Issues, Etc. Looking Forward to Sunday Morning According to Luther’s Catechisms: First Sunday of Christmas – Pr. Peter Bender, 12/26/25 (3602)
Dec 26, 2025
Peter Bender, a pastor and director at the Concordia Catechetical Academy, dives deep into the significance of baptism and its connection to the First Sunday of Christmas. He discusses how baptism serves as a rescue from evil, linking Isaiah's themes of God's compassion with the assurance found in baptism. Bender argues that baptism offers greater spiritual privilege than biological birth and emphasizes its role in adopting believers as sons. He also contrasts the brutality of Herod with the comfort baptism brings amidst suffering, reinforcing its importance in Christian life.
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Baptism As Paradigm Of Divine Rescue
- Isaiah 63 and the Sunday readings point to baptismal comfort as a paradigm of God's steadfast love and rescue.
- Baptism ties Old Testament deliverance to Christ's empathy, redemption, and preservation of faith.
What Baptism Actually Does
- The Small Catechism teaches baptism "works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation."
- This sacrament unites us to Christ's righteousness and the Passover-like deliverance from bondage.
Trinity Woven Into Israel's Deliverance
- Isaiah 63 subtly invokes Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the narrative of Israel's deliverance.
- These Trinitarian actions prefigure Christian baptism into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.