Sermon: Name of Jesus, Luke 2:15-21, January 1, 2023
Sermon: Name of Jesus, Luke 2:15-21, January 1, 2023
Faith Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman
My mother loved to sing, and she had a ministry of creating programs of sacred music that she offered at local nursing homes in our hometown which featured her lovely alto voice. One song that I remember mom singing is by Bill and Gloria Gaither, which proclaims the power of Jesus’ name. Here are the lyrics:
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; there’s just something about that name.
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there’s something about that name.”
Indeed, there is something about the name of Jesus. So much so, that there is a special festival day to commemorate the naming of Jesus, which according to Jewish custom, occurred eight days after Jesus’ birth on the occasion when he was also circumcised. Today is that festival: the Name of Jesus.
Jesus. It’s an ordinary, common name in some cultures. There were very few Hispanics in the town I grew up in during the 1960’s and 70’s. But I recall that my grandfather’s roommate in his nursing home was named, Jesus. He was from Mexico. But as a boy in a mostly European descent community, for which naming someone Jesus would be unusual, I was confused that someone other than Jesus Christ would be named Jesus. Now I know better!
There is indeed something about names! Couples having children generally spend a great deal of energy on, and give focused attention to what to name their children.
We choose names to convey meaning, often with the hope that our children will embody the qualities suggested by their names. Take my son, Nathan, for example. Choosing the name ‘Nathan’ was an easy way for me to name my son after me, while retaining his own distinctive name, for Nathan and Jonathan are essentially the same name in Hebrew, meaning gift of God. Nathan’s great-grandfather, my dad’s dad’s middle name was Nathanael, a variation of the same name. And Nathan was also the name of a great Swedish archbishop of the early 20th Century (church geek that I am). So, Jennifer and I agreed to Nathan as a meaningful name choice for our son.
And you all have your own, many stories about the significance of names in your own families. Ponder for a moment on some of those dear family names and their meanings for you….
There’s also power in names, and power in naming. In one of the creation accounts in the book of Genesis, a crucial feature of being human was to give names to every living creature. This was an expression of the dominion over creation, of the stewardship, that God granted to human beings. To name someone or something is an expression of power and authority, which as we know can be used for good or for ill. Calling people names, stereotyping others, using derogatory names, are all abuses of the power to name. Calling out someone’s name in love and respect and honor, that’s how we use our naming authority faithfully and for good.
Indeed, there’s something about names and naming. And again, there’s something about the name of Jesus. Jesus is a Latinized version of a Greek word derived from the Hebrew, Yeshua (Joshua), which at its root means to deliver or rescue or save. Ultimately, Jesus as a name means, “God is salvation.”
So, in one word, one name, the whole mission of Jesus is summed up: to deliver and rescue humanity with the salvation of God.
Thus, this name, Jesus, conveys the qualities that Mary treasured and pondered in her heart when the angel Gabriel visited her with good news at the Annunciation: “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you…. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him 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 ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:28-33)
The name, Jesus, conveys that which amazed the shepherds when they heard the angels’ message which caused them to go back to work praising and glorifying God: “Do not be afraid; for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
The name, Jesus, expresses its meaning also when the angel of the Lord visited Joseph in a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b-21)
Moreover, the Lord’s promise to Moses and to Aaron in today’s reading from Numbers has fulfillment for us in the name of Jesus. When the Lord instructed them to put his name on the Israelites with blessing, Jesus becomes for us the fulfillment and embodiment of those precious words of blessing.
These are the same words with which I sometimes bless you all as a congregation at the conclusion of Sunday worship: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.” In the name of Jesus, and in the Trinitarian name of God, we are given divine blessing, God keeping us, the gift of God’s shining face, and the grace and favor and peace of God, too. There is indeed something about the name of Jesus.
The bad news is that we too often take Jesus’ name in vain, in words and deeds, in sins of commission and omission. And taking Jesus’ name in vain is a lot more than cussing and using profanities. We take Jesus’ name in vain whenever we fail to live up to the ideals of his name, for example, when we fail to work for humanity’s deliverance and rescue and salvation. We take Jesus’ name in vain when we in the church fall short of conveying to all of creation the blessing of God’s love and mercy and grace and forgiveness, humility, compassion, self-control and more.
But the good news, of course, is that there is something about the name Jesus that conquers, that overcomes our incapacities and unwillingness to honor Jesus’ name in all that we say and do. Jesus’ name ends up having and being the last word, which also grants us forgiveness for having taken his name in vain.
The name of Jesus ultimately prevails in his death and resurrection which become the means that convey to all creation the fullness of God’s salvation, again, exactly what Jesus’ name means. Here’s how the apostle Paul puts it in today’s reading from Philippians: Jesus “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6b-8)
It is this death on the cross, this self-emptying sacrifice of love, that results in our salvation. This death is overcome and vindicated by God having raised Jesus from the dead in the resurrection which then seals the deal for our deliverance, rescue, and our salvation – all in the sacred power of Jesus’ name.
There’s something about that name, Jesus, one word that accomplishes so very much, as suggested by the prophet Isaiah when the prophet proclaims God’s promise: “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) The most important word that goes forth from the mouth of God is the name of Jesus, the one with whom God is well-pleased as we shall hear at Jesus’ baptism, which we celebrate next week.
By Jesus’ death and resurrection, and in the working of the Holy Spirit, there is power in Jesus’ name to create, strengthen, and renew our faith, our trust in God, which connects us with and makes effective and real all the delivering, rescuing and saving blessings made possible by God in Jesus’ name.
Jesus’ name, and the power of that name to convey God’s salvation, are woven into the very fabric of our liturgy from beginning to end for our inspiration and edification in faith, for our rescue and deliverance:
• Jesus’ name is conveyed when we baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
• Jesus’ name is central to words of forgiveness and absolution: “God who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.”
• Jesus’ name is how we greet each other each Sunday: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
• Jesus’ name is invoked at the beginning and at the conclusion of the reading of the gospel: “The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according Luke” and “The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.”
• Jesus’ name is incorporated into the consecrating words we offer every time we celebrate Holy Communion: “In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: ‘Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.’”
• We profess our faith in the name of Jesus when we recite the creeds: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.”
• And we always pray in Jesus’ name….
Thus, the name of Jesus finds its way and offers its saving power throughout our worship, woven as it is into so very many of the precious texts of the liturgy, performing and accomplishing all the things for us that are embedded in the meaning of the name, Jesus. Again, rescue, deliverance, God’s salvation.
And thus, our appropriate response to the name of Jesus is our worship, our bowing down and bending the knee.
Again, here’s what Paul says in Philippians: “Therefore God exalted [Jesus] even more highly and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)
You might observe that when I lead worship, I typically make a slight bow at the name of Jesus. I encourage you to do likewise as a way of honoring Jesus’ name and its power to save.
Truly, there’s something about that name of Jesus. And it’s a name we don’t keep to ourselves, but a name which is on our lips and in our deeds beyond the walls of the church when we engage in loving service in and for the sake of the world. We extol Jesus’ name when we volunteer to and financially support those who feed the ones who have little to eat. We extol and honor Jesus’ name as we house refugees from war torn countries. We honor Jesus’ name when we make our church property and rooms available for those in recovery. And more and more.
Thus, may we ever bear the name of Jesus to the world, honoring that name, conveying its power in our own words and deeds, that all may know that God is the salvation of all creation. In Jesus’ name, Amen.