The Circumcision and Name of
Jesus – December 31st, 2009
Redeemer Lutheran, HB
Text: Luke 2:21
Theme: The Name of the Lord Saves and His Blood Forgives.
“A Knife, The Name and A New Year”
In the Name of the Father and of
the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the eyes of the world it’s New Year’s Eve. We count down the final minutes and seconds of
2009. The world will celebrate 2010 by
lighting fireworks, proposing toasts and offering accolades to old
acquaintances. Now there’s nothing wrong
with New Year’s parties or midnight traditions.
But the Church has a better reason to gather on this day. In the eyes of the Church, the New Year’s day
of the Church Year already came on the first Sunday in Advent. In the eyes of the Church today we celebrate
the circumcision and naming of Jesus.
In the Hebrew way of keeping time, the 8th
day after Jesus’ birth began today after sunset. According to the Law of Moses and the God’s
covenant for Abraham: Every 8 day old male among shall be circumcised as a sign
of the covenant between the Lord and Abraham.
Therefore, the Gospel according to Luke for tonight
reads, “At the end of 8 days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the
name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.”
For Jesus, there was no age of accountability. From the day He was born, our sinful curse
weighed heavily upon Him who had no sin.
Every stage of life, He lived for us.
Every letter of the Law He fulfilled for us, including this one: without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. It might seem inappropriate or coarse to talk
about circumcision at church – don’t worry – we’ll save the PG-13 material for
an adult Bible study.
The hymn stanza in your bulletin teaches us well:
O sacred day
when first was poured
The blood of our
redeeming Lord,
O blessed day,
when first began
His sufferings
for sinful man!
Forgiveness is a bloody business. There’s no avoiding that. For Jesus, there’s no avoiding our punishment
for sins. No avoiding pain, suffering,
or Calvary’s cruelty. This is what He
came to do – to shed His blood, to save, to die, to rise. This is who He is, our Savior.
Those scribbly lines on your bulletin cover are
letters: Yeshua in the Hebrew, Joshua
in the Old Testament, Jesus in the New.
As the angel told Joseph, you shall call His Name Jesus for He shall save
His people from their sins. The Savior
is as the Savior does. The Lord (Yahweh)
Saves.
By the Law’s knife, He sheds His forgiving blood. By
His Divine Name He saves and blesses – even as a New Year is upon us. The Name
of the Lord saves and His blood forgives.
His is no ordinary name. He is no ordinary child. The Fullness of deity dwells bodily in this
child born of Mary. The Divine Name is
given to a man because this man is also divine.
This is what we confess in the Creed: He was incarnate by the Holy
Spirit of the Virgin Mary. And then
comes the sweetest sentence of all – He was made man. Pleased as Man with man to dwell, Jesus, our
Immanuel.
He didn’t need to take a name quiz on Facebook. Mary and Joseph didn’t need to look through a
list of cute Hebrew baby names in the check-out line at the local Bethlehem
market. The Lord sends His messengers to
declare His Name. Here God names
Himself, as He did in the days of Moses, so that He might give His name to man.
When His Name is present, God is present. This is why the second commandment is no
joke. It’s more than simply blurting
out, “O my God” in a moment of surprise or texting “omg” to a friend. The Divine Name is a saving gift. And like any gift it can be abused and
misused, not just taken in vain, but also taken for granted.
The Second Commandment: You shall not misuse the Name
of the Lord your God. What does this
mean? We should fear and love God so
that we do not curse, swear, use Satanic arts, lie or deceive by His Name, but
call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.
And there’s the rub
against our old sinful nature that does not want to hallow God’s Name. Our old sinful nature loves, even boasts of
exalting our own name for the sake of our own name. The Law not only ask us: “Have you taken the
Lord’s Name in vain today?” It also asks, “Have you called upon your heavenly
Father with delight? Have you used holy
words or holy names thoughtlessly? Have
you sworn carelessly or falsely? Have
you kept your vows – vows of baptism, of confirmation, of church membership, of
marriage? Have you received the gifts of
God’s name faithfully? Have you listened
to and read God’s Word diligently.
Now is not the time
for New Year’s resolutions, but for New Year’s repentance. To confess before our gracious Heavenly
Father that we have misused His Name in thought, Word and deed. To confess that His name and only His Name
will save. To remember that His name is
Jesus and He saves us from our sins, even the ones against His Name.
When the Name of God
is used God Himself is present. This is
why sermons end and begin in the Name of Jesus or God’s Triune Name. This is why it’s called Divine Service – In
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. From Invocation to Benediction, God’s Name is
present; God is present doing what He does best: saving, forgiving, and giving
His Name hidden in the ordinary gifts of Words, Water, Bread and Wine.
When the water is
poured and the sign of the cross is made this Divine Name is placed upon you;
you have a new name by the power of His Word.
In your baptism the Name of the Lord Saves.
The words of
absolution are announced, not in the name of the pastor, but “in the stead and
by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins” – sins of
lying, deceiving, misusing and abusing God’s name – it’s forgiven by His Name through
forgiveness of His blood, given and shed for your for the forgiveness of sins.
The Name of the Lord
Saves and His blood forgives. By His
Name you have been given access to the Holy of Holies, where the priests of old
trembled to enter. Now, in the Name of
Jesus you are washed in baptism, declared forgiven in absolution, fed and
nourished in His supper. All that you
were – sinful, lost in darkness and rebellion – He took to the cross for you so
that all that He has – His Salvation, His eternal forgiveness and life – might
be yours.
In the eyes of the
world this might just be another New Year’s Eve. But in the eyes of our Lord Jesus Christ,
this is the night where His Name is given and God Himself is present for you.
In the Name of Jesus + Amen.
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