Eve of the Name of Jesus – December 31st, 2015 – Luke 2:21
In the Name of Christ the Newborn King +
While
tonight the world celebrates the last day of 2015 (and an OU victory
in the College football playoff- hopefully) and prepares to look
forward to 2016 – indeed, while we ourselves in a few moments will
be doing the same, our worship service is focused on something far
more monumental and profound than any turning of a calendar, than any
change of date. Tonight, we address something so utterly profound
and wondrous, that our Gospel need only be a single verse – that is
how deep this simple verse is. All the insight or wonder of a long
parable, all the profoundness of a much longer passage contained in
one simple verse – and even tonight, dear friends, we won’t come
close to fully delving its depths. That verse again is as follows:
And 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.
There
are many traditions that come up around names. I’m sure some of
you have names that are traditional in your family, ones that get
handed on and on throughout the generations – being named after a
grandfather or an aunt. If I had been a girl, I would have been
named Bertha since mom's Aunt Bertha had the same birthday as I do.
Being named after a relative was a tradition they did have in Jesus’
day, and one they followed more vigorously – remember, everyone
looks at Elizabeth strangely when she says that her boy will be named
John because None of your relatives is
called by this name.
But there are two traditions dealing with names back in the days of
Christ that we really don’t have any more, and tonight we will use
these as our insight into this wondrous text. For the first
tradition, did you note, dear friends, when Jesus is given His name?
And at the end of eight days, when He was
circumcised, He was called Jesus.
Even though Mary knew that she was going to
name her child Jesus, even before He was conceived, Jesus did not
receive this name until He was circumcised.
There
was a reason for this. For a young boy, it was the 8th
day when you were circumcised, where you officially joined the family
of God, when you officially were. And only then do you get your
name. This even used to be the practice up until 100 years ago or so
with Baptism – until a child was Baptized they would simply be
known as the so-and-so baby – they would be given their name at
their baptism. Another word for Baptism is Christening – literally
“Christ –in-ing” or “putting into Christ” – but we still
use the term Christening for giving something a name, like a ship or
a building. Your first name was known as your “Christian Name”
Another example – Martin Luther was born November 10th,
and his father took him to church on the 11th
to be baptized. The 11th
was St. Martin’s day – in honor of St. Martin of Tours – so the
Luther baby was named Martin.
Your
name is your identity, it is who you are – and for a Jewish baby in
Jesus’ day, you only had an identity in light of God’s covenant –
you were one of the males of Israel, and of your number one day God
would produce the Messiah. That was who you are – and when and
only when you were circumcised, when you were physically marked as
being of Israel, did you receive your name, your identity. And so it
was with Jesus. And on the 8th
day, He was circumcised. But for Jesus, He was not just one of the
race that could be the Messiah, He was the Messiah Himself. And on
that day, there was a bit of foreshadowing. The Baby Jesus shed His
blood. The Law demanded Blood, and Jesus gives it. This event is
the first time that the Son of God sheds His Blood – God Almighty,
Maker of the Universe becomes Man – we have been celebrating that
all this Christmas – but here we see what that literally means. He
is born under the law – and being born under the Law – He bears
its consequences. His Blood is shed. Just a little right now –
but you dear friends know where this Child will be when He grows, you
know where He willingly goes – to the Cross to win you salvation.
The blood that is but a trickle on the 8th
day pours down His whipped and beaten back on Good Friday – it
spills from His pierced side – all for our salvation. Indeed, it
is poured from every Chalice in Christendom whenever and wherever the
Lord’s Supper is celebrated, that we might receive salvation, that
the Blood which was shed for us might be applied to us, given to us.
And to
make it most clear that it was indeed this Child, shedding His Blood,
who would indeed more fully shed His Blood to save the world – when
He was circumcised He was given the name Jesus. Nowadays we don’t
think too much about what our names mean. In America we pull from so
many heritages and languages that we forget that names have meaning.
For example – my name is Eric. It’s Swedish for powerful – but
you look at me and don’t think “powerful”. My dad’s name is
Gregory – that’s a Greek Word – when you get the instruction to
be watchful – to keep awake – that’s be Gregore-o. My mom’s
name is June – and we even know that’s a month – but her name
doesn’t really have anything to do with the month because she was
born in April. Nowadays we pick out names because they are pretty,
we like how they sound. I didn’t name Victor Victor because he won
anything, and Ambrose doesn’t smell like Ambrosia – but back in
Jesus’ day, more importance was given to what a name means. Think
about it – Jesus changes Simon’s name to Peter – Rock, Petros,
after he makes a solid confession. Daniel, great name – Dan-I-el –
God is my Judge. El at the end of a name refers to God. Abram,
exalted father, is changed to Abraham – father of a multitude.
Micah – Mi-ca-yah – Who is like The LORD, who is like Yahweh?
The names all have meaning, have importance.
And
then we get the name Jesus. In the Hebrew, the name is Yeshua. We
say Jesus, because Yeshua in Greek is Iesous, which got put into
Latin as Jesu – into English as Jesus. There is another way of
doing this name in English – the name Joshua is the exact same
name, it’s just Yeshua going straight from Hebrew to Latin and then
English – same name. But what does this name mean, Pastor, since
you said names are so important? Ye is a form, a short form of
Yahweh, or Jehovah – the Divine Name – the LORD. Shua is a verb
meaning to save. So literally the name Jesus, the name Joshua, the
name Yeshua – they all mean one thing. The Lord Saves.
His
name tells you what you are seeing. The child is cut, He bleeds, He
is placed under the law. Though He is not sinful He takes up His
place with sinful man – and why? Because Yeshua, because Jesus,
because the LORD saves. This is how the Lord brings about Salvation
– by becoming Man, and by taking up in our stead the punishment for
sin, and by giving us His own Life, so that we are made whole and
spotless and without blemish by His divine power. Behold the Lord’s
Salvation – behold what God does to give you life.
In all
things, God points us to His Son, so that we might remember that we
have life in His Name – that Christ Jesus came into the World to be
our Champion, to be our savior from sin. And even from His youngest
days, this is what He does. This is His identity, it is who He is
known as – He is Jesus, the one who becomes Man and sheds His Blood
for us. Let us ever give thanks to God the Father that He does not
abandon us poor sinners unto everlasting death, but freely sends His
Son to be our Savior. In the Name of Christ the Newborn King + Amen.