St. John's Lutheran Church, Marquette, NE - Kronborg

09/13/2026

09/13/2026

Greetings in Christ,
Today Jesús teaches us about forgiveness. Peter asks Jesus : How often should I forgive?
Jesús tells us the story of a king who had a slave that owned him and the king first taught was to sell the slave with his wife and children so that the slave debt could be paid. My friends, that was the law of the land and according to the law of the time, the king had all the right to sell the slave and his family so that the debt could be paid. The king was not just being mean, but the king was following the law of the time.
Nonetheless to say that the slave was desperate and out of desperation the slave fell on his knees before the king and begged for the king’s mercy by saying to the king: Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. The king felt sorry for the slave and out of compassion the king released the slave and forgave all the slave debt.
We might say that all is good, the slave owned the king and the king was going to punish the slave, the slave asked for mercy and the king forgave the slave. All is good, the slave experiences the joy of forgiveness.
All is good, until all is not good. The slave that experienced the joy of forgiveness from the king did not pass the joy of forgiveness to his fellow slave, but demanded the fellow slave to pay him right away. The fellow slave begged his fellow slave to have patience with him, but the slave that was forgiven by the king refused and punished his fellow slave with harshness without any mercy.
The king finds out that the slave that he forgave was ruthless with his fellow slave so the king says to the slave that he forgave: You wicked slave and says to the forgaving slave:
I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?

The king punishes the forgiven slave and Jesus warns all of us that the same will happen to us if we do not forgive our brother and sister from our heart.
God is Love
Pastor Ricardo

09/13/2026

16th Sunday after Pentecost

First Reading Genesis 50:15-21
Psalm 103:[1-7] 8-13
Second Reading Romans 14:1-12
Gospel Matthew 18:21-35



WOS 128 - This Is My Father’s World
WOS 123 - Breath on Me
WOS 18 - Evening Star
WOS 272 - Danish Hiking Song
Have a Blessed Sunday :) :)

09/06/2026

Greetings in Christ,
Our readings this morning tell us a lot from Ezekiel to Romans to Matthew. We can start with Ezekiel as we learn of the importance of warning the wicked and the consequence for us for not warning the wicked. I believe that the warning of the wicked is a challenging concept. You might say: Why? What is the challenge of following God’s commands to us, Ricardo?
You are right, my friends, God is commanding us to warn the wicked. God also teaches us we only go to heaven, because of our Lord Jesús. That’s pure and simple, that is the truth from God’s teaching, Jesús is the only way to heaven. Can we imagine, if we go to Polk, Aurora, Central City and start asking people if they have Jesús as their Lord and Savior and (I would imagine, most in our community would say yes) and those that say no, we would tell them that they are going to hell. We might say: If a person does not have Jesús, a person does not go to heaven, so a person would go to hell. That’s what the Bible teaches us and we can all agree. The Bible is crystal clear that Jesús is the only way to heaven.
However, there is something called strategy, not just a business strategy, but a God’s strategy. We must not compromise the truth and bedding the truth does not do any favor to anybody. It would be deceiving from us and would not glorify God in any way. Nonetheless, to scare people away from God does not glorify God either, we must spread the Good News of our Lord Jesús to all the corners of the earth with love and not self righteousness.
My friends, we must have a strategy to spread the Gospel, the book of Ezekiel is talking about the wicked. The wicked is not our average Joe, who is just being stubborn and disobeying. The wicked is described bellow:
In biblical literature, the wicked represent those who actively oppose God’s rule through deliberate moral rebellion. Rather than merely committing wrong acts, wickedness involves a perverse mindset by which people surrender themselves to evil impulses *

We all can agree with the seriousness of the spiritual state of the wicked and the need for them to be warned about their wickedness and the consequences of their spiritual state. Nonetheless, to point fingers on the wicked in a judgemental way is not a productive approach in my opinion. I would argue that we need to be strategic with the wicked and warn them with love. I believe that with the love that comes from God, we are able to have a productive approach even with the wicked.
In addition in our Ezekiel reading God says:
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

My friends, God is not rejoicing in the death of the wicked. In the same way God does not rejoice in our stubbornness and constant disobedience. That’s not, God’s plan for all of his creation. What separates us from God is us not God.

*A. Flavelle, “Wicked,” in New Bible Dictionary, ed. D. R. W. Wood et al. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1238–1239.

God is Love, Pastor Ricardo

09/06/2026

15th Sunday after Pentecost

First Reading Ezekiel 33:7-11
Psalm 119:33-40
Second Reading Romans 13:8-14
Gospel Matthew 18:15-20



ELW 731 - Earth and All Stars
WOV 783 - Seek Ye First *** Needs Recorded***
ELW 484 - You Satisfy the Hungry Heart
ELW 543 - Go My Children With My Blessing
Have a Blessed Sunday :) :)

08/30/2026

Greetings in Christ,
In our Romans reading today, Apostle Paul talks about love, patience, persecution, and vengeance. Apostle Paul teaches us that love must be genuine, a love that we must have that is genuine and a love that hates evil, a love , which overflows on us goodness and not evil. You might ask: Ricardo, what is this love that Apostle Paul is talking about? I might even say: I love my family, my church family and friends. Is that not enough? My friends love our family, church family, and friends are great things, but Apostle Paul does not stop there.
Apostle Paul argues that we must love those that persecute us, and Apostle Paul teaches us for all of us to not repay evil with evil. Apostle Paul teaches us to be patient in our affliction and for us to feed our enemies, give them a drink and think that we are heaping burning coals on our enemies heads. We all might say: That makes no sense, why should we feed and give a drink to our enemies. What is this deal of heaping burning coals in our enemies heads? Is Apostle Paul teaching us to be a doormat? Those are valid questions, but Apostle Paul is teaching us to live peacefully with all if possible and if it depends on us, which is a great clarification for all of us. Apostle Paul reminds us what our God says: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

The concept that Apostle Paul is teaching us about heaping burning coals in our enemies heads is a moment that we repay evil with good and let God work in our enemies consciousness. We must not be a doormat, we must not compromise our safety and the safety of our families, but we must do our best to live peacefully with others, we must repay evil with good and give space for God to work on our enemies hearts.
We can look at our Gospel this morning and I try to put myself in Peter's shoes. I would not go as far as Peter and rebuke Jesús ( I would be too scared for that), but I agree with Peter as he says: God forbid it, Lord. My friends, we love Jesús and we would not want to see our loving God to go through all the suffering that Jesús did. It's just not fair. Jesus answer to Peter and to all of us is a challenge not only to Peter to all of us:
Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.
I love that our Lord uses the word hindrance, my friends. Most of the time we are our worst hindrance with our minds stuck on earthly things, but there is no reason to lose hope, because Jesús is not done with us. Thanks be to God !!
God is Love
Pastor Ricardo

08/30/2026

14th Sunday after Pentecost

Readings:

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 26:1-8

Romans 12:9-21

Matthew 16:21-28



Hymns:

ELW 660 – Lift High the Cross

ELW 798 – Will You Come and Follow Me

WOV 748 – Bind Us Together

ELW 656 – Blessed Be the Tie That Binds
Have a Blessed Sunday :) :)

08/23/2026

Kronborg News !! This Wednesday at 7:30 pm, rain or shine, we are having Tortas (Sandwich) at the parsonage with, ham salami, roast beef, cheese and Danish Jalapenos. Please come hungry for food and fellowship ❤