Reflections

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 9:1-9; 10:1-13; 2 Corinthians 5:1-21

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We often think of the work of pastors and missionaries in the conversion of unbelievers. The fact is, all Christians give a witness to those around them of God's goodness to the world in His Son, Jesus. One such Christian was Monica, the mother of the famed St. Augustine, a very important father in the early church. Monica, as described by her son, is said to have persevered in prayer for her pagan husband and for her wayward son. Her husband was baptized not long before his death, an answer to her fervent prayer. Likewise, her son Augustine later became a Christian when he was baptized by Ambrose, the bishop of Milan.

When we read the book of Acts, we hear the stories of so many people who heard the Good News of Jesus and then it seems we never hear of them again. This story of the Lord converting sinners into believers has been going on since the Lord sent His apostles to preach in all the world. Sometimes a conversion is very dramatic, the fruit of the hard work of some faithful preacher. Sometimes it is less well known, the result of the lesser known but still mighty work of a parent praying to the Lord for her child, or grandparents for grandchildren, or a husband for a wife.

The truth is, parents often pray for their children to remain in the Christian faith or to become Christian. It is a tireless effort on the part of family members, imploring the Lord for their loved ones to be saved. It often seems fruitless or pointless but it can never be so. It can't be when Jesus our High Priest never fails to pray for us, reminding His Father that because of His Cross and empty tomb, because of His water, Word, and Body and Blood, the Father must save us! So we pray, clinging to those promises, asking that the Lord be faithful in also saving the ones we love! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Oh, blest the parents who give heed Unto their children's foremost need And weary not of care or cost, May none to them and heav'n be lost! ("Oh, Blest the House" LSB 862, st. 3)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: The Office of the Keys

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 8:22-30, 46-63; 2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Where is this written? This is what St. John the Evangelist writes in chapter twenty: The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (Small Catechism: The Office of the Keys)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What is the Office of the Keys? It's the authority Christ gives to His Church to unlock the gates of heaven by pronouncing forgiveness on sinners! Wait a minute. How can someone forgive sins? Can't only God forgive sins? Well, what does Jesus say? He tells His apostles, human men, to go and forgive sins.

Here's the thing: When your pastor forgives your sins, he's not saying that he's God! He's saying what God has told him to say. He's speaking as a herald and ambassador of Jesus. "Hear ye! Hear ye! I declare to you that you have been pardoned by the King!"

What makes this announcement possible, and what gives it power and truth, is that Jesus died for your sins. He shed His blood for them. That's forgiveness: God doesn't count those sins against you. But since just reading it from the Book can make it sound too good to be true, God has given us real men, guys with voices and hands to tell us right into our ears that this forgiveness is ours.

You as a Christian can even pronounce that forgiveness to others. You can tell them, "Your sins are forgiven because Jesus died for them." People know that the world will pile on. They know that there's nothing out there but more guilt heaped up. Not for the followers of Jesus, though!

Whether it's someone who is troubled by sin and goes to their pastor or one of your family or friends who comes to you, the Good News is the same: "Jesus forgives you!" Not because we say so, but because His Cross, empty tomb, and He Himself say so! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

When ministers lay on their hands, Absolved by Christ the sinner stands; He who by grace the Word believes The purchase of His blood receives. ("'As Surely As I Live,' God Said" LSB 614, st. 6)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Genesis 4:1-15

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 7:51-8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

And the Lord said to him, "Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:15)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Cain killed his brother Abel. Cain thought the Lord should accept his sacrifice. Cain thought he was religious, spiritual, a "good Christian" even. Cain thought that he deserved God's favor. Abel, whose name means, literally, "nothing but a breath of air," knows that he deserves nothing. Only God's mercy will save him. Somehow thinking that you deserve something from God makes it all the more irritating when you are dealing with a guy who doesn't think that. It makes Cain so angry he kills his brother.

This is what happens, of course. Thinking we're "all that!" is what gets our Brother killed. Jesus came to give us life and we gave Him death. He came to show us how we are saved by God's grace. We showed Him who the real gods are by killing Him.

But here's the wonder, the majesty, the irony, the mystery: In our killing of Jesus, He saves us. Cain was awful, but look at the words above: The Lord still protected Him. He would be a fugitive and vagabond on the earth, but the Lord protected him. That's because, when it all comes down to it, Cain isn't held accountable for murdering his brother. Jesus takes the blame! You and I aren't held accountable for any of our sins. They're all, every one of them, laid upon the Lamb of God who gave His life for us.

What awful things have you done to demonstrate you think you're a better god than God? What awful things have you done to others? Whatever they are, however awful they may be, they are wiped out by the blood of Jesus, your Big Brother. He's your Brother who gave His life for you and that means you're a part of God's family who can never be disowned. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

My soul looks back to see The burden Thou didst bear When hanging on the cursed tree; I know my guilt was there. ("Not All the Blood of Beasts" LSB 431, st. 4)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Luke 22:24-30

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 5:1-16; 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:17

But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. (Luke 22:26)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Luke tells us there was an argument among the apostles as to who was greatest. He doesn't list names but we can suppose Bartholomew was in on it. Of course we know Peter, James, and John were kind of an "inner circle" of Jesus and maybe the other guys were jealous. At any rate, none of that is the point. Jesus came to do the serving. He came to do the bearing of the sins, the dying on the Cross, the rising from the dead. When He sends His apostles it is also to be servants. They are just supposed to do their job of preaching the Good News.

It's easy to want to be the top dog. They want some recognition and glory perhaps. Don't we all? That's why Jesus teaches them--and us--that His kingdom doesn't work that way. In the Church, preachers are given to serve us with Jesus' gifts. They're there to baptize, preach, and give Jesus' Body and Blood. In short, pastors are there to give us Jesus' forgiveness! Likewise we are given to be servants to our neighbors, to put others first and to love others in doing good to them.

Tradition says Bartholomew preached the Gospel as far away as Armenia and there was flayed alive as a martyr. In the end, what matters is not Bartholomew for his own sake but that he faithfully preached the Good News of Jesus even unto death. Today we give thanks for this Israelite in whom there was no deceit (John 1:47). Even though he may have been in on the argument as to who was greatest, the Lord still used him to preach the Good News of a Savior who saves us and makes us great in the kingdom of God. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

All praise for him whose candor Through all his doubt You saw When Philip at the fig tree Disclosed You in the Law. Discern, beneath our surface, O Lord, what we can be, That by Your truth made guileless, Your glory we may see. ("By All Your Saints in Warfare" LSB 518, st. 23)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Luke 18:9-14

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 3:1-15; 2 Corinthians 1:1-22

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Best "gotcha!" parable ever! We see what a self-righteous guy this Pharisee is and we think, "I'm glad I'm not like him!" Gotcha! Jesus won't let anyone slide. Whoever we are, there's always someone we can look down on and who probably looks down on us. It's the tax collector who teaches us what it looks like to be at the bottom of the rung, with his good confession of faith: "Lord, there's nobody to look down on. I'm the very bottom of the barrel. I've got nothing. Have mercy on me!"

Jesus does have mercy! That tax collector, who has nothing and is nothing, now has everything and is everything in Jesus. Jesus takes the low spot to give us the high spot. In doing so, He drags us down and saves us from our own high spots where, with the Pharisee, we think we can save ourselves. Jesus hanging on the Cross is the answer to that tax collector's prayer. "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!" He does, by taking that tax collector's and your place on the Cross. By suffering and dying and rising again. It's so we can pray, "I thank God I'm not like Jesus! I don't have to die for my sins! I'm forgiven!"

So we pray with the tax collector, "Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!" The Lord answered that prayer when He died for you. That prayer was answered when you are washed and born from above at the font. That prayer is answered every time your pastor absolves you of your sins and preaches the Good News to you. That prayer is answered at the Lord's altar where He gives his merciful flesh and blood to give you forgiveness so that you walk away justified. Holy. Saved. A beloved child of God. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. And He is! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than we either desire or deserve, pour down upon us the abundance of Your mercy, forgiving those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things that we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the 11th Sunday after Trinity)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Introit for Trinity 11

(Psalm 68:1, 3, 7a, 10b, 19; antiphon: vs. 5b, 6a, 35b)

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 2:1-27; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

O God, when you went out before your people, in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation. (From the Introit for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Introit for tomorrow is drawn from the words of Psalm 68. Like all the other psalms, the 68th is a prayer. It doesn't seem to us like much of a prayer because it doesn't ask for anything. Instead, it is a song of thanksgiving for the great works of God.

That's how prayer is sometimes. There are days when we can only cry out to God from within our pain. Sometimes we run out of words to say or are so beaten down that we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to cry to God on our behalf (Romans 8:26). And then there are days when we are filled with joy and our prayers reflect it. If you take quick look at just a handful of psalms, you'll find both kinds of prayer. We are blessed to have the psalms to pray from our own lips.

Psalm 68 moves us to praise God for His goodness. He is the God who rescues His people. He scatters His enemies and those who hate Him flee before Him! He gives power and strength to His people and provides for the needy. He bears us up and He is the God of our salvation.

When the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh tell you that God is not for you, pray this psalm. When your guilty conscience shouts that you could never be forgiven, pray this psalm. When shame over sin makes you feel completely unlovable, pray this psalm. When the events of your life scream at you that God is absent, pray this psalm.

For the One who bears you up is the One who was lifted up on a cross to remove the burden of your sin and shame. Jesus is the One who settles you into a home called the Church. Jesus is the One who is your salvation from death! Indeed, blessed be the Lord, who daily bears you up; God is your salvation. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Father like He tends and spares us; well our feeble frame He knows; in His hand He gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes. Alleluia, alleluia! Widely yet His mercy flows. ("Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven" LSB 793, st.3)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 1:1-4, 15-35; 1 Corinthians 12:14-31

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. (1 Corinthians 12:18)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. What a strange conversation Paul presents to us: body parts talking to each other! The foot seems depressed because it has the boring work of supporting the body. It is not like the important hand with its opposable thumb! The ear is jealous of the eye and in their envy and jealousy, the foot and the ear want to quit the whole body. But if they were to jump ship, there would be no body at all. God put each part in the body "as He chose. You are the body of Christ and individually members of it."

Paul is not talking about some imaginary world of talking body parts. He is speaking about you! Earlier in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul wrote, "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

As a baptized child of God, you are joined to Jesus and made part of one body—the holy Christian Church. This means that you are never alone in this life of faith. You are an important member of one body. You don't share the same gifts as other parts of the body—and that is ok. God provides the necessary parts to make the body whole and He connects them all to the head, Jesus.

The result of that connection to Christ creates an amazing thing—a body that lives in the forgiveness given by Jesus and shares such love with the whole body. You, who were baptized into one body, express that Baptism with Spirit-gifted acts of love. Instead of being jealous of other parts of the body of Christ, you are concerned for them (1 Corinthians 12:25) as Jesus is for you. You love, serve, and forgive as you are loved, served, and forgiven in Christ. That is how God chose to arrange it and to that we say, "Amen"! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord, let this Your little flock, Your name alone confessing, continue in Your loving care, true unity possessing. Your sacraments, O Lord, and you saving Word to us, Lord, pure retain. Grant that they may remain our only strength and comfort. Amen. ("Lord Jesus Christ, the Church's Head" LSB 647, st.2)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Daily Lectionary: 2 Samuel 12:1-25; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13

And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, "I have asked for him from the Lord." (1 Samuel 1:20)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The conception and birth of the child named Samuel was miraculous. His barren mother, Hannah, was gifted with a son. Israel was gifted with a great prophet. It was Samuel who reluctantly anointed Saul to be king over Israel and later would anoint the shepherd-king, David, to rule in place of Saul.

Samuel's work as a prophet was not what we would call successful. The people, more often than not, would ignore Samuel's preaching and thereby ignore the God whose Word he spoke. That is nothing new for God's servants.

So why appoint a day to remember another rejected prophet of God? Well, days commemorating saints of old aren't really about those saints. They are about remembering the work of God through them. Samuel served as God's hand and voice in anointing David as king over Israel, and we know where that led. Centuries after Samuel, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin, who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, to announce another miraculous birth. To Mary, the messenger of the LORD made this promise about the child she would bear: "'He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end'" (Luke 1:32-33).

Samuel was given the joy of being part of that unfolding promise. We are given the joy of knowing the promise fulfilled in Jesus. King Jesus was conceived and took on human flesh in the womb of Mary. King Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets' preaching. King Jesus, David's greater son, was enthroned on a cross to redeem you and the whole world. King Jesus defeated death by rising again and King Jesus reigns and intercedes for you even now. Blessed are you! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, in Your mercy You gave Samuel courage to call Israel to repentance ad to renew their dedication to the Lord. Keep us and all your people in the grace of repentance, that by the blood of Jesus, the Son of David, we may continually receive and rejoice in the forgiveness of all our sins; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: The Small Catechism: Confession

Daily Lectionary: 2 Samuel 11:1-27; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. (2 Samuel 11:27b)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The effort that King David expended to cover his sin is staggering. That level of deceit took a lot of thought and planning and the cold way in which he reacted to the news of Uriah's death is sickening.

Of course, we would never be like David, would we? You know that is a lie. You are an adulterer, you who look at another lustfully. You are a murderer, you who destroy the reputation of others with your gossip. You are a deceiver, you who put the blame on others for your own sin.

The things you have done displease the LORD. So what is there to do?

"What is confession? Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven."

This is not some new idea flowing Martin Luther's imagination. As you read the account of how God dealt with David's sin in 2 Samuel 12, you see that Confession and Absolution has been God's way all along. God sent a pastor to King David. Nathan the prophet preached God's Word to David and it worked repentance and confession from David's lips. And Pastor Nathan spoke Absolution to David: "The LORD has also put away your sin; you shall not die." Forgiveness as from God Himself.

So it is for you. God uses your pastor to deliver the goods: repentance and forgiveness. Release from guilt, shame and death in the words of Absolution. How do you know it's true? It is as sure as Jesus' cross-death and resurrection. As sure as the nail marks in His living hands and feet and the spear mark in His pierced side. As sure as the water flowing on you and the Triune Name of God spoken over you in Baptism. The LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord, on You I cast my burden -- sink it in the deepest sea! Let me know your gracious pardon, cleanse me from iniquity. Let your Spirit leave me never; make me only Yours forever. Amen. ("Lord to You I Make Confession" LSB 608, st. 4)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Roman 9:30-10:4

Daily Lectionary: 2 Samuel 7:18-20; 1 Corinthians 10:23-11:16

But that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. (Romans 9:31-32a)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. There is nothing wrong with trying to do your best. It is what is expected of you at school, at home, and at work. Your neighbors (teachers, family, and your boss) are blessed by such efforts. But don't bring that idea into your relationship with God. It didn't work for Israel and it won't work for you. The huge rock of the Law will crush you under the weight of its demands and the perfection that God's Law requires of you will always be out of reach.

The apostle Paul works this truth to a fine point in our reading for today. Israel couldn't reach a right relationship with God because they had the devilish idea that it was up to them to make it happen. They ran smack into the promise of God to save the world by His mercy, they stumbled over it, and kept on going with the idea that they had to do more good things to make God like them.

You get sucked into thinking that way as well. Repent. "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." No more struggling and striving to keep the Law for salvation! The Law works as a pointer, an arrow aimed straight at the target of Christ. Christ Jesus is where we find that the demands of God's Law have been met. God's righteousness is met in Him as well. Jesus' perfect keeping of God's Law is what makes you right with God. His perfect life is given into death in your stead—instead of you! You get all the benefits of what Jesus did with no strings attached. Faith trusts this promise, and faith is what you have been given as pure gift from the Triune God! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The Law reveals the guilt of sin and makes us conscience-stricken; but then the Gospel enters in the sinful soul to quicken. Come to the cross, trust Christ, and live; the Law no peace can ever give, no comfort or no blessing. ("Salvation Unto Us Has Come" LSB 555, st. 8)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero