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THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY January 25, 2025 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OUR OPENING HYMN: 412 “The People That in Darkness Sat” Lutheran Service Book CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION Page 184-185 THE INTROIT – Psalm 22:27-31; antiphon: Ps. 22:22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it. 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. I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you. 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 – 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: Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 27:1-14 (antiphon: v.1) Epistle: Romans: 1st Corinthians 1:10-18 Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:12-25 THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192 HYMN OF THE DAY: 839 “O Christ, Our True and Only Light” THE SERMON – “The Light Has Dawned: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven Is at Hand” Brothers and sisters, grace, peace, and mercy be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. When Jesus begins His public ministry, Matthew tells us something very specific about where and how it begins. It starts not in Jerusalem, nor at the temple, nor among the powerful or elite, but in Galilee of the Gentiles. It begins in a place long marked by the darkness of sin, invasion, and loss. Matthew is careful to tell us this is no accident. It is the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah's words: “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Galilee is not merely a geographical detail. It’s a theological confession. It is the promise fulfilled that God’s saving work begins where human hope has failed. Isaiah spoke these words centuries earlier to a people crushed by Assyrian domination, a people who knew what it meant to live in the shadow of death. Yet into that darkness the Lord promised light, not the light of human strength or political power, but the light of His own saving grace and presence. Now, in Matthew Chapter 4, that promise is fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The Light of Christ has dawned. And the first words that come from the mouth of this Light are not sentimental or vague. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance isn’t a message we naturally want to hear. It confronts us with the truth that something is wrong, not only out there in the world, but here, within us. Yet repentance is not the opposite of the Gospel. Sorrow over sin is what happens when the light shines into the darkness and exposes what has been hidden. Martin Luther writes in the Heidelberg Disputation that, “the law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done; grace says, ‘Believe in this,’ and everything is already done.” Christ’s call to repentance is not a demand that we fix ourselves before He comes near. It is the announcement that the Kingdom has already come near in Him. Faith is simply receiving the Light that has already dawned. As Jesus continues along the Sea of Galilee, He calls Simon Peter and Andrew, then James and John. “Follow Me,” He says, “and I will make you fishers of men.” Notice what Jesus does not say. He doesn’t say, “Improve yourselves, and then follow Me.” He does not say, “Be righteous first, and then follow Me.” He simply calls. And in that call, He creates what He commands. As Luther taught, faith is the open hand that receives the Gospel. That hand itself is opened through the Holy Spirit using God’s means of grace, His Word and Sacraments. The fishermen leave their nets, their boats, even their father, not because they’ve grasped a plan for their lives, but because the Word of Christ has taken hold of them. This is how the Kingdom of Heaven comes. Not by human decision or spiritual achievement, but by the effective Word of Jesus. That same Word that once said, “Let there be light,” now says, “Follow Me,” and new creation begins. This is deeply connected to what St. Paul addresses in 1st Corinthians. The Corinthian congregation is fractured, divided by loyalties and personalities. “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas.” Paul’s response is not to offer better leadership strategies or mission statements, but to re-center them on the cross. “Is Christ divided?” he asks. The answer, of course, is no. The Church isn’t founded on human personalities, whether in Corinth or in big box churches and TV celebrities. The Church belongs to Christ crucified. “The word of the cross,” Paul says, “is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The same Light that dawns in Galilee is the Light that shines most clearly from the cross. There, in what appears to be darkness and defeat, God is at work saving the world. Psalm 27 gives voice to the confidence that flows from this Light. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Our confidence is not in material objects or circumstances, but in the presence of the crucified and risen Lord who does not abandon His people. Even when we walk through valleys of uncertainty, illness, grief, or fear, the Light has not gone out. It has dawned, once and for all, in Christ. Matthew tells us that Jesus went throughout all Galilee, teaching, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and affliction among the people. This is not a different Jesus from the one who calls sinners to repentance. It is the same Lord, whose mercy meets people in their weakness. His miracles aren’t mere displays of power. They are signs that the Kingdom of Heaven has broken into a fallen world. They are foretastes of the restoration promised in Isaiah, when the yoke of the burden of sin is broken, and joy replaces despair. Yet even here, we need to be careful. Jesus doesn’t come to make earthly life necessarily easier. He comes to make all things new. And to save for eternity. That renewal comes through repentance, forgiveness, and faith. The crowds follow Him, Matthew says, from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. The Light draws people from every direction. But following Jesus is not the same as just being impressed by Him. To follow Jesus is be called to repentance each day, and continually given forgiveness. It is to be shaped, not by the wisdom of the world, but by the foolishness of the cross. Here, brothers and sisters in Christ, this Gospel meets us. We, too, live in a world that knows darkness. Sin, division, fear, and confusion are not strangers to our lives, or to the Church. Yet the answer is not found in self-help theologies or spiritual fads. The answer is the same today as it was in Galilee. “The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.” That Light is Christ Himself, present for us in His Word and Sacraments. Here, He still says, “Repent,” in the Confession, and here He still says, “Your sins are forgiven” in the Absolution. Here, He still calls ordinary people and makes them His own. He gathers us, not around ourselves, but around His cross where He paid for the sin of the world. Luther once wrote, “Where Christ is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church.” But where Christ is preached, there the Light shines, and the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. May that Light continue to shine upon us. May it call us again and again to repentance and faith. And may it lead us, at last, from the shadow of death into the fullness of eternal life with our risen Lord and Saviour. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 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: 688 “‘Come, Follow Me,’ The Savior Spake”