Today's Reading: Table of Duties: Children

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 5:1-30; Revelation 21:9-27

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." (Small Catechism: Table of Duties, Children)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You're a gift to your parents. Of all the people that could be your parents, you got the ones you received as a gift. Of all the kids they could've gotten, they were given you as a gift. It's all gift from the Lord.

He's the Lord of loving, serving, saving. Him FOR YOU. He was born of the Virgin Mary. She, His mother. He, her Son. She, His servant. He, her Lord, her Savior. He loved and served her, even giving her into the care of John at the Cross. There He died for Mary, for John, for you, and for your parents. There He shed His blood.

Into this death and into His Easter coming back to life, He's baptized you. In Jesus you are now a living sacrifice to your parents. You love and serve them. You care for them. You forgive them! They need it! You do, too. They forgive you. Your pastor forgives you and them. You receive Jesus' Body and Blood together. You are all one in Him.

Even if they're weird, they are the hand-picked gift for you, and you the hand-picked gift for them. This is all for your good and their good, too. Not to backtalk, but forgive. Not to ignore their word but to rejoice in their teaching, especially from God's Word.

But when you or they mess it up and fight, you all have the same Savior, the same Jesus, the same Baptism, the same Body and Blood. You are forgiven in Jesus. That's the true gift that Jesus makes sure you and your parents have, receive, and share in. It's why He's gifted you the way He has. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

"You are to honor and obey Your father, mother, ev'ry day, Serve them each way that comes to hand; You'll then live long in the land." Have mercy, Lord! ("These Are the Holy Ten Commands" LSB 581, st. 5)

Today's Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 4:1-37; Revelation 21:1-8

For God has not appointed us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died FOR US, that either awake or asleep we would live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and build one another up, just as you are also doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God doesn't want wrath for you. He doesn't want to send you to hell, condemning you, destroying you. He wants to save. That's His eternal will for you. From eternity the Triune God planned to save you, chose you in Jesus. And so that's exactly what God did.

He appointed you to obtain salvation, that is, to reach salvation, to receive salvation. He did that through Jesus. He died for us, for all of us! For God the Father loved the world in that way, by giving up His Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. You are saved because Jesus died for you. You obtain that salvation, receive it. It's delivered to you. We don't want to miss this point. It's important for the last part of what Paul's saying here. So often we glide right past it as Lutherans.

The Triune God managed everything so that you would obtain salvation at the font in the water and Word of Holy Baptism. He made it so that you would be able to hear and receive His Word. God the Father created bread and wine, the Son chose them and spoke over them His Word to deliver His Body and Blood for your forgiveness, and the Spirit hand-picked your pastor so that you have His man to deliver not only that Body and Blood, but also Absolution, preaching, and Baptism.

You, too! You're in on the Lord's appointing people for obtaining salvation. For as Paul says, "Therefore comfort each other and build one another up, just as you are also doing" (1 Thessalonians 5:11). He's given you to your neighbor to point him to the Lord's delivering of salvation through His Word and Gifts. You comfort those around you with the comfort of the Gospel that says, "Jesus Christ died and rose for you."

This means that you will live with Him, and I will, too! We've heard and received and believed that Jesus died and rose for us. God moved history to make this happen. So, you're saved! What comfort! Now it doesn't matter if you live or die, you will live again with Jesus. After all, God has appointed you to obtain this salvation, receive it, believe it. And through His Son and by the Spirit that's exactly what happens for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Today's Reading: Isaiah 65:17-25

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 3:1-30; Revelation 20:1-15

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in My people, and a sound of weeping or a sound of crying will never be heard in her. (Isaiah 65:19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We rejoice in God because of what He's done for us. He is our delight because He is our Savior. "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Worthy is Christ the Lamb whose blood set us free to be people of God!

The Father's delight is in His Son. The Son's delight is in His Bride, the Church, the new and true and even heavenly Jerusalem. He gave Himself up for Her, making Her holy through the washing of water with the Word (Ephesians 5:25-26). His joy is saving you: "For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, despising its shame, and is seated at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 12:2).

There's nothing delightful in us, spiritually speaking. Sure we have all the wonderful gifts and talents God gives us--"every good gift is from above" (James 1:17). But these things, as wonderful as they are for loving and serving our neighbor, do us no good before God. "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples" (Deuteronomy 7:7). "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross" (Colossians 2:13-14).

He will rejoice over you eternally. He will fill you with joy. There will be no more crying or mourning. There will be no more death (Revelation 7:17, 21:4). "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind" (Isaiah 65:17).

When the troubles of this life surround you, know that it's already been undone in the death and resurrection of Jesus. There the eternal party kicked off. People rose from the dead on Good Friday! You're a part of that. You've died and risen with Christ. You've heard the Absolution-- heaven's gates are opened to you. You've received the Body and Blood of Jesus, which is the Lord's victory Feast. The eternal life, delivered in the forgiveness of sins, is yours right now. The eternal life of the Last Day will be yours, too. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Today's Reading: Matthew 25:1-13

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 22:24-49; Revelation 19:1-21

In the middle of the night there was a shout, "Look, the Bridegroom! Come out to greet Him!" (Matthew 25:6)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus will come. He will come to kick off the eternal feast, the eternal party, the eternal celebration. Jesus will send forth the Holy Spirit to raise the dead. The Spirit "will give eternal life to you and all believers in Christ" (Small Catechism: Apostles Creed, Third Article). And so you "will live under [Christ] in His Kingdom and serve in Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity" (Small Catechism: Apostles Creed, Second Article).

His return is unexpected. It will be just like thunder waking you up in the middle of the night. The sound will be the cry of the angel, and he'll be announcing Christ. "Look! It's Him! It's Jesus! He's the Bridegroom! Come out and greet Him!" And those who trust in Him will not be put to shame. They will enter with Christ into the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end. What about those who bartered, bargained, and bet on His coming and what was necessary in their relationship with Him, saying, "We've got enough, right?" Well, they are left out. "Go away. I never knew you," Jesus will say.

There's no "enough" when it comes to the Lord Jesus. No, with Him there's always more--always more mercy, always more forgiveness. Just look at what He does! For your salvation, it wasn't enough for Him to become man or suffer or die or rise or ascend into heaven. No, now He rules the universe so that you would always have more than enough of His cup-overflowing salvation. He makes you His own in Holy Baptism--He knows you. You know Him, too, through His Word. There you hear of His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His death and resurrection: preaching, Bible, Absolution, forgiveness. He hosts for you His Feast of Victory, the Supper of His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins.

Jesus is the true Bridegroom, and the Church His true Bride. He gives Himself into death for Her, He makes Her holy, He nourishes and cares for Her. And His Bride, the Holy Church, has been died for, made holy, fed, and cared for. We are members of His Body, the Church. Not because of how wise we are or how righteous, pure, virgin-like we are. No, you and I are members of His Body because we eat and drink of His Body and Blood. He remains with us and we remain with Him and He will resurrect us on the Last Day. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen

Today's Reading: Introit for the Last Sunday of the Church Year

(Psalm 39:4-5, 7-8; antiphon: Isaiah 35:10)

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 2:1-23; Revelation 18:1-24

The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (From the Introit for the Last Sunday of the Church Year)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Lord's ransomed you. He's paid the penalty. Wiped the slate clean. His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death did it. You were chosen in Him before the creation of the world, and He chose you in the new-creation waters of Holy Baptism.

Life is tough. Seems to be getting tougher all the time. What will college hold? Your career? Your life? Your job? Well, the reality is one day it will all go away because you will go away. You're going to die. I know it seems like it's a long way off, but it's coming.

When I put it that way it may seem pointless, right? Meaningless, even. It could make you despair. But just because it will all go away doesn't mean it's not a gift from the Lord to take care of you and take care of others through you. And just because you will go away--die doesn't mean you won't come back. Because you will!

You will return! You'll come back…from the dead! All that's wrong with the world, all that's wrong with you, everything that gives you sorrow, that makes you sigh, will run away scared. They'll run from the Lord when He returns, when He returns to make you return to life.

He will raise you from the dead. He's already taken care of the source of all the sorrow and sighing--sin! He's ransomed you from sin, redeemed you, forgiven you in His death and resurrection. Delivered that forgiveness in water, words, Body and Blood, and He's also given you His resurrection in Baptism, and the promise of the resurrection in His Body and Blood!

You'll rise to eternal life. You'll be brought into the true Zion, the eternal kingdom. You'll have eternal joy and gladness as you stand in the presence of Christ, your Savior, of His and your Father, and of the Holy Spirit, as you're surrounded by all your fellow ransomed, with all the angels and archangels, too. The ransomed of the Lord "shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:16-17). In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Daily Lectionary: Daniel 1:1-21; Matthew 28:1-20

Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus. (Daniel 1:21)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Daniel found himself in Babylon. He was taken away from Israel, by force. You see, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Judah, and started deporting people from Canaan (modern day Israel) into Babylon (modern day Iraq). Nebuchadnezzar started with the best and the brightest and forced them to live a long way from home, in his service. That's Daniel.

What does Daniel do? He recognizes Israel's sin in their current situation (Daniel 9). He remains faithful to Yahweh and cherishes His mercy along with His Word in a foreign land. But Daniel also loved his neighbor, even his Babylonian neighbor, King Nebuchadnezzar! Daniel faithfully served the Babylonians and the Persians after them for about 50 years.

God put you where you are. He put the people in your life exactly where they are just so they'd be in your life, just like God did with Daniel. Daniel believed that what his enemies meant for evil, God meant for good. So also you. You were "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that you would walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). That "created in Christ Jesus" happened in Holy Baptism. God planned your good works for you. Now you'll use your Baptism, God's working through you, so that you would be a gift for the people He's gifted to you.

How long will you do it? Who knows? God does. Daniel served for some 50 years under at least four kings and two empires, after being taken away by force from his homeland. So the Lord will use you for however long He gives you. It's all gift.

He's saved you. He's died and risen for you. He's given you new life in Baptism, a new life of being a living sacrifice for others. He forgives you when you mess it up or complain about it. He'll carry you through. And no matter how long you live or where you live, Jesus' baptismal promise is the same: "I am with you always even till the end of the age." Through thick and thin, He's yours and you are His, and He will bring you to Himself in His eternal kingdom which has no end. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to cherish everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18–20)

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 38:1-28; Matthew 27:57-66

When Joseph took the body, he wrapped it in a clean cloth and placed it in his new tomb that he cut in the rock, and after he rolled a great stone against the door of the tomb, he went away. (Matthew 27:59-60)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Jesus really died. He was stone-cold dead. The Romans were good at that sort of thing. He was so dead they buried Him! In a stone tomb, Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. And what did Jesus do in that tomb? Well, nothing obviously. Duh! He was dead! But that's really the point. He didn't do anything. He rested. When the Lord created the universe in six days, He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done. So also Holy Week, where Jesus worked to secure and create a new creation--salvation. Jesus fulfilled all that He was supposed to do to save you--perfect life and innocent suffering and death. And now that He had done all of His work, He rested.

He was buried for you. He made the Sabbath holy in His burial for you. He rested for you. He gives you His rest. His rest from work. You don't have to work to save yourself. There's nothing left for you to do. Jesus did it all. He saved you, and you are saved by Him. His rest from work is your rest from work because He delivers His rest from work to you.

He delivers that to you in His Sabbath Gifts--His Baptism, His Absolution, His Gospel, His Supper. There Jesus' free salvation, His resting from working for salvation, is made yours, delivered right to you. And you receive it by faith alone in Christ alone. You are Sabbath-ed, rested in Jesus through His Gifts.

His tomb didn't stay empty. His body didn't stay dead. He was buried to save you from your burial, your grave, your death. He will give you an empty tomb, too. Your body won't stay dead, either. That's the promise of His grave and His resurrection. This promise is delivered in Holy Baptism where you were buried with Christ and also raised with Him.

Jesus was really dead. You will really die someday, too. But Jesus didn't stay dead. Neither will you! Jesus' rest shows you that. Jesus will raise you from the dead, just as He is risen from the dead. The promise of that is yours. You're baptized. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Death, you cannot end my gladness: I am baptized into Christ! When I die, I leave all sadness To inherit paradise! Though I lie in dust and ashes Faith's assurance brightly flashes: Baptism has the strength divine To make life immortal mine. (God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It" LSB 594, st. 4)

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Table of Duties, Parents

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 37:1-21; Matthew 27:33-56

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Small Catechism: Table of Duties, Parents)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Your parents are a gift to you. Maybe you've got step-parents, or your parents adopted you, or maybe you're raised by your grandparents or other relatives, even foster parents! No matter what, the Lord's given them to care for you. It's not just food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, and home, either. Those are the great gifts of the First Article of the Apostles' Creed, which you daily ask for in the Fourth Petition of the Lord's Prayer, and God Your heavenly Father gives you through the parents or care providers He's given you. As good as those things are, it's not the primary reason God gifted your parents to you.

You were given to them, and they to you. God gave the way He did so that you would be brought up in the "training and instruction of the Lord." The Lord wanted you to receive His Word and Gifts. He wanted you to be baptized, to hear His Word, go to Sunday School and church, receive Jesus' Body and Blood. He died for you and rose for you, and now "all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Me" (Matthew 28:28), He says. He used that power to give His Word and Sacraments to you, and giving your parents to you and you to them is part of that.

What if sin is messing it up? What if things aren't so good in the parent department? Maybe sin has left you with a broken and messed up family. The Lord Jesus came for sin-broken families. He came from one! Thieves, liars, cheats, adulterers, murderers, prostitutes--all Jesus' relatives. He shed His blood for all the sins we commit, and all the sins that affect us in our daily lives and personal relationships.

He also hand-picked your pastor for you. Your pastor is a special Holy-Spirit-worked gift from Jesus, given to deliver Jesus and His Word and Sacraments to you. He's been called by the Spirit and ordained by Jesus in order to bring you up "in the training and instruction of the Lord."

That's what it's all about. Jesus saving you. He loves you through others--your parents, your pastor. He loves others through you--your parents, your pastor. It's not chiefly about body and life stuff, but about His Word and Gifts that deliver His salvation to you. He made sure He died and rose for you. He'll make sure He delivers His gifts in many and various ways, and through many different people. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Duane Bamsch

Today's Reading: 2 Peter 3:3-14

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 33:1-22; Matthew 27:11-32

The Lord of the Promise is not slow, as some consider slowness, but He is patient towards all you, not wanting any to be destroyed but all to reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You've got to admit things have been pretty bad in 2020. Pandemic. Riots. Economic trouble. Droughts. Fires. Earthquakes. And there's also been the US election. Why does it all happen?

Ever since Adam and Eve rebelled against God and threw each other under the bus, it's been this way. It's all rebellious--me against you, you against me--because we're selfish. The results of sin are evident in our world. It's not just how we treat each other. It's what happens to us, too! The world, the universe, even our bodies don't work the way God created them to be because everything has been affected by sin.

Why doesn't God put a stop to it? Peter tells us: "He is patient towards all of you." We're the reason God is slow in putting an end to it all. Do we even consider ourselves part of the problem? God doesn't act like He's got an Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out evil with a snap of His fingers, because then He'd have to wipe you and me out, too. He doesn't want anyone to be destroyed. He wants all to reach repentance. Yes, even you.

Soon everything will be done away with, "with a roar." And if you were on the receiving end, it would be scary, but you're not. There's a different cry that stands FOR YOU. "Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit" (Matthew 27:50). All your sins, all our diseases "in His own body." "By His wounds you are healed" (1 Peter 2:24). He wants you to receive this cross-won salvation and be baptized into it, made a new creation by water and the Word (2 Corinthians 5:17). He wants you to receive the medicine of eternal life, true healing, in the Supper of His Body and Blood. You have the promise of forgiveness and eternal life, for "whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in Him, and I will resurrect Him on the Last Day" (John 6:56, 54).

God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle." (1 Timothy 2:4-7) Peter tells us that this includes you and me, too. Jesus' Word and Gifts make it so. He keeps His promise to you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Duane Bamsch

Today's Reading: Daniel 7:9-14

Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 31:1-17, 23-34; Matthew 27:1-10

To Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages served Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:14)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Trinity is present in Daniel 7. The Spirit is the giver of dreams. He not only gave Daniel visions, dreams, and prophecies, but also gave Daniel the meaning of those things. In this Spirit-given vision Daniel sees the Ancient of Days, the Father. Daniel also sees the Son of Man: Jesus, the eternal Son of God, who became man. Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in this vision.

The Son is getting the Kingdom in this vision. His Kingdom is everlasting and can't be destroyed because His Kingdom is not of this world. His Kingdom of mercy, love, and forgiveness is kicked off at Calvary. There Jesus was enthroned, crucified for you. He was sent from the Father, born of the Virgin Mary. Mary's Son "will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:33). The Spirit delivers this Kingdom in the preaching of the Gospel and the delivering of Christ's Gifts. That's what Pentecost was all about in Acts 2, because there were "devout men from every nation under heaven" in Jerusalem that day.

This is where you come in. You're part of the all peoples and nations that are in the Son of Man's Kingdom. He ransomed you back to His Father. He sent the Spirit to you. You've been washed in "the new birth of the Holy Spirit," as Paul says in Titus 3. You will see and enter the Kingdom of God because you've been "born of water and of the Spirit" (John 3:3, 5).

Daniel's vision is all about the eternal reality of your salvation. The Son of Man rules over you, in His Kingdom of forgiveness and mercy--the very things He showers upon you. It's how He would rule through you, too.

Jesus wields His power and authority to save you, not only to die and rise for you, but also to baptize you and to deliver His Word into your ears, heart, mind, and soul. The almighty Jesus uses His authority FOR YOU, for your benefit, and not OVER you in some power play. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to cherish all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20). In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Duane Bamsch