THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
January 26, 2025
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto
Our Opening Hymn is: “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”
... View MoreTHE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
January 26, 2025
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto
Our Opening Hymn is: “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”
Lutheran Service Book, 398 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhDpx3zqqWs
Confession and Absolution – P. 184-185
Introit – Psalm 102:18-22; antiphon: Ps. 102:13
13You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
18Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:
19 that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,
20 to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,
21 that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,
22 when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.
13You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.
Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) – Page 186
Gloria in Excelsis (Glory to God in the Highest) – Page 187
Our Collect Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God,
mercifully look upon our infirmities
and stretch forth the hand of Your majesty to heal and defend us;
through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Our Bible Readings:
Old Testament – Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Psalm 19:1-14
Epistle – 1st Corinthians 12:12-31a
Gospel – Luke 4:16-30
THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192
Our Hymn of the Day is: “O Christ, Our True and Only Light”
Lutheran Service Book, 839 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcK0kBrrHg
The Sermon –
How shall we see Jesus today?
How would our lives be different if we started every day with that question?
It’s the season of Epiphany, and God is revealing Christ for our eyes to see.
Having “hidden” Him in the flesh of humanity through the Christmas miracle of the Incarnation, in these weeks of Epiphany, God now brings Jesus out and lets us see that this peasant of Galilee is also the only Son of God.
And our Saviour.
Many in the secular world deny not only Jesus, but the Triune God entirely.
Our Psalm reading in verse one speaks of God’s general revelation to us the universe:
“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”
The Apostle Paul echoes these words when he declares in Roman 1:19-20:
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”
In our Gospel reading today we see Jesus looking strangely like God, but not the God of our imagination.
Rather we see Christ as the shocking God who confounds our expectations.
We don’t see Jesus in His victory over some demon, or leprosy, or even in raising the dead.
Today we see Him as God in His rejection, and His use of that rejection to lead to the act of salvation for the very people who would kill Him.
As Jesus preaches His first sermon, and one of the only ones recorded in the Gospels other than the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, we see the crowds grow angry at Christ.
They’re initially impressed and seem to love Him, but not for long.
The message veers off course in their opinion, and soon they take Him outside the village to cast Him from the top of a hill to His death.
They reject Him.
In this He really does look like God, the God the Israelites have been rejecting for centuries, the God many in our generation continue to reject.
Today as we hear this Gospel lesson, Christ passes through a crowd of murderous fellow-countrymen.
Before too many months have passed, He will once again face a crowd of angry fellow Jews who seek His life.
At that point though His ministry had run its course.
He had taught the crowds and His twelve disciples, and He’d born witness to the truth of God’s kingdom.
He healed the sick, cast out demons, fed multitudes, and raised the dead.
He could have walked through the crowd in Jerusalem that called out for His crucifixion as easily as He did the one in Nazareth.
But he didn’t.
He submitted to their murderous anger, endured their blows, the scourge, the lies, the cross, and finally breathes His last and hangs lifeless on the cross.
What makes this account so remarkable is not only Jesus rejected, but in that rejection, He becomes the very Saviour He proclaims Himself to be.
Herein lies the great mystery of God’s kingdom.
The victory is not had by God smashing the foe, but by God in human flesh being rejected, murdered, resurrected, and yet despised by the very people He is saving.
The very people whose sins He bore and paid for on a cross.
This is what God looks like.
He allowed Himself to lose the wrestling match with Jacob, He put up with the rebellious and stiff-necked people of Old Testament days, and much more.
When any pagan ‘god’ would have lashed out in furious wrath against people, Christ forgave and still loved them.
This isn’t a pushover God, but a God of a different sort of strength.
Not what we expect, but what He is.
Jesus returns to His hometown.
A very limited archaeological dig in Nazareth revealed a small agricultural village of about 200 residents.
It was a modest place, no large buildings, most of the homes were simple affairs whose back walls were formed by a hill.
The people who lived there probably worked in Sepphoris, the nearby town Herod Antipas started building in 4 B.C. as his new capitol.
Being a “tekton” or builder, it’s likely Joseph brought his family back here because there was work for him.
It’s clear Luke sees something in this encounter in Nazareth that allows him to say something necessary about Christ.
Luke wants to kick off your experience of Jesus’ ministry with this account.
But the narrative at first seems strange.
Jesus in the Sabbath gathering is given the scroll of Isaiah to read.
He unrolls and finds the place in the book from which He quotes Chapter 61.
The Isaiah scroll is massive, and this suggests a couple things in itself.
Christ is not randomly picking a verse, but knows this passage, and wants to speak to it.
His message is unusual, but not at first offensive to the people.
He tells them that today is the fulfillment of this prophecy.
And the people are amazed at the gracious words He speaks.
If He was interested in their praise, He would have stopped speaking right then.
But He didn’t.
He goes on to suggest that they’re all waiting for Him to do miracles as He’s done elsewhere.
But Jesus tells them that they will reject him as Saviour, that no prophet is honoured in his hometown.
Christ goes on to use two illustrations from the Old Testament: the story of Elijah and the widow of Zaraphath, and Elisha healing the Syrian captain, Naaman.
The point of both of these Biblical accounts is that the people whom the prophets helped were not Jews.
At the same time Jesus recounts that there were many starving Jewish widows and Jewish lepers who weren’t saved.
That does not go over well.
The crowd grows angry and take Christ outside to throw Him off a cliff, but He calmly walks through them; nothing comes of this.
Notice the reaction of the people to Jesus, and the tensions here.
They love him and hate him at the same time.
Luke will make much of this, that Jesus is essentially killed for being a good man: He heals the sick, befriends the lonely, raises the dead, cares for the weak, and so they kill Him.
It doesn’t make sense.
He speaks the truth and it’s the occasion for His death.
But even stranger, Jesus doesn’t ultimately avoid this death, even though He could.
In fact, His death becomes the mechanism for the salvation of the whole world.
Luke is telling us here that Jesus is no victim of the Romans.
He is the willing master of these events.
The fact that Jesus walks away this time, but not that Friday we call Good, tells us something important.
He could have walked away that day too, but chose not to.
Jesus is not a victim, but the one who takes action in His own death.
The very rejection of the Son of God is instrumental in God’s loving plan of salvation for a sinful world.
The greatest crime ever committed, the unjust execution of the only holy, truly righteous man who ever lived, becomes the means of the rebellious world’s rescue.
An act of rebellion is the rebellion’s undoing!
This is truly a strange and powerful mystery, and Luke is introducing us to it.
Jesus’ rejection in His hometown for speaking God’s truth will be repeated in Jerusalem.
It will lead to a cross, necessarily so, for our salvation, for the salvation of the world.
Amen.
THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194
SANTCUS (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195
THE LORD’S PRAYER
THE WORDS OF OUR LORD (The words of Institution of the Lord’s Supper) Page 197
THE AGNUS DEI (Lamb of God) Page 198
THE DISTRIBUTION
NUNC DIMITIS (The Song of Simeon) Page 199
Post Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201
The Benediction –
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine upon you
and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you
and give you peace.
Amen.
Our Closing Hymn is: “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness”
Lutheran Service Book, 849 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLr4vqxWtJQ
A Champion for Life and Those Who Defend It –
President Trump has pardoned 23 pro-life witnesses in the U.S. through an Executive Order.
These non-violent Christians had been given prison sentences,... View MoreA Champion for Life and Those Who Defend It –
President Trump has pardoned 23 pro-life witnesses in the U.S. through an Executive Order.
These non-violent Christians had been given prison sentences, some of them up to 57 months for speaking in defense of unborn life. The majority of those pardoned are elderly individuals in their 60s and 70s.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned in the U.S. in 2022, more than 100 pro-life pregnancy centers, Churches, and pro-life organizations were attacked and even firebombed. While those trying to defend life were jailed, the criminals responsible for violent acts escaped prosecution.
We give thanks for President Trump, and his defense of life and those who speak up for it.
We pray that those responsible in the civil realm will rule justly in accordance with God’s will and Word.
We pray for all who defend life in the U.S. and Canada.
May God sustain those who witness to His precious gift.
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church
http://christlutherantoronto.org/sermons/pro-life-ministry
Mr. President, invite a Confessional Lutheran Pastor to preach at the White House, and you won't have to endure what you did this morning.
Pastor Tom Steers
THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto
January 19, 2025
Divine Service III – Pages 184-202
... View MoreTHE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto
January 19, 2025
Divine Service III – Pages 184-202
Lutheran Service Book
Our Hymn of Praise: 507 “Holy, Holy, Holy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsuqrvJrT2Q
The Invocation
Confession and Absolution Page 184-185
Opening Versicles
Pastor: This is the day which the Lord has made.
Congregation: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
P: From the rising of the sun to its setting.
C: The name of the Lord is to be praised.
P: Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.
C: I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
P: Make me to know Your ways, O Lord.
C: Teach me Your paths.
P: Sanctify us in Your truth.
C: Your Word is truth.
P: From the rising of the sun to its setting.
C: The name of the Lord is to be praised.
(All) Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Collect Prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God, who governs all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the prayers of Your people and grant us Your peace throughout all our days; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Our Bible Readings –
First Reading Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 128 Epistle Reading 1st Corinthians 12:1-11 Gospel Reading John 2:1-11
THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192
HYMN OF THE DAY: 402 “The Only Son from Heaven”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc2-PqKsvJo
THE SERMON –
In the Gospel of John, it’s at the wedding at Cana that the Ministry of Jesus begins.
The Apostle writes, “On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee” when Jesus did the first of His signs that manifested His glory.
A “sign” in John’s Gospel is more than just a miracle, it’s something that points to the Divinity and saving work of Jesus as the Messiah, it indicates His mission as God in Human flesh.
This third day mentioned in our text ends the sequence of six days begun in the ministry of John the Baptist.
The first day was the occasion when John the Baptist saw Jesus and said to his followers, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
From the Book of Genesis, we know that Creation also took place in six days, and on the sixth day man was created.
With this reference of six days, John is saying the Old Testament times have ended, and the New Covenant is being inaugurated.
The old man, Adam, will finally be replaced by the new man, Christ, who is God with us.
The marriage feast of Christ and His Church is beginning.
In this way, the changing of water into wine is intimately connected with the witness of the Baptist and the gathering of the first disciples.
At the very beginning of the Cana account there’s a signal.
The wine miracle reveals the connection between water, Christ’s own Baptism, and the life and suffering of Jesus as the Lamb of God.
John begins his Gospel narrative at a wedding, and this is not an accidental nor irrelevant detail.
In the miracle at Cana, it’s revealed that through the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, the marriage of God and the Church has commenced.
We see the mother of Christ in this passage.
In John’s Gospel, we won’t see her again until she is at the foot of the cross with John.
It is another signal that the Cana miracle is a sign of the coming crucifixion of Jesus, a ‘time’ that Jesus, reminds Mary, has not yet come.
Still, the wine miracle itself, John tells us, reveals Christ’s glory, the glory of the only Son from Heaven.
The new purification, which the wine miracle symbolizes, lies wholly within the creative will of God.
The Gospel of John opens with the Apostle telling us, as Genesis did, that Christ was in the beginning with God, and that all things were made through Him.
While Christ’s saving act at the cross is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, it proceeds from His coming from the Father from eternity, and in the gift of the Creator Spirit.
The transformation of the water into wine springs from the Word, Christ, who speaks, and the miracle happens.
Just as God the Father, through Christ, spoke the universe into existence at the beginning of time.
Martin Luther wrote that the water in the stone jars represents the Law, which demands our works and leaves us like those stone jars, hardened with fear and dread of God’s judgment.
But the Gospel removes the penalty of the Law, and consoles us.
For when the heart hears that Christ fulfills the Law for us, and takes our sins upon Himself, we are no longer burdened by the impossible things, the absolute perfection, the Law demands.
This is because the heart now has Christ.
The transformation of water into wine indicates that the Old Testament ritual purification of God’s people is being replaced by another, far greater, and permanent purification.
The best wine, Christ’s blood, has been shed on the cross, and is given to us in the Lord’s Supper along with His body.
The bread and wine of Communion is transformed, by God’s Word.
In this holy Sacrament, this foretaste of the Heavenly banquet, we have forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
The Sacrament of the Altar was instituted by Christ Himself, and He commanded Christians to receive, to participate in it.
It is the earthly fulfillment of the promise of the wedding feast of Christ and His Church until we join Jesus at His table in Heaven at the end of time.
Water is a frequent theme in John’s Gospel.
The water turned into wine.
The water and blood that poured from Christ’s side on the cross, that not only creates the Bride of Christ, the Church, but also cleanses and clothes her in His righteousness.
Water is not just a mere symbol though, but the material instrument, the earthly element, of a Divine act.
By John the Baptist using water, Christ is baptized.
Baptism is performed by the Apostles at Christ’s direction using water.
The water isn’t a symbol of a gift, but a means through which it is given when combined with God’s Word and command.
Christ gave Himself over for the Church, “that He might sanctify her by the washing of water with the Word.” (Ephesians 5:26)
That He might present His bride, the Church, to Himself as glorious.
That she might be holy, and without blemish.
Here we have, with full clarity, the word that Christ’s death is the sanctifying purification for mankind.
That through Christ’s payment for our sins on the cross we are redeemed.
That in the washing of Christian Baptism, we are rescued from sin, death, and the devil.
That the body and blood of Christ truly are given and shed for you in the Lord’s Supper, and that through them we have salvation and eternal life.
In other words, Christ performs another miracle this day for you.
He gives you, through the Church, the means of grace.
The fine wine, which the divine Bridegroom has reserved to the last, is His blood shed for us.
In that holy death and resurrection, the work of redemption has reached its conclusion.
Jesus did this sign at Cana, and so manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
As believers you are part of the wedding feast, the marriage of Christ and His Church.
We have God’s sign in Jesus and confess Him to be the Saviour of the world.
Amen.
THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194
SANTCUS (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195
THE LORDS PRAYER
THE WORDS OF OUR LORD (The words of Institution of the Lord’s Supper) Page 197
THE AGNUS DEI (Lamb of God) Page 198
THE DISTRIBUTION
NUNC DIMITIS (The Song of Simeon) Page 199
Post Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 201
The Benediction Page 202
CLOSING HYMN 514 “The Bridegroom Soon Will Call Us”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7-ZhHQA1M
The Baptism of Our Lord
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto
Our Opening Hymn is, “All Christians Who Have Been Baptized”
... View MoreThe Baptism of Our Lord
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto
Our Opening Hymn is, “All Christians Who Have Been Baptized”
Lutheran Service Book, 596 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M176e7UkbOk
OPENING HYMNN: 601 “All Who Believe and Are Baptized” The Invocation Page 184 Confession and Absolution Page 184-185
Introit
Psalm 2:7-11, 12c; antiphon: Isaiah 42:1a
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights.
Our Collect Prayer:
Father in Heaven,
At the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River
You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son
and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit.
Make all who are baptized in His name
faithful in their calling as Your children
and inheritors with Him of everlasting life;
through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Our Bible Readings:
Old Testament – Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Epistle – Romans 6:1-11
Gospel – Luke 3:15-22
Our Hymn of the Day is: “O Love, How Deep”
Lutheran Service Book, 544 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHASptbZB-A
The Sermon –
Today, on this “Baptism of Jour Lord” Sunday, we read about Christ’s Baptism and perhaps think about our own.
We may ask what did Baptism mean for Jesus, and what does it mean and do for us in our lives?
Lutherans often say that Baptism is like adoption.
I’ve known quite a few adoptive parents, and when they bring a child into their new family they celebrate.
And when that baby looks into their eyes for the first time and smiles, they take that child not only into their family, but into their hearts.
Now we don’t wait until an infant becomes of age and then ask them whether or not they want to be part of a family.
No. If we receive the child as a baby, we adopt them as a baby.
So it is with God.
God wants us to be baptized or adopted as infants; as ‘adults’ if that doesn’t happen in infancy.
We don’t wait until the child is the “age of decision” to be adopted, nor does the Bible encourage us to wait until adulthood to be part of the family of God.
And so, we baptize children, and for good Biblical reasons.
Worldly adoption is the parent’s action.
When my neighbours brought an adorable baby girl home from eastern Europe, the infant did nothing to be adopted, the parents did everything.
It’s the same with our loving God.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. (Matthew 19:14)
Our Heavenly Father reaches out to us through the Holy Spirit, through the means of grace: His Word, the sacrament of Baptism, and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
So Baptism in the Bible, isn’t a decision we make, despite what some TV evangelists will tell you, but a decision God has made to reach out to us and claim us as His own.
Baptism is like a spiritual branding, where the mark of Christ is put on our forehead and we know that we belong to God.
Baptism is a cleansing, yet not a physical washing, but a spiritual one.
It is a cleansing of sins where the purity of Christ is given to us through the water, the Word, and again most importantly through the Holy Spirit.
Now babies don’t wash themselves when they’re dirty.
Parents do.
And just as it’s an earthly parent’s decision to wash and cleanse their child, so it is the Fathers will for us to be made clean, and only He can do that.
So, we come to Jesus’ Baptism, and we might be confused, even as John the Baptist was when Christ came to him.
In Matthew 3:14 John at first resists Jesus’ request and says, "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?"
Jesus came to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.
John felt unworthy to baptize Christ, but Jesus insisted.
As Christ came up out of the water, a voice from Heaven said, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. “
Today my sermon will have three points -- and the points are: Son, Spirit, and Servant.
First, Son.
In his baptism, Jesus was declared to be the “beloved Son” of God.
The Bible teaches that Jesus was the only begotten Son, true God and true man.
But in our Baptism, you and I become and are declared the adopted sons and daughters of God, and have a new relationship with Him, a new closeness.
A friend of mine years ago worked in a small manufacturing company.
His relationship with the owner was very formal, even distant.
But when the owner’s daughter told her father that she wanted to marry my friend, the owner came and threw his arms around him and said, “my new son.”
The relationship with his boss changed forever.
Baptism is the fantastic invitation from God to know us so closely that we’re called son or daughter and become family.
God looks down at you and me and says, ‘These are my beloved sons and daughters in whom I delight.’
The second point of today’s message as I said is: Spirit.
When Jesus was Baptized, the Holy Spirit came down on Him.
This was the same Spirit present in creation, when God created the universe.
In the book of Genesis, it says, “The Spirit of God was hovering above the waters.”
The Spirit was brooding above the waters, ready to create life.
Later, that same creative Spirit described in Genesis came upon the prophets, who through the Spirit spoke with boldness and authority.
When we find that same Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, coming down upon Jesus, who was already God in Human Flesh, we see the Spirit descend on Him as a recognition that He was the only Son.
The Spirit set down on Him at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry which would end with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection.
Through Baptism, a Sacrament commanded by Christ in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), the same Spirit lives in us.
The Holy Spirit uses God’s means of grace: His Word and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to work faith in Christ withing us.
The Spirit regenerates us, giving us the ability to believe, and the desire to live a life conformed to Christ, whom we are united to through our Baptism.
Now there is a third thing that happens in the Baptism of Jesus, and the third point of my sermon.
The voice of God identified Jesus as being the Suffering Servant.
The words of God recorded in Luke echo the words of God recorded by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1 says: “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”
Isaiah 42 is a chapter about the Suffering Servant, and Jesus is identified as the Servant of God.
The servant who carries the sins of the whole world on His back.
The Suffering Servant is like a packhorse whose load is sin.
You and I were baptized to be cleansed of sin.
That wasn’t true of Jesus.
He had no sin.
According to the Bible, Jesus was Baptized not to rid Himself of sin, but in order to carry our sins to the cross.
And that’s important for us to understand and appreciate.
When we’re baptized, it is guaranteed that Christ will exchange His righteousness for our sins, what Martin Luther called the glorious exchange.
Christ has carried all your sins on the cross.
We’re not weighed down by past sins, failures, imperfections, or guilt.
All the wrongs we have or ever will commit have been placed on the back of Jesus, and He carries that weight, a load we couldn’t carry for a second.
I remember reading a poem by Rudyard Kipling poem:
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you. … If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, and make allowances for their doubting too. … If you can wait and not be tired of waiting, and so on, and it concludes, “Yours is the earth and everything in it. And what is more, you will be a man, my son.”
Yet, the question may be in our minds, “What if I can’t?”
What if I can’t always be strong?
What if a relationship with a loved one breaks down?
What if a job is lost, or our health, or hope shattered?
It’s then we can remind ourselves we have been Baptized – that we have a loving Father who adopted and claimed us.
It’s then that we can take those loads of pain and worry, turn to Jesus in prayer, and hand Him the burdens we cannot bear, but He did.
For you, for me.
The all-powerful who became the suffering servant out of love invites us to remember we are His children through Baptism and the Holy Spirit.
Baptism for some people isn’t important, it’s only a ritual, just the sprinkling of water on a baby’s head.
For others unfortunately Baptism is like hell insurance they rely on to protect them from the fiery wrath of God.
But Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Matthew: “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . . . . ” (Matt.28:19).
And in in the last chapter of Mark, Christ says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved . . . . ”(Mark 16:16).
Christ Himself tells us Baptism is not just a ritual, not simply a “nice to have.”
What Baptism is truly about is being claimed as God’s child and protected by your loving Father for eternity.
The Spirit of God came upon Jesus.
He was declared to be the Son of God in whom the Heavenly Father delighted.
The Spirit of God came upon us at the Baptismal font.
There we were joined to the suffering servant Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
There we were spiritually washed and joined to our Lord's perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection.
There we were brought into the family of the Church as God's forgiven children for the sake of Jesus.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.
Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195 Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Pages 198 (Our Communion Hymn is “I Bind Unto Myself Today”) Nunc Dimitis (Song of Simeon) Page 199 Post-Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201
CLOSING HYMN: 590 “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocxe4OLhagI&list=RDocxe4OLhagI&start_radio=1
THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
January 5, 2025
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Savour Lutheran Church, Toronto
... View MoreTHE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
January 5, 2025
Pastor Tom Steers
Christ the Savour Lutheran Church, Toronto
OPENING HYMNN: 376 “Once in Royal David’s City”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szx3U1mHrwM
The Invocation Page 184 Confession and Absolution Page 184-185
The Introit
Ps 147:1, 3-5, 11-12; John 1:14
Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
3 He heals the broken-hearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love. 12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy)
Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us.
Our Collect Prayer:
Heavenly Father, as Your only Son honoured Your house, help us to honour Your church. May we be faithful in worshipping you and in bearing witness to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bible Readings –
Old Testament: 1st Kings 3: 4-15 Psalm 119, verses 97-104 Epistle Reading Ephesians 1: 3-14 Gospel Reading Luke 2: 40-52
THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192
HYMN OF THE DAY: 410 “Within the Father’s House”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W24SCEG_-9U
THE SERMON –
Brothers and sisters, peace, grace, and mercy be to you through God the Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
We enter the Church season of Epiphany tomorrow.
Epiphany means revealing, the revelation of Christ to the world.
Today is the Twelfth Day, or the Second Sunday after Christmas.
In our Gospel we see Christ, when He was 12 years old, revealing Himself.
Christians confess the truth that God became incarnate – took on flesh and blood, in the person of Jesus.
Here we see the One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Almighty God became a child.
More than that, He willing becomes a servant.
Though true God and true man, He didn’t fully use His divine power, knowledge, and glory.
This is difficult for us.
We may ask – how can the unlimited God put limits on Himself?
How can the all-knowing God grow in wisdom?
Christ never ceased to be fully God – so that at any time He could have made use of His deity to know all things, and do all things.
But Christ restrained Himself, in submission to His Father in Heaven, wearing this form of a servant, in His earthly state of humiliation, so He could redeem us from sin.
We, on the other hand, have been the exact opposite of Jesus.
He was true God, yet was content to live as man.
Yet we, who are only human, and sinners besides, often try to be like the Almighty.
This was the first sin, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit believing the serpent's lie that they, “would become as God.”
Each one of us, as the children of Adam and Eve, acts this same way – whether we know it or not.
Whenever we sin against God's Commandments, we’re saying we know better than God.
Whenever we ignore the clear words of Scripture, we’re saying we are wiser than God.
Whenever we think that we know spiritual truth apart from God’s Word, we are saying our word and reason is infallible, is above God’s reason and will.
Whenever we try to justify ourselves, we’re saying we don’t need God to justify us.
But Christ came to rescue us from the sinful mind and the rebelliousness of our disobedience.
He submitted in obedience when He had no need to.
And all these things He did, He did to save us – from ourselves.
Our Gospel text today is the only account of Jesus between infancy and maturity.
It’s unique.
And we can learn something from the behaviour of the young Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple.
Our text from Luke reads:
“And thinking that he was in the company, they went a day's journey, and seeking him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances, and finding him not, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him."
They found him in the temple three days later.
Can you imagine your feeling if you weren’t able to find your child, or a child you loved and were responsible for, for three days.
But here’s Jesus among the Temple priests, the scholars, the religious elite of the day, hearing them, asking questions and answering.
Luke tells us, “And all who heard him were astonished at his intelligence and his answers.”
At age 12, Jewish boys entered a secondary school, the Beth-ha-Midrash, the foremost of which was in the Temple of Jerusalem.
And it was here that Mary and Joseph found Jesus sitting among the teachers, gathered for advanced instruction in the Word of God.
There He sat, seemingly in the role of a student, actually in a serious conference, in which He functions as teacher.
Jesus didn’t lecture, He asked questions.
He didn’t expect them to get it all at once.
And He left them amazed at His questions and answers – pleasantly surprised, and learning.
How do we know He was teaching?
He was sitting among them and asking questions.
Rabbis and scholars sat as they taught.
A student at this time would have stood.
And questioning is the ancient method of teaching, that’s why Jesus often asks questions of those who come to Him.
He’s teaching them.
He wants them to think.
Jesus was preparing the way for His ministry to come.
He was giving due attention to the explanations of the scholars of the Law, but His answers were an amazement to all who heard them.
Yet when Mary, Jesus’ mother asked, ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Your father and I have been searching for you and were really worried.’
Jesus answered, not in arrogance, but with the truth of His calling, with innocence: "Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know I must be about my Father's business?"
Jesus understood that the study, and the teaching of the Word of God is of utmost importance.
And He knew the critical importance of understanding it in a Godly way, not only as Law, but also as Gospel.
The truth of God, the truth of Jesus, is that while the Law is not taken away by Him, the Good News of salvation through Him by faith is the saving Word.
The Law convicts, it doesn’t save.
The Bible and the Lutherans Confessions explain that God’s Laqw has three functions.
The Law is a curb on evil.
It’s a mirror that shows us our sins.
And it’s a guide to God’s perfect will for our life.
But the problem, as sinners, is: we can’t fulfill it.
We are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
And that saving faith in Christ comes through the Holy Spirit using God’s means of grace: His Word and Sacraments.
Which means the Word has to be preached and taught correctly.
That’s why the Temple priests were amazed, because all they had was an understanding of God’s Word through the hammer of the Law.
Jesus knew something else, and His life later demonstrated it, while still a relatively young man, about 30.
Christ submits to Baptism, knowing it is God’s will, and that through Baptism the Holy Spirit comes and dwells with us, with those He later commands receive it – adults, children, and infants.
And this is because Baptism is God’s work, not our proud pronouncement of our own righteousness or ‘decision.’
Christ’s institution of the Lord’s Supper gives us and teaches about another Sacrament, in which Jesus promises He will remain with us, feeding us His body and blood, sustaining us, until He returns.
Christ said in John, Chapter 6:53-54,
“Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
For Jesus, respectfully hearing God’s Word preached in His house was not to be considered a burden, but a privilege, a precious gift, and something commanded in the Third Commandment.
Whenever someone ignores, or avoids, the Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper
they are saying Christ cannot be taken at His Word.
Whenever the Word of God isn’t heard and studied – it is saying the Words of Jesus aren’t important.
Christ obeyed all the Commandments, without a single flaw, in our place.
The path of obedience, for Jesus, led to Jerusalem – the city of His destiny,
– the city where the final sacrifice to end all sacrifices was to be made – by Him.
Here, Christ came when He was an infant, on the day the Church calls the Presentation, remember that in the Song of Simoen we sing in our liturgy.
And to Jerusalem Christ returned, year after year, at the festival of Passover.
But on the final Passover, Christ became the Lamb that made eternal death ‘pass over’ us all.
Today, God the Father doesn’t see the disobedience of our flesh, because we are redeemed and called the children of God, covered with His righteousness
because of Christ.
We, as saints, for the sake of Christ, love Jesus, and give thanks for the mercy, grace, and forgiveness He won for us at Calvary.
Out of the same love for us that led Him to the cross – Christ left us His true Church we find His Word rightly preached, and His Sacraments properly administered.
Receive God’s gifts.
Receive His salvation.
Receive eternal life.
Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195 Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Pages 198
The Distribution
(Our Communion Hymn is “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come” by Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpymOuSeIz0)
The Nunc Dimitis (Song of Simeon) Page 199 Post-Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201
CLOSING HYMN: 386 “Now Sing We Now Rejoice”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FNR7EuA6cY
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