On Palm Sunday, Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem to a celebrating crowd. Like Clark Kent removing his glasses, Jesus finally goes public with the fact that he is Israel’s long-awaited Messiah who has come to free them. 

Luke tells us the crowds are ecstatic. But Jesus cries.

Jesus knows that he cannot give the crowd the good things they want. They want him to be a political force, a nationalistic leader who overthrows Israel’s enemies. 

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And still, Jesus does not give them good things they ask for. And it makes him sad. Jesus loves them too much to give them what they want. 

Like the crowds are we are asking for a better version of a life we already have, when Jesus offers us a totally new life? To do that, we need to die to the old one. Jesus says he will go first.

The happy ending of Palm Sunday isn't a parade celebrating Rome’s upheaval. It's a Savior who takes on the forces that empower Rome, death and evil.

What if like the crowds we are only asking for a better version of a small life, when Jesus wants to do something totally new?  

Jesus wept because he could see what the crowds couldn't. What might he see about you that you're not able to see?

Is there a version of flourishing you're afraid to want? Because it would cost too much, or ask too much of you?

Fewer things are more dangerous than passivity disguised as faith. Are you praying for clarity or simply afraid to make a move? Passivity says "I can't." Ownership says, "I am responsible for my life. " How do we move from passivity to ownership? Jonah helps us get there with his Prayer of Passivity.

Do modern people like us struggle with idols? Would you be surprised to learn that an idol is not just a little statue you worship but it's also anything we give power and authority to that doesn't naturally possess that power?

Relationships can have power over us they were never meant to have. Our jobs can have power it wasn't meant to. The opinions of our peers, etc.

How do we find freedom from idols?

How does God view the people around you? Do you see the people around you like God sees them?

...by protecting what is. 90% of people can't get excited about what they haven't seen. God invites Jonah into a new thing he is doing. But Jonah resists. Why? And how does Jonah's resistance help us face what we're resisting?

We wrongly believe that if we resist hard things, they go away. But as the old proverb says, "That which we resist persists." There's an Old Testament story about a prophet who resisted God's plan. Jonah is meant to be a Bizzaro Jesus. Called called Jesus to rescue people. Jesus obeyed. God called Jonah to preach his kindness to his enemies. Jonah resisted. His resistance did not stop God's kindness.

There are few things worse than going through life with limited options. Sin limits our options. It makes our worlds small. Sin tells us to stay hidden. Sin doesn't help us move toward God and others, but deeper into hiding. Confession is a tool God gives us to expand our options. Confession is telling the truth. In today's we talk about three essential elements to confession and how to experience being set free by the truth.

Too many of us learned that to belong among God's people we need to behave a certain way. What if that's not true?

It's easy for us to see that others are good for the world. But what about me? What about my ambition? What about my perspective? How can I be good for the world? Today Luke discusses how we can come to trust that what God put in me, is good for the world.

Information doesn't create the connected life. So what does?