Thy Strong Word from KFUO Radio

Rev. Darrin Sheek, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Anaheim, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 16.“They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them.” Mark 16 shows that miracles don’t produce faith—only the Word does. Every last one of Jesus ☧’s disciples ran away in fear, but God sends His Word to transform their faulty ideas and incomplete actions into an abundance, like the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Mark’s account of ☧ walking on the water gives the key: the risen ☧ reveals Himself through His authoritative Word to save us and to continue His gospel through us as His bold witnesses.

Rev. Duncan McLellan, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Ankeny, Iowa, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 15.“Truly this man was the Son of God!” Of all the various responses to Jesus ☧ in Mark 15, it seems only the centaurion has the right reaction. Pilate is dumbfounded. The crowd has no pity. The soldiers and passersby mock. The women stand at a distance. The centaurion however focuses on “this way he breathed his last.” Mark leaves out the dialogs to focus our eyes on the Cross, which shows us how Jesus is Messiah unlike anyone else, releasing us from death and bringing the age of God’s kingdom.

Rev. Doug Nicely, pastor of Jerusalem Lutheran Church in Collinsville, Illinois, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 14.“One of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” Mark 14 slows down the pace and narrates the Passion of Jesus ☧ in detail. On the one hand, there are various contradictory goals and reactions swirling about ☧ as the disciples scatter in fear. On the other hand, everything unfolds according to ☧’s plan, as God secures a new Exodus for His people through the Lamb. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” ☧ shows that, even amidst His real human turmoil, He is selflessly resolved to confront Judas and even the High Priest for the sake of His people.

Rev. John Lukomski, retired LCMS pastor, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 13.“Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones!” Jesus ☧ however tells His disciples to “Look out!” He shifts their attention away from appearances and onto His Word. The Temple will soon pass away, “but my words will not pass away,” He says. Like the disciples, we are often preoccupied with the material logistics, afraid that the church’s mission will fail without big donations and powerful allies. ☧ however teaches that God works grace out of hardship. Amidst the crisis in Jerusalem He caused the gospel to go out to the nations. We can only rely on this unchanging Word. ☧ reigns even when it feels chaotic.

Rev. Jeremy Loesch, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Grandview, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Psalm 108.“With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.” Psalm 108 uniquely combines the latter half of two distinct psalms. Psalm 57 was from when David was hiding from King Saul in a cave among the Gentiles, and Psalm 60 was from a campaign of King David against Edom. Together they show that no matter the circumstances, God always protects His people in His messiah. A greater David, Jesus ☧ is both resurrected from the cave and seated in conquest against sin and death.

Rev. George Murdaugh, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Douglasville, Georgia, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 12.Jesus ☧ is both the new David and the new Temple—twin truths woven together in Mark 12. While the crowds gladly listened, the majority of the scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees banded together in opposition. They try to win back the crowds because ☧’s talk of the Messiah and the resurrection was revolutionary. ☧ called them out on their corruption and hypocrisy of putting Caesar before God. Risen in Christ, we still respect Caesar, but we obey God foremost in all things.

Rev. Steven Theiss, retired LCMS pastor in Frohna, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 11.Why does Jesus ☧ make such a scene coming into Jerusalem? Why does He get so angry at the fig tree? Mark 11 reveals that ☧’s actions were calculated and full of symbolism, revealing the true nature of the authority of the Messiah. His words about the fig tree are really about the Temple, destroyed not even forty years later. The ☧’s authority goes beyond external appearances, to the very heart of what’s real and what matters most. This is the authority that absolves us of sin as we participate in the Ascension of our Lord in the Office of the Keys.

Rev. Dr. Martin Noland, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Mateo, California, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 10.“Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!” Mark 10 seems to unusually focus on the teaching of Jesus ☧, but this chapter is as much about people’s reactions to ☧’s “difficult” sayings. The Pharisees ask Him about divorce to put Him in a difficult position with Herod, but ☧’s difficult response challenges the crowd and even the disciples.The rich young man finds it too difficult to let go of his possessions, and the reality of ☧’s crucifixion between two criminals poses a difficulty for James and John’s vision of glory. Only blind Bartimaeus and the little children approach ☧ the right way: boldly in the face of rebuke, without terms or conditions, and confident that they will receive mercy. Only the power of God’s Word enables us to admit our own spiritual blindness and receive the kingdom as trusting children.

Rev. Nabil Nour, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hartford, South Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 9.“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” Jesus ☧ shows in Mark 9 that His disciples cannot rely on themselves; they will have to look to “Jesus only,” as Mark says following the Transfiguration. Like Pastor Nour’s acronym, faith is a fantastic adventure trusting Him.The path of God’s kingdom is paved with persecution, and the disciples like Elijah must quickly descend the mountain of God’s glory to confront the powers of darkness. The boy tormented by an unclean spirit is like the church, assaulted from infancy. ☧ helps our lack of faith so that we would not be mute with the fears of childish reason, but with child-like trust constantly speaking and listening to the Word.

Rev. Nathan Meador, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Wisconsin, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Mark 8.“Do you not yet understand?” In Mark 8, Jesus ☧ presses His disciples to grasp the symbolism of His miraculous actions. What does it mean that He miraculously fed a second crowd of people, this time with seven loaves instead of five?Like the man who could not see until ☧ touched his eyes a second time, the disciples could not understand until ☧ revealed even more of His power. The first feeding of the five thousand resembled the story of David, who took five loaves of the bread of the Presence to feed his soldiers (1 Samuel 21, Mark 2:23–28). These five were meant for the priests who were returning to their homes, and the remaining seven for the priests who were arriving to begin their service. ☧ signals with the seven loaves that a new group has come to serve God: scattered Israel mixed together with the Gentiles, together as the pure and unleavened Body of ☧ the Crucified.