San Juan Bautista Lutheran Church

06/09/2026

Sermon in English for Sunday, June 14, 2026. All rights reserved.
From the very beginning of Yeshua’s ministry, the Christian Church has been a church of action. When they had no building in which to hold services, Jesus sent his twelve disciples—later known as his apostles—to the Jewish villages where people were in need. There were many “unclean spirits”—perhaps individuals suffering from mental illness—and there were also many physical illnesses and ailments.
Without a place to gather his followers, Yeshua sent his followers to serve the communities around them. And before we assume he sent his disciples to the “lost sheep of the people of Israel” out of preference, perhaps it was because they were in greater need than the other peoples of that region.
Since the time of Moses, the people of Israel had been chosen to be the people who would serve as an example of God’s glorious love before all other peoples. When Jesus came, he recognized that there was much work to be done within the people of Israel so that they might be an example of God’s love to all peoples.
And within the three years of Yeshua’s ministry, we see that the Kingdom of God, the Good News of Salvation, was ready to be extended to the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the people of India, and even the Samaritans. The Good News of Salvation, also known as the Gospel, is indeed good news. The news that God the Father cares for us all and has paved the way for us to live a peaceful life, a life of shalom, and to return to His presence for eternity.
Receiving a gift but then saying, “I’m not going to tell anyone,” can stem from two not-so-good reasons. It may stem from the feeling that we don’t want to share our good fortune with anyone else, or because we don’t want anyone else to find the same gift we found. Neither of these two reasons is good.
When the opportunity arises, we must share this news of salvation. We must be the most peaceful people in this world. Thanks to this news of salvation, we know where we come from, where we are, and where we are going. We received this news from the generation that came before us; we are living in the company of all our brothers and sisters in faith; and we are sharing this news with the generation that will follow us.
In the Prayer of the Day, we heard it said: “God of compassion, you have opened the way for us to faithfully proclaim the good news of your Son Jesus Christ.” Perhaps this is what Yeshua was speaking of when he said: “The appointed time has come, and the kingdom of God is near.”
In today’s readings, one message stands out: God is love, God loves us, and the way to please our God is to make his love present among people. In the Psalm, it says: “Sing to the Lord with joy, all you inhabitants of the earth!” This psalm is for everyone. Then it says: “Acknowledge that the Lord is God; he made us, and we are his.”
In the time of the Exodus from Egypt, it says of the people of Israel: “They will be my chosen people among all peoples.” But then it continues: “For the whole earth belongs to me.” When Yeshua came to earth, he declared that a new time had come when he exclaimed: “The appointed time has come, and the kingdom of God is near.”
Through Christ, we can all draw near to God. Within God’s glory, there is room for all nations. As Saint Paul explains to the Romans, “through faith, we boast in the hope of sharing in God’s glory.” He then wrote: “God proves that he loves us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
And so, since we know that we are all saved by the great and undeserved love that God has for all of us, what do we do now? We make that love of God present in our real lives here in Tucson in the year 2026. Yeshua sent his twelve disciples to help the people living in their communities. And that is what Jesus does today. He is sending us to help, support, and reach out to those in our lives who need help.
The motto of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, or ELCA, fits us perfectly. It says: “God’s work, through our hands.” Two thousand years ago, God used the hands of the twelve disciples to manifest God’s love at that time, and God uses our hands today.
That is the essence of today’s Gospel lesson. May we leave this Mass ready to make God’s love present in our communities. So be it! Amen.
We are all here thanks to the love God has for us. In the First Reading, he told us: “I have brought you to where I am, as if you had come on the wings of an eagle.” To give praise to our God, we will sing the song: “On Your Wings.”

06/07/2026

06/02/2026

Ponga sus inquietudes en las manos del Señor. Rosario Luterano 7pm, 4 de junio

05/31/2026

Sermon in English for May 31. All rights reserved.
Today we celebrate the Holy Trinity. This topic can be a little confusing, can't it?
As Christians, we profess and proclaim our faith in a Triune God. What does that mean?
It means that we believe in one God who has revealed Himself to us in three ways. And what are those ways?
Let me explain how I understand it:
The first manifestation is described in our first reading, when God created the world, the seas, the land, the animals, the plants, and finally His most special creation: humanity. The reading says "man," but when it refers to man, it means all human beings. For a long time, people believed that God created man first and woman afterward, but that is not what the text says. God created both at the same time. It says, “So God created humankind in His image; male and female He created them.” He created us in His image and likeness.
But do you know something I have noticed? In this passage, God refers to Himself in the plural. He says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” Interesting, isn’t it? It suggests that the three have been present from the very beginning.
In today’s Gospel, we hear about Jesus after His resurrection. This is the second manifestation of God: God the Son becoming human. I believe that God the Father loves us so much that He became one of us and came into this world to live among us, revealing Himself in Jesus.
And as we saw last Sunday, we are given the Holy Spirit to continue accompanying us for all time, until the end of the age, just as the Gospel says. Here we find the third manifestation: the Holy Spirit, who remains with us even today.
Just as God the Father sent Him through God the Son, He gave us God the Holy Spirit. We receive this gift through Baptism and by accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord, just as Jesus sent His disciples into the world.
Imagine how much God loves us, and yet sometimes we are afraid of Him. But there is no need to be afraid. He is a loving Father, full of comfort and understanding, always by our side. We can see Him everywhere: in our pets, in the plants, in the rain, in the sea, and especially within ourselves, because each of us carries a part of God's presence within us.
Do not forget: He lives in us and is always with us.
So let us leave here today with the assurance that God loves us, and let us go out into the world as His disciples, carrying that love in our hearts.
Amen.