Grace Lutheran Church The Name of Jesus, January 1, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

January 1, 2006 "Jesus was named so we can be too"

The Name of Jesus Luke 2:21

The birth of Jesus is a spectacular event with the angels that break open the sky, the timing of Mary giving birth to her firstborn son on a night when there was no room in the inn. There are just so many wonderful images surrounding the birth of Jesus, but I am not so sure you have considered the wonder of what comes after the shepherds visiting the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths. The Gospel according to St. Luke goes on to say, "At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." This is just one sentence out of so many in the scriptures, but this one sentence reminds us of the sacrifice and purpose of this baby born in Bethlehem.

Jesus, the king of kings and lord of lords, was circumcised. Circumcision went back to when the Lord had commanded Abraham in the book of Genesis saying, "You shall be circumcised, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised" (Gen. 17:11-12).

Mary and Joseph were faithful to God and therefore obeyed the commandment. Now through this ritual Jesus belonged to the covenant community. Jesus now belonged under the law. Consider for a moment the wonder of this act. He who is above the law as the Son of God, was placed under the law.

Also at this ritual Jesus was named with the name given to Mary by the angel before Jesus was conceived in her womb. This baby eight days old is placed under the law and called by the purpose for which he was born.

This name was not random but had a purpose. The angel had told Mary, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end" (Luke 1:31-33). The name Jesus is entirely wrapped around this baby not because of grand designs that the mother has for her baby, but because of the grand designs that God has for you.

Mary and Joseph placed great importance upon the name they would call this child. In Near Eastern cultures a personal name was meant to reveal much about a person's identity and character. To have a name was to exist. To know and use a person's name was to know the person's essential nature and purpose. For example consider how Adam in the Garden of Eden was charged with naming all the animals as an exercise in his dominion over creation that humanity has been given.

In Psalm 8, the appointed psalm for today, we proclaim, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth." Why is his name majestic? Because we can look around the creation and see the work of his fingers, we can see in his work his majesty and so attach this quality to his name.

The name Jesus means, “Yahweh Saves.” Yahweh is the Hebrew name for the Lord God given to Moses at the Burning Bush. In English Bibles it is represented by placing the word Lord in all capital letters. Jesus was not an entirely unique name, but the way in which this child was going to use it was entirely unique.

Our names are important as well. They give us a sense of belonging. My first name is Evan. It is a Welsh name that is also similar in sound to my grandmother’s name, Evelyn. My father is from a decidedly German family background, thus the last name Gaertner, but when I was named my mother wanted some of her welsh background carried forward. Evan Gaertner as a name is a reminder to me of both my Welsh and German backgrounds.

Sometimes we are tempted to use our good names. For instance when we name drop or throw our name around hoping that we will influence others. At a pastor gathering a couple of years ago I remember one older pastor disregarding what I was saying and so much wanted to remind him of my heritage of having a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who were pastors. I was so conceited and vain to think that my heritage should improve the logic of what I was saying.

But besides dropping a good name, other times our names become associated with titles we don't like, names like "addict" "unemployed" "overweight" "bankrupt." When people consider your name, what do they think of? Are you proud of that identity or would you like to adopt a new identity, a new name. In the soccer league I played in last summer a team had gotten behind in its leagues fees. They dissolved as a team and reregistered under a new name. They were hoping to lose their identity as a bankrupt team.

Honestly dealing with your identity, character, essential nature was what Jesus brought to his ministry. He confronted the trust that people had placed in their names rather than the one that had named them. The Pharisees and others name-dropped that they were children of Abraham and had never been slaves to anyone. The name dropping that focused on their ancestry had a strangle hold upon the people. When the Lord appeared to Moses he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." But rather than trusting in God as their righteousness and deliverer the people trusted in their heritage as their salvation. Their name-dropping centered on their own goodness and ability they felt to be obedient to the commands of God.

But Jesus has come precisely because of our inability to be good and our failure to obey the commands of God. We need to be humble and be ready to be called what we are "sinners in need of a savior." Jesus is named because we are named and known by the powers that enslave us. The very reason that Jesus has come in the flesh is found in the name that he was given when he was eight days old. “Jesus” “Yahweh Saves.”

Slaves that were brought over to America in awful ships of death were stripped of their names. In our sin we are stripped of righteousness and dignity. We are stripped on account of our sin of any reason to stand before God. The powers of addiction, pride, indulgence, selfishness are our names. With these names adopted by us through our actions we become nameless, unknown, to the one ultimate power who controls life and death. In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man that Jesus tells it is significant that the rich man is never given a name. He has become nameless to the Lord God. While Lazarus the one forgotten and walked past is named and called by the Lord.

The final verdict for those that desire to be named by the powers that control them is to be nameless to Jesus. On the Day of Judgment the word from Jesus will be, “I do not know where you come from, go away from me” (Luke 13:27).

But even as we are nameless through our sin, we become named and known through our faith in Jesus. Jesus, the one whose name was delivered Mary by the angel. Jesus is the one who has come to save us. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. The way that he accomplishes these saving is horrible. He took the form of a slave. Being born of a woman, being born under the law to redeem those under the law. Upon the cross he became nameless and unknown to God the Father. Jesus is obedient to his name, to the one that named him, even to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Through Jesus becoming nameless and unknown to God upon the cross, God declares that every lost, nameless, unknown sinner who trusts in Jesus will be treated like Jesus. In this world we may know suffering and hate, but we also more importantly know the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are gladly named by God in our baptism. The old powers of sin and death have lost their powers by the even older power of God’s love. We are christened in our baptism with the holy name of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All those that believe have their names written in the book of heaven. You are known and named by the God that saves.

When you get to heaven and you want to name drop, don’t bother mentioning the names of addiction, overweight, prideful, hateful. This names have been wiped clean by the blood of the lamb. There is only one name in heaven by which you are saved. The name of Jesus is the name of salvation.

Just like Jesus our names become our job descriptions. Through faith we are in Christ and it the name of Christ that carries us forward into the world. As a little Christ you go into your families, into your workplaces, into this church. As your namesake you go out into this world to seek and to save the lost. Sure you might name drop a little bit but the difference is the name of Jesus dropped into this world scatters the sin and darkness.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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