“The Bloody Name of ‘Jesus’ Offers Salvation to All Sinners”
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
Dear fellow bathers in the blood of Jesus, grace, mercy, and peace
from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. [Amen.]
“His infant body now
Begins the cross to feel,
Those precious drops of blood that flow
For death the victim seal.
“Today the name is Thine
At which we bend the knee.
They call Thee Jesus, child divine;
Our Jesus deign to be.”
(Lutheran Service Book, © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO.
898:3-4)
Gospel
Reading................................................................................................
St. Luke 2:21
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.
Prologue: Blood plays an essential role in our temporal physical
life and health. In like manner, blood also plays an essential role in our
eternal spiritual life and health. After all, the Holy Spirit inspired the
apostle John to write: “The blood of Jesus [God’s] Son cleanses us from all
sin.” (1 John 1:7 ESV) So it is that on this first day of the New Year
2017, we commemorate the circumcision and name of Jesus because …
“The Bloody Name of ‘Jesus’ Offers Salvation to All Sinners.”
As we do so and in order to get the fullest benefit of the point of it all,
it’s vitally important for us to grasp …
I. The Holy Significance of Blood-Shedding. (21a)
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised … .
Blood both carries good, healthy, and beneficial things into all
parts of our bodies and, at the same time, carries bad, unhealthy, and
harmful things away from all parts of our bodies. Blood is truly the
lifeline of our physical health and vitality.
In a similar manner, the holy precious blood of Jesus Christ is
the lifeline of our spiritual health and vitality. God revealed in the Book
of Hebrews: “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood,
and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” (Heb
9:22 ESV) So, let’s consider the following four “high points” of
blood-shedding in Holy Scripture.
The first was when God came to Adam and Eve, who tried to hide
from Him after they sinfully rebelled against Him. At God’s presence Adam
confessed his guilt-ridden shame when he said: “I heard the sound of you in
the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Gen
3:10 ESV) After confronting them with their sin and comforting them with
the certain assurance of forgiveness through the promised future Messiah,
“the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed
them.” (Gen 3:21 ESV) Therein perhaps lay the first shedding of blood to
cover mankind’s sin. In fact, “Some commentators argue that God killed
animals to provide a covering for Adam and Eve, thus anticipating the
introduction of the sacrificial system (as providing a covering for sins),
and so ultimately pointing to Christ.” (The Lutheran Study Bible. E. A.
Engelbrecht, Gen. Ed. Copyright © 2009 Concordia Publishing House, St.
Louis, MO. Page 20.)
Like our first parents whom God personally created and for whom He
provided the best life ever, we also have sinfully rebelled against our
Creator-God with disobedient thoughts, desires, words, and deeds that
transgressed His holy will for us. Because of such, we deserve to be cast
aside, forsaken, abandoned, and punished by God both here in our temporal
earthly life and forever in eternal damnation in the fiery pits of hell.
But also as with our first parents, God has sought us out and
rescued us in the sacred waters of Holy Baptism, declared us absolved of all
our sins, and daily offers us the spiritual nourishment of His Holy Word.
In addition, He frequently renews and strengthens us with Immanuel’s holy
body and blood. All His compassion towards us proceeds from His
lovingkindness and tender mercy that He inaugurated with His servant and our
forefather Abraham.
So it is that the second “high point” of blood-shedding in Holy
Scripture was when God established His grace-covenant with Abram (which
means “exalted father”), whom He renamed Abraham (which means “father of
many nations”). He did so when He told him: “And I will establish my
covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their
generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your
offspring after you.” (Gen 17:7 ESV)
He sealed that covenant with the Old Testament forerunner to New
Testament Baptism that involved blood-shedding, namely, circumcision. He
did so when He instructed Abraham: “This is my covenant, which you shall
keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you
shall be circumcised. He who is eight days old among you shall be
circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your
house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your
offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your
money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh
an everlasting covenant.” (Gen 17:10, 12-13 ESV)
You see, “In Christ, the promise God gave to Abraham extends to
all nations.” After all, “God is not merely the Almighty; He is the
Almighty for His people, [that is], for their life, forgiveness, and
salvation.” Furthermore, that “shedding of blood pointed to our final
redemption by the shedding of Christ’s blood” not only at His circumcision
but ultimately and finally at His crucifixion. (The Lutheran Study Bible.
Page 41.)
The third “high point” of blood-shedding was when Moses relayed to
the leaders of the Israelites in Egypt what Yahweh had instructed: “Go and
select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover
lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin,
and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the
basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the
blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the
door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.”
(Ex 12:21-24 ESV) You see, that “Passover mark[ed] a new era for the people
of Israel and foreshadow[ed] the new, spiritual Israel in Christ, the
perfect Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.” (The Lutheran Study
Bible. Page 115.)
The fourth and “highest point” of blood-shedding was when our
Savior Himself was crucified on Calvary’s cross as the atoning sacrifice for
all sins of all sinners of all time. He did so to accomplish for us what
the apostle Paul stated in his summary of Christ’s birth: “When the fullness
of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
sons.” (Gal 4:4-5 ESV) He did so, as the apostle Peter described: “Knowing
that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers,
not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter
1:18-19 ESV)
And that holy significance of blood-shedding is based on the
foundation of …
II. The Holy Significance of the Name “Jesus.” (21b)
… he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived
in the womb.
Biblical names were not merely meaningless identifiers. Rather,
their definitions were meaningfully significant. For instance “Adam” means
“man”, “Eve” means “mother of mankind”, “Moses” means “rescued”, “Isaac”
means “laughter”, and “El (E-L)” is the basic Hebrew name for “God”. As
such, the definitions of almost all Old Testament names that begin or end
with “E-L” have something to do with “God”. For instance, “Daniel” means
“judge of God”, “Elijah” means “God of Jehovah”, and “Joel” means “Jehovah
is his God”.
In like manner, the name “Jesus” has very powerful and holy
significance. Its definition was given when an angel of the Lord informed
Joseph about Mary: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus,
for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21 ESV) The apostle
Peter boldly declared when cross-examined after seemingly having himself
miraculously healed a crippled man: “let it be known to all of you and to
all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing
before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the
builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no
one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12 ESV)
You see, the name “Jesus” means quite simply and, at the same
time, very profoundly “‘the Lord saves.’ Jesus is His personal name.”
(Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation. Copyright © 1986, 1991
Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO. Page 120.) His is the name
about which the apostle Paul wrote: “Have this mind among yourselves, which
is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not
count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being
found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.” (Phil 2:5-11 ESV)
In fact, that name “Jesus” communicates divine blessings to us as
it flows forth from the Old Testament name “Yahweh”, which is prominent in
today’s Old Testament reading: “The Lord [Yahweh] bless you and keep you;
the Lord [Yahweh] make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord [Yahweh] lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So
shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
(Num 6:24-27 ESV)
The first of the hymns during the distribution of Jesus in Holy
Communion today bespeaks both His blood and His name: “Jesus, Thy blood and
righteousness My beauty are, my glorious dress; Midst flaming worlds, in
these arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head. Lord, I believe Thy
precious blood, Which at the mercy seat of God Pleads for the captives’
liberty, Was also shed in love for me.” (Lutheran Service Book. 563:1 & 3.)
As we sing that hymn and receive our Savior’s true body and blood
hidden in the consecrated bread and wine, let’s keep in mind that …
“The Bloody Name of ‘Jesus’ Offers Salvation to All Sinners.”
As we do so, let’s joyfully receive great strength and comfort for
this New Year 2017 and beyond in the certain reassurance of today’s Epistle
Reading: “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For
as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s,
then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Gal 3:26-29
ESV)
After all, that certain reassurance is, well, certainly reassuring
because of …
I. The Holy Significance of Blood-Shedding. (21a) knowing that because
Jesus shed His blood for us, today’s Gradual gives us indisputable and
undeniable comfort and consolation: “I will be their God, and they shall be
my people. I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
(Heb 10:17 ESV) and because of …
II. The Holy Significance of the Name “Jesus.” (21b) about whom today’s
Introit reminds us: “May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may
those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the Lord [Yahweh]!’”
(Ps 40:16 ESV)
So, as we today enter this New Year 2017 and travel through the
remaining 364 days of it, let’s carry today’s Collect on our minds and in
our hearts: “Lord God, You made Your beloved Son, our Savior, subject to the
Law and caused Him to shed His blood on our behalf. Grant us the true
circumcision of the Spirit that our hearts may be made pure from all sins.”
God grant it all for the sake of Jesus Christ, His humble Son, our
holy Savior. [Amen.]
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
[Amen.]
And a God-blessed Happy New Year to all of you!
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