The Name That Saves

Sunday after Christmass

December 31, 2017

St. Luke 2:21

The Name That Saves

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise Him, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He had been conceived.

LUKE 2:21 NIV 1984

On the eighth day of Jesus' life, His destiny is revealed in His name and in His circumcision. On this day He was given His name that His angel had delivered to His guardian and caretaker:

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

MATTHEW 1:20–21 NIV 1984

The name “Jesus” in those days was a popular name. There are examples of others named Jesus in the Bible. But God's Son picked Jesus to be His name not because it was popular, but because He would make His name come true. Jesus means He saves.

This saving began with His conception by the Holy Spirit in blessed Mary's virgin womb. It began there because Jesus had to become what He was going to save. He had to become a human to save humans.

Consider this pencil. It is not greedy. It is not lustful. It is not envious of anyone. But what does its perfection do for you? Nothing!

Jesus would not save us by being a perfect pencil or a sinless angel or a faithful dog. He had to become a human to save humans. And the only way to save us was to offer His perfect blood to pay for our guilt and sin. God became a man so that He could bleed for us.

So on this eighth day of Jesus' life, He was circumcised. Now it might seem strange to celebrate this event in Jesus' life, since for most people these days circumcision is simply a medical procedure done without any fanfare. But from the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus, circumcision was the symbolic guarantee of the unity between God and His people.

God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

GENESIS 17:9-14 NIV 1984

Based on the promise of the coming Savior that was already as good as done in the time of Abraham, circumcision was established by the Lord God to make Abraham's children His children.

In our day, the Lord has given us Holy Baptism for all sinners of all ages, for boys and girls. Baptism has replaced circumcision, which was only for Israelite boys. St. Paul explains:

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

COLOSSIANS 2:9–11 NIV 1984

Jesus Christ was both circumcised as an Israelite baby boy and our sinless Savior was baptized as though He was a sinner. This is because He serves as the vital link between the time of His promises—what we call the Old Testament—and the time of His fulfillment of His promises—the New Testament. He said He would be born and die in our place; He did.

And so Simeon holds the New Testament in his sinful hands. In his hands is Salvation Himself named Jesus, the One who saves us. So it is right, good, and salutary for us to pick up Simeon's chorus after we have received the Lord's Supper for our eyes have seen the Lord's salvation, which He has prepared before the face of all people. Like Simeon you hold Salvation Himself in your hands and receive Him on your tongue. You hear the One who saves as He promises that His body and blood forgives your sin and unites you to His body, the holy Christian Church.

Like Simeon you now depart in peace because Christ came not as a pencil or angel or dog, but as a true man for your salvation.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God!