Reflections

Daily Lectionary: Judges 3:7-31; Acts 13:42-52

What does this mean? We pray in this petition, in summary, that our Father in heaven would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and finally, when our last hour comes, gives us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven. (The Small Catechism: The Lord's Prayer, Seventh Petition)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Whenever I pray the Lord's Prayer and I come to this final petition, I always make the sign of the cross upon myself. I cross myself to remind myself and to confess to others how I can pray these words with such confidence.

The Cross was the place where evil was depleted of its power. Sin lost its power over us. Yes, we sin and deserve punishment, but Jesus has already been punished in our place. Death has lost its power. Jesus died, but then He reversed it. The devil is bound and imprisoned. He can bark, but he has no teeth. He cannot accuse the forgiven and he cannot frighten the heirs of immortality.

When was this great victory applied to me? I was given forgiveness, eternal life, and deliverance from the devil when I was baptized, when the pastor first traced the cross upon my forehead and my heart. God delivered me from evil at the font!

Now that I have this divine pledge consisting of water and the Word, I can be certain that my Father will answer this petition. I can be certain that He will rescue me from any bodily or spiritual danger. When my last hour comes, God will give me a blessed death. My body will rest in the grave, while my soul is kept safe by my Lord, until the Day of Resurrection.

There is a popular hymn that expresses this confidence well (LSB 594). The hymn taunts sin, death, and the devil. They cannot do any lasting harm, because our Father will deliver us. Yes, God's own child I gladly say it: I am baptized into Christ! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

From evil, Lord, deliver us; The times and days are perilous. Redeem us from eternal death, And, when we yield our dying breath, Console us, grant us calm release, And take our souls to You in peace. ("Our Father, Who from Heaven Above" LSB 766, st. 8)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Romans 8:18-23

Daily Lectionary: Judges 2:6-23; Acts 13:13-41

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Our God isn't merely interested in rescuing disembodied souls. God is determined to rescue bodies. Jesus was raised from the dead, in order to rescue you from death. That means that God will raise you from the dead on the Last Day.

Disembodied souls can live in a non-material place, but bodies cannot. Bodies need earth beneath their feet. Your body is connected to this earth. Your body is made from earth and your purpose is to care for the earth. Reread the first chapters of Genesis.

Where will God's people live after Judgment Day? Heaven is not your home, but the earth is. The Garden of Eden was a preview of God's original intention – merging heaven and earth, so that the earth itself becomes God's Temple and humans serve in God's presence as His priests. That's what we see at the end of Revelation – the New Jerusalem descending to earth, so that God can abide with man.

Your sins have tainted this earth. Your sins brought death to this world. The earth is subject to futility and to decay. However, Jesus atoned for your sins on the Cross and on Easter morning He emptied death of its power. Yes, He did this for you, but not only for you. Jesus conquered sin and death to liberate all of creation. The Lord made this world and called it good. He isn't interested in letting sin and death keep it.

When you serve in your vocations and show good stewardship in the care of this planet, you are not merely doing what needs to be done until Christ returns. No, you are doing what humans were made to do. In a sense, you are beginning your service that will continue into the New Creation. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Glorified, I shall anew With this flesh then be enshrouded; In this body I shall view God, my Lord, with eyes unclouded; In this flesh I then shall see Jesus Christ eternally. ("Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense" LSB 741, st. 5)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Genesis 50:15-21

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 24:1-31; Acts 13:1-12

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." (Genesis 50:20)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The book of Genesis records a lot of sins: Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Abraham tried to create an heir through his slave girl, Jacob stole a blessing from his blind and dying father...the list goes on.

None of these sins is excusable. Still, you could argue that while some of these people did the wrong things, it was with good intentions or worthy goals. You cannot say that about the sin of Jacob's sons, however. They sold Joseph into slavery and, as Joseph said, they intended evil.

God took their evil and brought good out of it. Indeed, God took all the sins recorded in Genesis and brought about good. Human evil cannot prevent God from achieving His gracious plans. He will bless these sinners in spite of their sins.

This God who can bring good out of evil decided to use sin to overcome sin. He sent Jesus into the world and the world crucified Him. The world intended evil, but God took the Cross and brought good out of it. Indeed, if the Cross is the greatest example of human evil, it is also the greatest blessing! Jesus suffered for sins that He didn't commit, so that all sinners can be kept alive.

This story of Joseph and the story of Jesus show God's bringing good out of evil. This gives us hope. God will do the same for us. If we are afflicted or persecuted, then the God who raised Jesus from the dead can use it for our good. Indeed, God might use temporal afflictions to secure an eternal bliss. No matter how bad things get, these afflictions can never compare to the glory that is ahead. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty and most merciful God, in this earthly life we endure sufferings and death before we enter into eternal glory. Grant us grace at all times to subject ourselves to Your holy will and to continue steadfast in the true faith to the end of our lives that we may know the peace and joy of the blessed hope of the resurrection of the dead and the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen (Prayer in Times of Affliction and Distress)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Luke 6:36-42

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 23:1-16; Acts 12:1-25

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The motto, "Deeds, not creeds," is not only utter nonsense (the motto itself is a creed, after all), but it is also utterly unchristian. The Christian faith is all about creeds. In Luke 9:20 Jesus asks His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" The world might admire Jesus and speak highly of Him, but true disciples confess the truth about Jesus.

Indeed, the entire Bible is about what Jesus does: He became man for you, He obeyed the Law, He was crucified for your sins, and He was raised for your justification. That creed is the heart of Christianity.

What makes the motto really silly is that it fails to see that creeds create deeds. What you believe affects what you do. Hence, Jesus tells His disciples to be merciful, but not simply to practice any kind of mercy. They are to practice the mercy of their heavenly Father! This presumes, of course, that they know in what way God is merciful.

The blind cannot lead the blind (Luke 6:39). The spiritually blind – those who don't know God's mercy in Christ – cannot understand mercy and cannot teach it to others. Unbelievers tend to think that mercy looks like ignoring someone's failures and giving people permission to do whatever they want.

Christians understand mercy because they have received true mercy from God. God didn't ignore your failures or give you permission to sin. Instead, He punished your sins in the body of Christ and He accepted Christ's blood as a ransom payment. God forgave your sins, and that's very different than ignoring or permitting sins.

Since you understand mercy, you can practice it. You can imitate your Father, precisely because He is your Father. Instead of ignoring or permitting sin, you can address your neighbor's sin with empathy, patience, and kindness. Instead of judging and condemning, you can forgive and give an unearned blessing. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

O Lord, grant that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by Your governance that Your Church may joyfully serve You in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Introit for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (Psalm 27:3-4a, 5; antiphon: v. 1-2)

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 10:1-25; Acts 11:19-30

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? (From the Introit for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. In a sense, our problems are manifold. The devil tempts and accuses us. The world threatens us. We try to avoid pain, suffering, and death, but trouble has a way of finding us and death cannot be avoided forever. We are our own worst enemy. We have to struggle with our own depression, fears, anxieties, and guilt.

All of that is true, but there is one problem that outweighs them all – the judgment of God. Think about it. If God is on your side and delights in you, then you have nothing to fear. The devil and the world are no match for the Almighty. God can resurrect the dead. He can forgive your sins and give you worth.

On the other hand, if God is opposed to you, then you are doomed. God is a far greater enemy than the devil or the world. God can kill the body and the soul as well. You might be mighty pleased with yourself, but that won't prevent God from condemning you.

At the end of the day, God's attitude toward you is what matters. Thankfully, you know that God favors you. God delights in you. God loves you. He is on your side. Whatever wrath your sins have stirred up has been poured onto Jesus. God handed Him over to the evil one and to the world. God abandoned Him to the grave. God allowed Him to suffer shame and despair. God permitted this to happen to His Son for your sake!

Since Jesus died for you, God is free to adopt you in Baptism, pardon you in Absolution, and grant you life in the Lord's Supper. Through these means of grace, your God assures you that Jesus has achieved full reconciliation.

The Lord is your light and salvation. So, whom shall you fear? Nobody! You don't have to fear anything! God is on your side. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

If God Himself be for me, I may a host defy; For when I pray, before me My foes, confounded, fly. If Christ, my head and master, Befriend me from above, What foe or what disaster Can drive me from His love? ("If God Himself Be for Me" LSB 724, st. 1)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: 1 Peter 5:6-11

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 8:1-28; Acts 11:1-18

Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (1 Peter 5:9)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Christians should expect suffering in this life. The devil is prowling, seeking to devour God's people. The devil tries to destroy the faith of Christians by means of persecution. He increases the world's hostility against the Church.

The world will punish Christians for their allegiance to Jesus. The Christian might lose respect and status, family and friends, money and possessions, his rights and freedom, and, in some cases, his life. The only way to escape this cross is to renounce Jesus and leave the Church. That's what the devil wants you to do.

Peter encourages us to remain firm in the faith. He reminds us that we are not suffering alone. We are suffering along with the entire Body of Christ. Indeed, there are plenty of Christians around the world suffering more than you are.

However, Peter gives us more than just the example and the camaraderie of the saints. He gives us a promise – the Gospel Promise. Be humbled by the devil and the world, and the mighty hand of God will exalt you (1 Peter 5:6). Suffer for a little while, and your gracious God will set things right, will strengthen you, will empower you, and will secure you (1 Peter 5:10).

After all, Jesus humbled Himself for a time, choosing to endure the shame of the Cross, and God exalted Him on the Third Day. Jesus suffered for a little while and then God set things right by raising Him from the dead.

You are baptized into Christ. What happens to Jesus must happen to you. That means a painful cross, but that means everlasting life and glory, too! In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

In the very midst of life Snares of death surround us; Who shall help us in the strife Lest the foe confound us? Thou only, Lord, Thou only! We mourn that we have greatly erred, That our sins Thy wrath have stirred, Holy and righteous God! Holy and mighty God! Holy and all-merciful Savior! Eternal Lord God! Save us lest we perish In the bitter pangs of death. Have mercy, O Lord! ("In the Very Midst of Life" LSB 755, st. 1)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Luke 1:39-56

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 7:1-26; Acts 10:34-48

"For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." (Luke 1:44)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Annunciation (March 25) is the day that the Christian Church celebrates Gabriel's visit to the Virgin Mary and the conception of Jesus in Mary's womb. The Visitation is the day on which the Church remembers when Mary visited her old and pregnant relative, Elizabeth, hence the name "Visitation."

This is a unique event, in that this is the first time that John the Baptist and Jesus meet (albeit within the wombs of their respective mothers). Also, this is the first time John confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. He leaps with joy in Elizabeth's womb, having been filled with the Spirit.

This is no clump of cells inside Elizabeth's womb. It is a baby, capable of leaping and feeling joy. It is a baby, capable of receiving God's Spirit. And in Mary's womb there is another baby – the Lord, who experienced a full human life to save every human, regardless of what stage of life they are in.

This text is especially comforting for any Christian woman who has suffered a miscarriage. Our Lutheran fathers were confident that God would save such children. If God could give the Spirit and faith to the unborn Baptist, then He can do the same for our children.

We know that Jesus was conceived and born in order to die for our stillborn children. Our Lord has also promised that God will answer the prayers of His people (Matthew 21:22, John 14:13-14). Therefore, we will offer our stillborn children to our Father through prayer and ask Him to rescue them from eternal death, confident that He will be faithful to His promises. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, You chose the virgin Mary to be the mother of Your Son and made known through her Your gracious regard for the poor and lowly and despised. Grant that we may receive Your Word in humility and faith, and so be made one with Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Visitation)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 6:6-27; Acts 10:18-33

What does this mean? God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory. (The Small Catechism: The Lord's Prayer, Sixth Petition)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God tempts no one. God is not tempted by evil. God doesn't create unbelief or cause sin. That doesn't mean that God won't permit you to experience spiritual conflict with the powers of evil. Indeed, by transferring you into His Kingdom, God makes you the enemy of the kingdom of darkness.

As soon as you renounce the devil at the baptismal font, you become his target. As soon as you confess that Jesus is Lord, the world will hate you, just as it hates Jesus. As soon as the Spirit enters your heart, causing you to trust Jesus and love Him, your sinful nature fights back.

When we pray this petition, we are asking our Father to guard us, so that these forces of evil cannot deceive or mislead us. We know how foolish and weak we can be. We know that the battle will be hard. If God doesn't help us, then we will fall into false belief, despair, and countless other shames and vices.

Thankfully, Jesus has pledged Himself to you. The same Lord that overcame the devil in the wilderness resisted the temptation to sin during His ministry, and conquered the world at the Cross is on your side! He sits at God's right hand, interceding for you. He speaks well of you, insisting that God act on your behalf.

We have some mighty enemies. They will attack us. Let them. They don't stand a chance. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lead not into temptation, Lord, Where our grim foe and all his horde Would vex our souls on ev'ry hand. Help us resist, help us to stand Firm in the faith, a mighty host, Through comfort of the Holy Ghost. ("Our Father, Who from Heaven Above" LSB 766, st. 7)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Micah 7:18-20

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 5:1-6:5; Acts 10:1-17

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. When things get lost at sea, they tend to stay lost. The sea is big and it is deep. The water is full of currents, moving things around. There are great chasms and canyons in the ocean that are pitch black – so dark, in fact, that God gave some fish their own little lights to navigate in the dark!

Sometimes the Bible pictures God's keeping a record in a book – a record of every person and every deed committed by each person. The Bible describes God's opening the books on the Day of Judgment. This is some heavy Law. God noticed your sins. He will remember them. He recorded them, after all.

What would happen if God took that book and tossed it into the sea? What would happen if your sins were not recorded forever, but were thrown into the deepest, darkest part of the ocean? There can be no condemnation if there are no sins. There can be no punishment without a record of wrongdoing.

You were born into sin. You inherited the sin of Adam. You were guilty the moment you took your first breath. So God provided an ocean. He plunged you and your sins into water – the same kind of water found in the sea. He plunged you into the baptismal font and when you emerged you were sinless. Your sins were left behind in the water sanctified by the blood of Jesus.

This Baptism wasn't a one-time event covering the sins you had previously committed. You live in your Baptism. Whenever you add to your record of sins, you return to that font. You drown your sins through contrition and emerge cleansed by the blood of Christ, believing that Jesus died for you.

Whenever the Law is preached and causes you to repent, and whenever the Gospel is pronounced and you believe, you are being dipped into the water again. Any sin plunged into these waters can never be found again. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Jesus, once with sinners numbered, Full obedience was Your path; You, by death, have consecrated Water in this saving bath: Dying to the sin of Adam, Rising to a life of grace; We are counted with the righteous, Over us the cross You trace. ("Jesus, Once with Sinners Numbered" LSB 404, st. 4)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero

Today's Reading: Matthew 16:13-20

Daily Lectionary: Joshua 4:1-24; Acts 9:23-43

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Rome thinks that Peter is superior to the other apostles – that he is the head of the Church and representative of Christ. Rome thinks that Jesus gave a special office to Peter with special authority. The Pope stands in that office, and some believe there can be no Church without a pope.

They use our text from Matthew 16 to prove their assertions. "Jesus said that He will build the Church on Peter and that Church – the one built on Peter – shall stand forever.

In our text, Peter is speaking on behalf of the apostles. His confession is their confession. Thus, whatever Jesus says to Peter He says to the Twelve. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:19-20, God is building His Church, not on Peter, but on the confession of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone.

Did Jesus give the Keys of the kingdom to Peter? Yes, but He explicitly gives the Keys to the rest of the apostles as well in Matthew 18:18. Jesus didn't create a special office called the Papacy. He created one Office – the Pastoral Office. Jesus gave pastors to His Church, commanding them to use the Keys on Her behalf – to forgive the repentant sinners and to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant.

That's why the Church will stand forever. It has nothing to do with the Pope. It has everything to do with the forgiveness of sins. As long as the forgiveness that was won on the Cross is being distributed, the Church shall endure.

Hell still rages against you, so go to where the Keys are found. Go to your pastor, confess your sins to him, and let him loose them. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Merciful and eternal God, Your holy apostles Peter and Paul received grace and strength to lay down their lives for the sake of Your Son. Strengthen us by Your Holy Spirit that we may confess Your truth and at all times be ready to lay down our lives for Him who laid down His life for us, even Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul)

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor René Castillero