Latest / St. Paul Podcast / Living for others, 3.29.2026

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Living for others, 3.29.2026 · St. Paul Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone and welcome to the St.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Mark Neethammer, senior pastor at St.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Lutheran Church, located in Davenport, Iowa, part of the Greater Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right here, each week, you will find beautiful music and a message of hope and good news to guide your life.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I am hopeful that this podcast can inspire you and help you on your journey of faith as you grow in love and trust in our God.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: Since at least the fourth century, Christians have remembered Jesus' triumphant, humble entry into Jerusalem on the weekend before Easter.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: A literal procession of palms began in Jerusalem so long ago and has spread throughout the world.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: And still today, we celebrate the saving work of Jesus waving palms and singing out Hosanna.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: But while we won't hear this turn on the podcast today, worship this weekend didn't just mark the parade of palms, but we also told the story of Jesus' last hours as he walked steadily to the cross.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: Our Hosanna quickly turned to crucify him.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: In all of this, we are drawn to see the character of Jesus and the entire scope of the story of our redemption.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: As we begin this holy week, we name that Jesus is a glorified king and humiliated servant.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: We wave palms in celebration today as Christ comes into our midst, and we follow with trepidation as his path leads to the death on the cross.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: We begin this holy week anticipating the completion of God's astounding, amazing, world-changing, life-saving work.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: So let's listen to that story of that first palm parade so long ago from the 21st chapter of the Gospel, according to Matthew.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her, and tie them and bring them to me.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_03: If anyone says anything to you, just say this: the Lord needs them, and he will send them immediately.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: The crowd that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Hosanna in the highest heaven.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, Who is this?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_03: The crowds were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: So now let's hear more about that day of palms and donkeys and hosannahs.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, and there are some images mentioned.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: They're linked in the show notes.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: So listen in.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: The story of Jesus and that great palm parade is in all four of the Gospels, those books of the Bible that tell of the life of Jesus.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: But each one of those gospel writers tells a little different detail, offers different kinds of pieces of the puzzle of that story.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: In Luke, we hear about Jesus talking about the stones crying out if the crowds were silent.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_03: John is the only one who specifies what kind of tree branches are used.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: He talks about the palms.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_03: And in Matthew, which we heard today, we don't just hear about one beast of burden upon which Jesus rose, but in this story, we hear that Jesus rides on two animals, a donkey and a colt.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_03: Matthew writes.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: Matthew writes that Jesus sat on them, on both of them.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_03: That Jesus, the disciples brought this donkey and the colt, put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them, which is sort of ridiculous.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_03: Why, and more importantly, how does Jesus sit on both a donkey and a colt?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: Here is one example.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: Perhaps you too thought of this image as you heard of Jesus sitting on them.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_03: Or maybe, maybe you uh thought instead of those incredible circus acrobats who can ride somehow both two horses, a donkey, and a colt at the very same time.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: Every time I read how Jesus sits on them, I think, uh, how is that even possible?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: But more than likely, what happened on the road of Jerusalem was something more like this from this image depicted in a church in France from a mural there.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: The animals aren't two different breeds, but it's really telling of a mother donkey and her baby.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: And as I've been pondering this story this week of Jesus walking into Jerusalem, I keep thinking about this tiny detail that Matthew offers to us and how much it tells us about who Jesus is.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: This is what I've been thinking about this week, this detail which exposes for us the character of our Savior.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, one reason that Jesus uh this is included in the story of Jesus is because it's a fulfillment.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: Jesus is the fulfillment of what the prophets have been saying, dreaming about throughout the Hebrew Bible of this king who would come to save the world.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: The prophet Zephaniah said, Do not be afraid.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: Your king is coming, riding on a donkey and a colt.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: Those two donkeys declare how Jesus follows in this line of our heroes of faith: Moses and Deborah, David and Elijah, Esther, and all the rest.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: He's not just some fly-by-night awesome guy.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: Jesus is the Son of God, the one who was and who is and who is to come, the one for whom we have waited.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: In the midst of this palm parade so long ago, historians say that at this very same time that Jesus walked in on his donkey with the colt, the Roman Emperor was also parading into the city.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_03: On the other side of town, this Roman emperor would have come in on the fanciest and the strongest of stallions, all muscle and armor.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: That governor would have been flanked by a whole battalion of chariots and soldiers and more horses.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: It would have been a show of might and force, of power, and coercion.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: That parade was a whole lot different than the one on the other side of the town, where the hero rode on a donkey with a baby donkey alongside.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: Jesus chooses to ride this humble beast of burden, common, the kind of creature that anyone could have, that was no sign of wealth or privilege.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: Sort of like that dependable, rusted-out Ford truck.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: We see in this image not just the humility of Jesus, but we also see a small kindness because when Jesus needed a ride on that most important day, Jesus refused to separate that donkey from her child.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_03: And so as Jesus walked into Jerusalem with the donkey and her baby, Jesus demonstrates his care even for this tiny little donkey.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: And it exposes something about his character, doesn't it?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_03: The depth of his love.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_03: And it also says this there really is nothing more vulnerable, more defenseless, more humble than a baby donkey on its wobbly legs.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_03: There is nothing that could be more opposite of a knight on a stallion than a poor man on a donkey dragging along its baby with him.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: We see Jesus' character, his commitment to humility and care, his refusal to control through violence and domination.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: The crowd was cheering, likely for ready for a fight and a revolution.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: But Jesus knew his purpose was even bigger.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: He knew that his challenge was not just to one empire of one time and place, but to conquer the forces of evil in this world, the power of death, and in Jesus' wisdom and divinity and understanding.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: He knew that that could only come through loving, through self-giving.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: And so with this steep commitment to us, to this world, to our salvation, we see Jesus rode that donkey into Jerusalem on his way to the cross.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: We see this steep commitment of Jesus not only in that palm parade, but in the story of the passion, which we'll hear in a little bit.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: We'll hear how his way was not deterred, no matter what humiliation he experienced, no matter what abuse, not by religious or political authorities, not even the greatest power of this world, death, could stop Jesus, could keep him from blessing and loving and mending and saving this whole universe.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: There were those who confronted Jesus, who taunted him, who said to him, He saved others.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: Let him save himself.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: But the truth of the matter is if Jesus would have saved himself, if he would have called an army to defend him, he could not have saved anyone else.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: He could not have saved his beloved disciples.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: He could not have saved us.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_03: He could not have saved this whole world.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: And his refusal to fight back, we see the strength and the depth of his character, the breadth of his love, that self-giving that we just heard about, which Paul wrote about in Philippians, where Jesus emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave for the sake of this world.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: This is the Jesus we know on that donkey on this day.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: One person who knew this story and lived it boldly is a man named Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: You may have known of him, heard his story.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: This German from the last century who, with a confessing church in Germany, worked against the Nazi regime.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_03: He was arrested, put in prison, killed in prison.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: But while he was in prison, he wrote a lot of letters and these journals.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: And there's this one sentence that stands out for me where he says this the experience of a transformation of all human life is given in the fact that Jesus was there only for others.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: Jesus was there for others.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_03: This is at the heart of his ministry, of his life, of his dying and rising.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: He was there for others, existing not for his own sake, or for the sake of this world.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: This is astonishing to us, isn't it?
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's almost incomprehensible for us who live in a world where we're all focused so much on ourselves so often, where we arm ourselves with words and weapons with cruelty and indifference.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_03: But we have been given the savior who gave his life for the sake of this world.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: And not just for a few, not just for the really good ones, but for all, for the degraded and the ignored, even for his enemies.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: Even for that donkey.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: And so, as people who wave our palm branches today, we are invited to follow Jesus, to live for others too.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: We can decide to live in ways that don't just serve and benefit ourselves, but others too, especially the most vulnerable.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_03: It might be that we let go of something or challenge some sort of norms.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_03: We might have to go a bit slower, shift some habits or risk something.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_03: But this life lived for others is not just a sacrifice, it's not just a sign of our obedience, but it's where we will find joy and connection and community and ultimately our salvation.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: I think of those people on the side of the road waving their palms, throwing their cloaks onto the road, shouting, Hosanna.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: And given how we use this word, it's easy to think that the Hosanna means something like we adore you.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: Go, King.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_03: But the word in Hebrew literally means save us.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_03: Demanding a prayer just as much as it is praise.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it's still our prayer.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: We join with God's people throughout history who have cried for hope and for healing to be saved from our own personal and private sufferings, but also those big oppressions and enormous terrors.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: We too sing, Hosanna, save us.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe you're like me when I wish sometimes that Jesus would come with chariots and armor to just make everything right in the flash of a sword, a bolt of lightning, and a crash of divine force, stomping in like a knight on a steed.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: And yet that would be utterly out of character for Jesus.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_03: This one who emptied himself for us and for this one world.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: This one who continues to save this world in the way that God has from the very beginning.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: By blessing and loving and forgiving.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_03: This one who brings about love by more love, who grows power by sharing it, who never gives up on anyone, who gathers unlikely and unexpected people together into a brigade that brings goodness into this world.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Who shows up on a donkey with a baby donkey trailing behind and saves the world.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: In just a little while, we'll read this story of Jesus and his last hours.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: And as we listen, I pray that you can open your hearts like those peasants on the road of Jerusalem waving their branches.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: I pray that you can offer not just your praises and your gratitude for all that God has done in Jesus.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_03: But I pray that you also give your hopes and your yearnings and your hosannas.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: And as you do, I trust that Jesus, our gentle King who lived for others, will indeed save us.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: Now we turn to God in prayer, saying those words Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_03: Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_03: Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_03: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_03: Jesus Christ, who humbly rode on a donkey with her colt, is Lord over heaven and earth.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_03: You are too free to live and to die with courage, to love and to serve with hope.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_03: Today and always.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_03: Amen.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you've enjoyed this podcast and thanks for your support of the ministries of St.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Lutheran Church.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Our commitment to endeavors that lend hope to other people stretches across the country and around the world.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: We hope that in a good way you feel a part of that reach.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Tune in next Thursday for another edition of the Saint Paul Podcast.