Luke 2:21

December 31 2013 Sermon New Years Eve

What's in a Name?

²¹And 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.

On Account of Him Whose Name Is above Every Other Name, We Rejoice That Our Names Are Written
in Heaven.

Tomorrow, New Year's Day, is the eighth day of Christmas. And we're certainly very much still in our mode of Christmas celebration—not only as we gear up for New Year's Eve parties tonight, but also here in worship in our sanctuary. This night, however, our Gospel lesson, our text, gives us a scene we don't often notice, still part of the infancy narrative of our Savior but without all the photo ops of angels and shepherds. This night our text lets us in on a small gathering, attended perhaps by no one but the little holy family and an officiant or two.

This event, the eighth day—by Hebrew counting—in Jesus' life on earth is nevertheless significant indeed: "And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, Yeshua, which means savior. That was the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb" (v 21). By God's command in the Old Testament, every male child was to be circumcised on the eighth day. By circumcision, the child was incorporated into God's covenant with Israel. This isn't the more picturesque event we hear about, the visit to the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus was forty days old, the visit witnessed by Simeon and Anna and made famous by Simeon's song, the Nunc Dimittis. This wasn't a big temple event. The circumcision was done locally, wherever the family lived, without fanfare.

But besides the chief purpose, the incorporation into the covenant, the circumcision was also the occasion at which a child was given his name.

Good orthodox believers that we are, we follow the church day, where each new day actually begins at sundown on the night before. So, here we are on the eighth day of Christmas, a day known on the Church calendar as the Circumcision and Name of Jesus. It's also not at all a bad way to celebrate New Year's. A secular holiday, it's true, but not wrongly celebrated by the Church, for it also signifies new beginnings.

You have almost certainly noticed that the focus of our Scripture Readings for this day has to do with names. And what's in a name, really? Isn't it just a label, a way to identify someone, something, or some place? But the name of God is different. God's name is God himself.

We not only bracket our worship between the invocation of the name of the triune God at its beginning and the placement of the Lord's name upon us at its conclusion, but throughout our worship, we make reference to the name of the Lord. During the Confession, we beseech the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Absolution, forgiveness is pronounced in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We ask in the Lord's Prayer that his name be hallowed.

In the Old Testament Reading just read (Num 6:22–27), the Lord instructs Moses to bless the people of Israel. This blessing is well-known to us, and serves as the benediction to liturgical worship. Significantly, we hear God say that it is through this blessing that he will put his name on his people. And it's clear from Scripture that where the Lord's name is, so also will be his presence and his power.

In our Epistle, St. Paul writes to the Galatian churches, telling them that those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3:27). And certainly we have, not only spiritually, but nominally—we've put his name upon ourselves when we confess that we are Christ's, that we are "Christians."

And lastly, our Gospel is perhaps one of the shortest of the entire lectionary. In a single verse (Lk 2:21), we hear that Jesus' parents did indeed follow the Law in having him circumcised according to that tradition dating back to Abraham. Not only that, but by naming him Jesus, they also obeyed the command of God given them by the angels who had told them of his conception. In the Hebrew, his name was Yeshua, or Joshua. Literally, salvation.

There are over one thousand references to the word name or names in the Bible. Many refer to human beings or to geographical places or animals, but there are hundreds of times that Scripture speaks of the name of God, the name of the Lord, the name of Jesus, and so forth. There are also numerous references like "he shall be called" or "they shall be called." And now, as we observe and celebrate the naming of God's one and only Son as Jesus, we also remember how important the name of God and the name of Jesus are to our faith and to the blessings that our Lord provides us each and every day and for all time to come and beyond. We invoke God's name so frequently, we call upon it, because we desire his presence, his power, his blessing upon us. We want this in all we do, but especially during our worship.

The name of God is more than just an abstract representation of God; the name of God is genuinely the presence and power of God in all its fullness. And that is why his name is to be hallowed, to be treated with great care for its holiness. It is the name of the Lord that Holy Scripture tells us is to be praised, rejoiced in, feared, ascribed glory, trusted in, called upon, and exalted. This could only be true if the name of God is fully and truly an expression of God himself.

By calling on God's name, Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal who had called upon the name of their god; heavenly fire came down to consume the sacrifice, demonstrating the true God of Israel. In his name, David went forth against a supposedly unbeatable opponent and defeated Goliath—not really with a sling and five smooth stones but with the spirit of the Lord upon him. It was God's name that was placed upon the great temple built by Solomon, to which the people were to direct their worship and in which he promised to reside.

But most importantly, all through the Old Testament God was promising to save his people. God promised a future salvation who would come to save us. Salvation, the word for Salvation is Yeshua. Now we know, that the Salvation of God, the promised saving of his people was not a thing, or an event, it is a person. All through the Old Testament the name Jesus is foretold, and Salvation would come. Now, Salvation has come, Yeshua, Jesus. He is the Salvation of God.

And while all about the name of the Lord is good and pure and holy, we know that our use of names, both divine and not, is not always the same.

We know that there are those who use God's name insincerely, without a second thought. They speak as though the name of their Creator is nothing more than an exclamation of surprise or worry, much like simply saying "Wow!" or "Oops!" But we, his children, baptized into the name of God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, desire that it should never be so among us, for we know that our Lord's name is to be kept holy and not taken in vain.

It is neither to be used in a manner in which we call upon it in vain, that is, without having real hope or confidence nor in vanity, where we elevate ourselves and lower God to our level by making his name lack significance.

We often use names of God in sinful and destructive ways. Jeremiah prophesied that the temple in Jerusalem, which bears the name of the Lord, would be thrown down—not because his name itself lacks power, but because the people had begun not to trust in the name of the Lord, trusting rather in the temple itself and in their own actions and judgments regarding how God would have his name worshiped and praised.

When Israel was suffering calamities due to internal strife, external threats, and disasters of every kind, God promised he would come to their aid if only they would repent and rightly confess his name, rather than continuing to deny or misuse it. We, too, suffer from these abuses, perhaps not in the exact same way, but we fail at properly calling on the Lord's name and in calling upon ourselves or upon others in our needs. We fail in trusting the name of God.

It is for this very reason that we need another name, the name that is above every name: Yahweh Saves, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus the Anointed One. He whose names we heard prophesied by Isaiah: Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus said to his disciples that those who prophesied in his name, drove out demons in his name, and received little children in his name would be children of God, but only because they truly believed that he himself was God come in the flesh. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And blessed, too, is he who died with a sign overhead with his name on it: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Through him, blessed are we who can call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his name we begin a new year. In his name we are baptized into belief and are given "the right to become children of God" (Jn 1:12). In his name we pray and the Father will not refuse what we ask—not because we are simply using the words, but because if we are truly confessing Christ, we are already aligned with God's will for what is to come.

The Seventy-two returned and said: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" (Lk 10:17). And On Account of Him Whose Name Is above Every Other Name, We Rejoice That Our Names Are Written in Heaven.

With his name and the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit written upon us, our names are written too: in the Lamb's Book of Life. And because they are written there, we will not be thrown into the lake of fire. Because they are written there, we are made pure and will enter with the heavenly throng into that city of light and life. The Shepherd calls us each by name, and his sheep follow him.

What's in a name, then? Power, love, forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life, if it is the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And in his name, your name is written in that Book of Life. You receive these blessings, and they are made your own. What's in a name? Near the conclusion of St. John's Gospel, the evangelist writes, "These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (Jn 20:31).

In the holy name of Jesus, then. Amen.