite miserable. Um, uh, can be quite a miserable place to be, maybe because of everything that we have. And you go to places in Africa where they don't have hardly anything by our standards, they're the happiest, most joyful people in the world, right? And. There's something about a culture that is imprinted on us, some kind of expectation about [00:43:00] life, some kind of expectation about success, what that looks like, how that feels, and I, I wonder if all that was stripped away, whether we would be happier people as a result.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah, I think sometimes here in our culture we kind of see faith as like a little add-on to help us live our best life. Um, so it's like, God, I'm over here doing this. Can you come and bless it? But that's not, Jesus said, follow me. So it's him that's leading and we follow and I think, well, I like to be in control really.
I think we all like to be in control, but actually with. To follow Jesus. It's kind of like giving up that control and going, actually, yeah, I will follow you. I'm not choosing where we're going. You choose where we're going and I'll join in with that. Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. That's very good. Very good. Anything else from you, Jen, on that?
Jenny Mariner: Oh, I mean so much and yet my brain's,
Matt Edmundson: did it just go?
Jenny Mariner: Uh, I just think, I mean, it's that [00:44:00] thing of, it's one choice at a time, I think, and. If you reflect on, say all this stuff that we've covered this term, if, if you are saying, okay, God, I think there's something in this, I think you might be real, then this is a time of year to really think about, well, what do I do with that?
Mm-hmm. Um, because the, as I've, as I touched on already, the invitation from Jesus isn't to just give them a little wave every now and again or Yes. You know, if you're quiet, Tim, in desperation, I believe he'll be with you. But he's inviting us to so much more than that. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I guess it's, I would just say really encouragement to people that are thinking about that.
Read a gospel, read Matthew Markley John, and see what you think. Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Yep. We will get into this a whole lot more. Jan, you wrote in the comments, very challenging to step back and listen to God's viewpoint. Yeah, it is.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. I think it's challenging, but also encouraging sometimes, especially if I'm stuck in my little way of thinking and [00:45:00] then, uh, can just sort of look up and go, Hey, God, what's your perspective?
And that's a bit like, oh, okay. You are in control. You've got it.
Jenny Mariner: Yeah. And I think a real advantage of church community. Yeah. Like I had it literally this week that I was like, I know I'm too in my own head. I can't figure out God's perspective and I was able to go and seek somebody else's. Wisdom and straight away I was like, ah, okay.
There it is. You know, there it's, but it's one of the reasons why we can't do this on our own.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you ladies. I think, um, in closing the journey of Palm Sunday, uh, reminds us that following Jesus is rarely what we expect, which is what we've talked about, those who laid down palm branches and shouted, Hosanna.
Could not have imagined what was coming. Nobody did really. They were looking for a king to meet their immediate needs, but Jesus was establishing an eternal kingdom. They wanted political freedom, but Jesus offered something far greater, which Jen talked about freedom from sin and death. [00:46:00] Uh, maybe you have your own expectations of what God should be doing in your life right now.
Maybe you've been disappointed when things haven't worked out as you think they should, or perhaps you found yourself going through the motions of faith without truly preparing your heart for what God wants you to do, and he definitely has something for you to do. So the beauty of this coming Holy Week, as we call it, between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, is, uh, that this, I think, invites us into a deeper story, into God's story one way.
God's ways are higher than our ways where true power is found in surrender, as we've been talking about, and where heart preparations matter more than outward displays. So as we journey through Holy Week, let us hold our expectations loosely. Let's embrace Jesus's upside down approach to power, and let's prepare our hearts for what God truly wants to do in and through us.
The same crowds that shouted Hosanna on [00:47:00] Sunday would shout crucify him on Friday, uh, but Sunday wasn't the end of the story and neither was Friday. Easter was coming. That's the promise we hold onto, and that is what we are getting into next week as we cover Easter. And the resurrection, perhaps. Well, there's no, perhaps about it.
It's my favorite topic. Yes, the resurrection. Uh, mainly because if there's no resurrection, there's no Christian faith, uh, as Paul put it in the, in the New Testament. So we are gonna get into that. Matt said, here is next week's talk about Jesus or about over consuming overconsumption of chocolate. You
Sharon Edmundson: can cover both, I guess.
Matt Edmundson: Why limit ourselves to just one? Uh, yes, we are gonna cover that. So make sure you like and subscribe and do all of that good stuff. Uh, we are going to this week do week number two of the Alpha course. Why did Jesus die? So, if you are watching this and would like to join on the Alpha course, uh, you'd be more than welcome myself and Jan, who you can't see, she's.
Uh, [00:48:00] right there behind the cameras. Uh, we'll be hosting the Alpha Doum. Join us. Uh, it's not too late. Uh, just go to the website, www dot crowd church. Follow the links to Alpha. I'm just putting your name and email and I'll send you the Zoom information so you can come join us on Alpha.
Sharon Edmundson: I was gonna say, if you're not sure what Alpha is, it is, uh, it's a course designed for people who are searching, not sure about faith, who've got questions.
It's a very, um, non-threatening way. You can just. It's very chilled. She can come and ask you questions, hopefully get some good answers.
Matt Edmundson: You say it's non-threatening, Jan's in the room. Jan's fabulous. Jan's awesome, but she does threaten me on occasions. Um, it's always the same, uh, but no do come, do, come join us, Alpha's.
Great. Actually, if you wanna know more about the Christian faith, you might not be a Christian yet. You might just be exploring Christianity. You might be a new Christian. It's just a really great way to get your head around some of the fundamentals of the Christian faith. [00:49:00] I love doing it. Every time we do it, Alpha's fantastic.
Like I say, more information on the website. Do come and join us, like I say, for the Easter service next week. Looking forward to that. We're gonna do the same thing. We're gonna do, not exactly the same thing, but we're gonna have a panel conversation for the Easter service next week. But in closing, any final thoughts from you?
Sharon Edmundson: I never have final thoughts when you get to this part. I'm like, no, my brain's shut down now. Sorry. It's great to be with you.
Jenny Mariner: I think if you are one of those people who might be a bit disappointed or questioning something, then I just really encourage you to ask God for his perspective. Yeah, definitely.
And see seeing what he shows you, who knows? You just never know.
Matt Edmundson: You can actually reach out to us through the website with prayer request as well. So, um, they come through and we, we do pray through those. So, uh, yeah, that's also there. But that's it from me. That's it from my beautiful wife Sharon. That's it from my beautiful pastor.
Jen, you have a phenomenal week, wherever you are in the world. Uh, I will see you next [00:50:00] week. That's it from us. Bye for now. God bless you.
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