Beyond Sunday
Beyond Sunday
Who Is This? (Palm Sunday)
This Palm Sunday episode of Beyond Sunday explores who Jesus is—Humble King, Eternal King, and Suffering King—and what that means for our everyday lives. Through personal stories and honest conversations, we reflect on how Jesus meets us with compassion, walks with us in pain, and reminds us that He’s still on the throne.
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Thanks for listening!
Welcome to Beyond Sunday. My name is Deena Newsom and this is the podcast where we discuss the sermon message from King of Kings Church this week. I have three amazing guests here with me today. Would you like to introduce yourselves everyone?
Speaker 2:Sure, my name is Kate Solberg and I'm the Associate Campus Director at King of Kings Northwest.
Speaker 3:I'm Greg Griffith and I'm the Lead Pastor.
Speaker 4:And I'm Julie Easley. I'm the Executive Director.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being here with me.
Speaker 4:Happy to be here.
Speaker 1:This week was a busy week at King of Kings, palm Sunday, baptism, sunday, first Communion lots of excitement as we gear up for Easter. So my question to you to start out today, as we're getting ready for Easter what is your favorite Easter tradition? Maybe it was something when you were growing up that you did. Maybe it's something you do with your family now. Maybe it's a piece of the worship services that happen. What's your favorite Easter tradition?
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm, I remember coloring eggs of the worship services that happen. What's your favorite Easter tradition? I remember coloring eggs, so like. That smell of vinegar and hard-boiled eggs will stay with me for the rest of my life and the little wire thing that you dip, you know, into the colored water. We still color eggs. Yeah, that's fun.
Speaker 3:We do them and I love them, and then uh, yeah and then you make them into deviled eggs yum, which you use regular mayonnaise, not miracle whip, that's from the devil, oh no, no I'm a miracle good to know, same, I'm also miracle whip um, a tradition doesn't jump out in my brain.
Speaker 2:I remember one Easter when it was like pretty stressful going on in my life and I actually bought everything I needed for my young children's Easter at the gas station and no one knew the difference.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, that's right.
Speaker 2:I was pretty impressed with myself.
Speaker 1:My favorite part is hunting for Easter eggs, hiding them and hunting them. My kids all have trauma about that, because my ex-husband would like to hide eggs where no one could find them just to tease the kids, and my brother would also hide eggs where it took a long time so he could go relax and the little kids when they were young, smart.
Speaker 4:That's a brilliant strategy. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1:But I like doing that. Even now my kids are grown, we still do an Easter egg hunt, so that's exciting for me. So this week we heard from Pastor Zach Zender and he really talked about who is Jesus. So what really stuck out to you, what's something you're taking beyond Sunday from this message?
Speaker 2:There was a lot of great takeaways Some Sundays. I just wish King of Kings was more vocal, like I found myself being on wanting to be like yes amen, but I held.
Speaker 2:I held it in. Um. One thing I did not know was I loved when Zach said um Palm Sunday is a foreshadow of when Jesus returns and we'll wave palm branches Never knew that part Same. And we'll wave palm branches Never knew that part Same. I was like wow, that's so exciting. So I love that part. When he connected it to the second coming of Christ, yeah, it was really good.
Speaker 4:I think what stood out to me was just his talking about Jesus coming in right to Jerusalem on a donkey. Coming in right to Jerusalem on a donkey and like you're just eye view with everybody instead of being way up high as you're kind of going by clippity-clop on this slow, humble animal, You're able just to really look at everyone, and I think Jesus does really look at each one of us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the idea always has struck me is that this is the moment Jesus comes. And in those days and Zach mentioned and talked about this the coming on a donkey means that you're coming in peace form. Everyone could relax because they knew the king wasn't coming to bring a sword, but to come and bring a love, and so, but the reminder that Jesus is coming to bring peace, but they expected him to come eventually with the sword and that's what they wanted. And then it's kind of like, when it didn't happen, then it was like, okay, well, let's turn on you, we don't need your peace, we need your sword.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this whole message just really got me thinking in my brain about who is Jesus to me, and Zach encouraged us all at the end to take a piece of paper and literally write that down, and I stuck a sticky note beside my bed and I started just jotting things down and so the list is still going. We'll see where we get to. So Zach brought up three points where he talked about who Jesus is, and the first one was talking about Jesus is the humble king, and a lot of that was talking, like you guys mentioned, coming in on the donkey being eye level. I know, with the history and kids ministry, for me one of the things that I really would do with kids is squat down so that I can talk to them at eye level. So when he started talking about that like it rung an instant bell for me of that is so lowly of him to come down to our level, like not just coming to earth but then the donkey entrance too. Were there other parts of Jesus being a humble king that resonated with you guys?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I thought about the verse in Isaiah 42 that is talking about, like it's a foreshadowing of Jesus, and it says he will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. And Jesus isn't going to shout for our attention. He's not like, hey, you haven't done your. You know, you haven't spent time with me in weeks and I've done so much for you, you ungrateful. Right, he's very quiet and waits for us to come to him. He's not going to push his way into our lives and there's a humility about that and it just kind of reminds me like am I creating space to meet with Jesus? Because he's not going to force his way, he wants to be invited, because he's humble, he wants to be invited because he's humble.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when I think of humility, especially with Jesus, I think a lot about that. He listens, and listening is actually a form of humility, and so we see throughout the scriptures they would say Lord, lord, and he listens. We know that we can pray to him and and he's our intercessor with the Father, and so you know, I kind of have a phrase on one of my doors in my office that just says I'm a leader who listens, learns and loves, and so that listening is so much part. When I think about what does it look like to be a humble leader and a humble servant? Is it means listening to others and not always talking, not always speaking, not always sharing, but sometimes just listening. And I think about that. We have a God who really wants to listen and not just dictate, but listen.
Speaker 2:I mostly thought of, like what the disciples must've been thinking. I feel like they, at this point, they had seen the power Jesus had within him, and so they were wanting him to display that. But again, jesus is always has a better plan, and so they were, and there must have just been a lot of angst inside them. I feel like Like what is he going to do next? So that's what I was thinking about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that excitement level must have been just that whole last week for the disciples and those close to Him just must have been insane. You know the things he had been speaking about were coming true and how different it must have looked from Palm Sunday to Easter for them. Yeah, zach moved into talking about Jesus is the eternal king. He is the king not just now, but forever. What spoke to you guys about thinking about Jesus being our eternal king?
Speaker 3:I think it's a reminder of like how wrapped up I get in things of this world and like his kingdom's not of this world and so, which means it's forever and it's outside of this.
Speaker 3:And you know, I get so wrapped up in all the hoopla of this world and I'm not even talking. I think we automatically go to materialism. I'm not, I'm talking. Even the hoopla of, like my dream of walking my daughters down the aisle, that's this worldly. My dream of sitting someday on a porch with Lori and just, you know, relaxing, like that's this world. You know all the things that we look and say this is, that's this world. All the things that we look and say this is what this world is. And yet his world is so much more and so much more eternal, and really all of those things are meant to fade away and then are going to be unveiled in a whole new way, in a whole new glory, and in a way that I go, I never even want to go back to those things, and so it just reminds us of the eternalness and also that that kingdom is outside of our comprehension.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it makes me think too of there is going to be a new heaven and a new earth and my brain can't wrap around that. But because it's going to be incredible, and probably for the last year at least year, I've been starting almost every prayer with you're on the throne. You're on the throne, because I just need to remind myself he's King, he's eternal King, and really I don't think there's anything else I need to know. You know, if I do need to know it, it pales in comparison. So that, just that brings me peace and comfort.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus was there at the creation of the world, I mean in Colossians it talks about that like everything was created through him and he's going to be there at the end of time. And we know that Jesus is truly good and so this temporal life and all of life is in a safe pair of hands, which brings great comfort, especially when things can feel a little chaotic. Just knowing that it started off perfectly and it's going to end up perfectly because of Jesus. It's a great thing to contemplate.
Speaker 3:And I think something so important too is like, not only is he a king for eternity and we know that through the resurrection but as citizens of his kingdom, our eternity has already begun. And like, so like and I think we do a disservice when we say like, oh, now they're in a, when someone dies and they go to heaven. It's like, oh, now they're living forever. Well, they were already living forever, right, as Christians, like, we're already living forever. Eternity has begun. I'm already in this eternal life, and so when we have an eternal perspective about everything, honestly my anxiety can really lower, because I'm reminded of like gosh, when everything set into the. You know, I can't even remember the things when I was 10 years old that caused me stress and anxiety. I know I had them. I know there were times where I thought, if we don't do this, it's the end of the world. Now that I look back as a 47 year old, I'm like you know, whatever they were, it didn't matter, right, and so that's just, I think, going to be our perspective.
Speaker 1:I think that's really wise. I find my children are 28, 27, and 18 now and I find they echo some of the stresses and worries that I had when I was that age. But, like you said, now having a much older perspective, it's so easy, I think, sometimes for me to be almost dismissive of them, but I think now where I am in my faith life, it gives me the opportunity to minister to them, because you know what this is really big to you right now. But Jesus is on the throne and he's got this now and forever, and I can tell you now, 25 years later in my life, that is not that big of a deal if you trust God with it now, and it's a level of trust to turn over to him. So then Zach moved on to talking about Jesus is the suffering king. What resonated with each of you on Jesus suffering as our king?
Speaker 2:Good Friday's heavy, like I have to, like, prepare myself or, you know, do what I can. But I don't think we would be able to relate to him in the same way if we, you know, didn't know all the details that are revealed in scripture of what he went through on our behalf. So that's powerful. He isn't a Lord who doesn't know what it's like to be human and suffer.
Speaker 1:He, he, he has done that, so that's powerful my favorite, one of my favorite bible images comes from palm sunday and it's when he's coming into the city and he weeps over the city like it talks about. He weeps for jerusalem and that continues to resonate with me in different ways and shapes in my life. But part of it is just the brokenness that he acknowledges there, the suffering he's going to have to go through and the brokenness that's going to be left behind because it's a sinful world and he's taking that away eternally, but not in the moment.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think the suffering part is the part that actually unites us with God in a deeper way than any other faith um, that we actually have a God who suffered and who knows what we go through.
Speaker 3:So our God doesn't sit and say, oh yeah, that's too bad for you and I'm sorry and that causes me pain, um, and I'll fix it later. Like our God is, I've walked with your suffering, I've suffered with you, and so he truly knows, he truly has been there. He's not only walked in our shoes, he's walked before our shoes and taken that path with us, and so I always like to say the beauty is that we have a suffering King. One of the things I share in almost any funeral message that I give is that the joy of Easter and the joy of the reality that we have through the victory of Easter is that when we see Jesus face to face, when we see Jesus face to face, we will no longer see any scars that we have, but rather we'll only see his scars given for you and for me, and so his suffering has changed our eternity and changed who we are, and so that's just unique. There's no other faith that has a God who would humble himself and suffer with his people.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think about Jesus in the garden. That was a huge moment of suffering, right, just the absolute agony that he was in. And Jesus, like everybody has said here, jesus understands what it's like to have agonizing situations in our lives, but even just like the small suffering that we experience when we're hungry and we really need a shower, or it's too hot outside or you're really tired, like he went through all of that and I'm just so grateful for that and that he again this goes back to his humility that he was willing to kind of lower himself to experience all the things we experienced. And I was listening to a podcast that was talking about what do you do with the great unfixables of life? You know the things that just don't make sense, that are continuing to be really difficult. And when I think about Jesus in the garden, that was a situation that God was not going to swoop in and fix things and say you know what? Never mind, you don't have to do this, jesus has walked with us through it all.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, so Pastor Zach kind of moved on at that point and really talked about, literally in the Bible, all of the things that Jesus is naming, all of the ways, and I don't know about you guys, but I felt like it was a little bit of like a hip hop rap concert going on there he just was going on and it just kept going and kept going and some of the comments that he was using you know, like just way maker things that they're not my natural inclinations of what I think of as Jesus.
Speaker 1:I think of him as a savior, I think of him as a son, I think of him as a light. But like literally, when you start looking at all the different pieces of the Bible, you know what is it that jumps out at you? Like what do you guys feel? What do you normally think of Jesus? As the words that struck?
Speaker 4:you. I just went and looked at a list of all the different names that Jesus has in the Bible and man. I saw a lot of them, but I'm just going to highlight two that I thought of. Jesus is a good shepherd, like someone who's guiding, who's protecting, who's close by. As I reflect back on my life, there have been some hard things, but Jesus has always worked those things out Somehow. There's something I can see that it somehow is working out for my good. So just knowing that Jesus is a good shepherd just is so tender to me as I think about it. And then I think about him as the author and finisher of my faith. He started my story and he's going to complete my story. He'll be with me through it all. He's not leaving me hanging, and so just knowing kind of it fits with the shepherd too. Just with you through the course of your life, through all the ups and downs guiding, protecting, bringing things together for your good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think when I think about who is Jesus to me, it always comes back to that. He's my Lord and my Savior and that's always important for me because as my Lord, then I need to submit to Him as my Savior. He redeems me from my failures and at the end of every day I have to live in those two bounds, because I have to begin the day saying it's not my will, it's not my way, it's not my decisions, it's not what I want, and at the end of the day I have to rest because I have failed. So that always for who is Jesus, does resonate with me. All the other things that he does and who he is as our God just are reminders of that. He's our God, more expansive than we can ever imagine, and I love that and that truly is what a friend is, a friend's way, more than how you can define them or what you call them by name, and that's who we get to have with Jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was part of the sermon where I wanted to, you know, shout some amens but I did not, and really go right ahead.
Speaker 4:I think that's great, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know. You can do it, Kate I think Peter would back me up, but I don't know about anyone else.
Speaker 2:But that list was awesome and it is. It's just. It's the best thing to do when you don't know what to do is to go through the traits and the characteristics of who Jesus is, because that does not change. And for me, on Sunday, the big one was the fourth man in the fire. That story is incredible to me, and when I was going through chemotherapy, someone prayed that for me, that Jesus would go into the fire and, just like the fire burned nothing except what bound them, that the chemotherapy would burn only the cancer and leave everything else, and I'll never forget that. And so that Bible story, I would sit in the hospital room and read it over and over and just be amazed at what Jesus did and what he still does. So, yeah, there's times, even with my kids, like we'll go through the alphabet, you know, and just start with A. What is a word for the Lord? Either a name for Him or a trait, and it's amazing. You know all the words and traits you can come up with.
Speaker 1:Very expansive. Yeah, Is there anything else from this week that really you guys are going to be taking beyond Sunday?
Speaker 2:Just me talking about the second coming. I'm going to get annoying because it's just in my head. I just feel like whenever we talk about Scripture and what God has done that we should end it with and he's coming back. He has a plan, he's coming back. He has a plan, he's coming back. Only God knows the day and that's the only one who needs to know the day. But we look forward to that and we prepare for it. Our time's limited, and so we don't want to miss any opportunities that he gives us.
Speaker 1:I thought of that when Zach was giving the illustration from the book. He read at the end where he was talking about the woman half in the pool, half in half out, half wet, half dry, half cold, half hot, that all miserable. And I thought about that, like how much are we holding back in our daily life from what we give to him Because we think, oh, it's not tomorrow, I've got time, but we don't know when that is.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so can we get all in.
Speaker 3:Right and Kate. That's why I love at communion. The blessing I love to give at the end is now the body and blood of our risen living and coming.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:Because that's what we're professing when we take communion is that this is the body and blood of the Lord who is risen, the Lord who's living today, eternal, and who's coming, and we can't forget that.
Speaker 1:He is coming and he's coming soon Right. All right. Thank you guys so much for being here today. We will be back on Beyond Sunday next week with our discussion of our Easter message. Enjoy your Easter celebrations this weekend and in the meantime, let's keep living our faith beyond Sunday. You.
