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THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS December 28, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Our Opening Hymn is: 380 “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” Lutheran Service Book Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 The Introit – Jeremiah 31:15-17; antiphon: Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” Thus says the Lord: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country. 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. When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us. Pastor: The Lord be with you. Congregation: And with thy Spirit. Our Collect Prayer – (Please stand) O God, our Maker and Redeemer, You wonderfully created us and in the incarnation of Your Son yet more wondrously restored our human nature. Grant that we may ever be alive in Him who made Himself to be like us; through 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 63:7-14 Psalm 111 (antiphon: verse 9a, b) Epistle: Galatians 4:4-7 Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:13-23 THE NICENE CREED Page 191 HYMN OF THE DAY: 370 “What Child Is This” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xh8CQ60onk&list=RD4Xh8CQ60onk&start_radio=1 THE SERMON – Brothers & sisters, grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Father and from our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The First Sunday after Christmas often feels jarring to us. Only days ago, we sang of angels and shepherds, of peace on earth and goodwill toward men. We beheld the manger, seeing the Word made flesh, lying quietly in Mary’s arms. And now, almost without warning, the Church places before us an account filled with fear, flight, and bloodshed. Joseph is warned in a dream. Mary gathers her Child in the darkness. The Holy Family flees to Egypt. And behind them, in Bethlehem, the cries of grieving mothers are heard as Herod orders the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. This abrupt turn unsettles us, and perhaps it should. The Apostle Matthew won’t allow us an overly sentimental Christmas. The Child born in Bethlehem doesn’t enter a neutral world. He enters a fallen world hostile to God, fearful of losing power, and willing to destroy the innocent, to preserve itself. From the very beginning, the shadow of the cross falls across the manger. Herod’s rage is not merely the cruelty of one tyrant. It is the world’s response to the coming of its true sovereign. Herod hears of a child “born King of the Jews” and is troubled. Not curious. Not repentant. But enraged and murderous. For Herod, the birth of Christ is not ‘good news,’ but a threat. So, it has always been. Where Christ reigns, false kings tremble. Where the true Son of David appears, the ungodly powers of this age reveal their violence and hate. This is why the Church must hear this Gospel so soon after Christmas. It teaches us what kind of Saviour has been born to us. Jesus wasn’t brought into comfort and safety, but into danger and rejection. He isn’t shielded from human suffering, but enters fully into it. Even as an infant, He is hunted. Even before He can speak, He is marked as an enemy by the world’s darkness. Matthew tells us that Joseph’s flight into Egypt fulfills the word of the Lord: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This is not an accident. God’s plan of redemption is unfolding according to His promises, even when events appear chaotic, and cruel. Just as Israel once went down into Egypt and was later called out by God’s mighty hand, so, now Jesus, retraces their path. Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s steadfast love and compassion, of how He redeemed His people and carried them all the days of old. The prophet recalls how God Himself became their Saviour, bearing and leading them through the wilderness. In Christ, this is no longer a memory. It is happening again, but in a deeper, final way. The Son of God enters exile so that we the exiles from the fall into sin, might be brought home. He flees from danger so that those enslaved to sin and death might be delivered. The flight into Egypt tells us something profound about God’s way of working. The Lord doesn’t save by avoiding the world’s suffering, but by entering into, and uniting Himself, to it. He doesn't redeem the world from a distance, but within it, from a cross. The slaughter of the Holy Innocents confronts us with a painful truth. The coming of Christ does not immediately remove evil from the world. Herod still kills. Mothers weep. Rachel mourns her children and refuses to be comforted. And yet, even here, God is at work. The children who die because of Christ are the first Christian martyrs, witnesses who die in His place. Their deaths are not meaningless, though they are grievous. They remind us that the cost of our redemption is real. Sin isn’t an abstraction. It destroys lives and spills innocent blood. And, it is into this reality that Christ has come. Galatians reminds us why. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.” The timing is God’s. The sending is God’s. The purpose is redemption. Christ is born under the same law that condemns us. He enters the same broken world we inhabit. He does so not to escape, but to bear and overcome it. In fleeing Herod, Jesus doesn’t avoid His mission. He advances it. For this Child will one day stand before another ruler who fears losing power. He will face another unjust sentence. He will hear the cries of a crowd stirred up by hatred and envy. And this time, He will not flee. He will go willingly to His sacrificial death bearing our sins. Psalm 111 calls us to praise the Lord for His mighty works, for His faithfulness and justice. At first glance, the events of Matthew Chapter 2 don’t look like mighty works, but tragedy. Yet faith learns to see God’s hand even when it is hidden beneath suffering. The Lord is faithful to His covenant, even when the effects of evil are on full display. He remembers His mercy. He keeps His promises. And He brings salvation in ways the world neither expects nor understands. Dear brothers and sisters, this Gospel also speaks to our own lives. We, too, live between promise and fulfillment. We rejoice in Christ’s birth, yet still encounter sorrow and loss. We confess Christ, while the world often responds with hostility or indifference. The Church herself often seems small, vulnerable, and forced to flee rather than triumph. But the Gospel assures us that none of this means God has lost control. The same Lord who guided the Holy Family by dreams and promises is guiding His Church today. The same Saviour who was carried into Egypt is carrying you through every trial. You are not forgotten, nor abandoned. Because in Christ, you are no longer slaves, but sons and daughters. You have been adopted by grace. Christ has entered our suffering and made us His own. The First Sunday after Christmas teaches us to hold joy and sorrow together. The manger and the massacre belong to the same story. So do the cross and the empty tomb. God’s plan of redemption moves forward not by human strength but by divine faithfulness. What Herod meant for evil, God used to bring His Son to the place where His saving work would continue. What the world still means for evil, God will finally overcome in Christ. So, we do not look away from this hard Gospel. We look at it through the eyes of faith. And there we see not chaos, but promise. Not retreat, but redemption unfolding. Not the defeat of God, but the quiet advance of His saving will. The Child who fled for His life is the same Lord who now reigns forever. And He has come to redeem you. To Him alone be all glory and honour, now and forever. Amen. THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) Page 195 The Lord’s Prayer Page 196 Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) Page 198 Post-Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 OUR CLOSING HYMN: 379 “O Come, All Ye Faithful”