Maybe you’ve noticed that, more often than
not, I begin my sermons with these words: In the Name of
Jesus. That’s not by accident. Neither is it some empty
formula that may once have held meaning in a less-sophisticated
age, but now, in our enlightened age, doesn’t pack any meaning
at all. How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s
ear, the old hymn says. That was true nearly 2,000 years for
the first Christians. It’s equally true today for all who look
to our Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness, mercy, and salvation.
What the apostle Peter fearlessly proclaimed before the chief
priests and rulers of the Jews is equally valid today:
There is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved.
Just the Name of Jesus. It’s the Name with which
generations of Christians ended their prayers. It’s the Name that
should come to your mind whenever you make the sign of the Cross,
or see it being made. After all, the Name “Jesus” means “the Lord
is salvation.” And that salvation was accomplished for us sinners
by our gracious Lord Jesus Christ who died on the Cross as the
full and final sacrifice for sin. The Name “Jesus”
appears multiple times in our liturgies and hymns. It’s the Name
that should be prominent in every Christian sermon. It was the
Name pronounced over you when you were baptized. And what a
comfort it will be for you if it’s the last name you hear as you
are dying.
In today’s reading from the book of Acts St.
Peter preaches the crucified Jesus as the One whom God has
made both Lord and Christ. Notice that Peter doesn’t
preach against political oppression in Samaria. He doesn’t try to
hold his audience with a flamboyant pulpit presence. Peter doesn’t
try to manipulate his hearers by appealing to their emotions or by
using some quasi-hypnotic technique to bring them under his spell.
He simply preaches what we Lutherans know as Law and Gospel – the
Law to show his hearers that they are sinners deserving God’s
condemnation, and the Gospel to apply to their conscience-stricken
hearts the healing balm of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.
That’s the way it was in the Church then, nearly
2,000 years ago. That’s the way it’s to be in the Church today as
well. Yes, times have changed. We’ve got computers, televisions,
modes of travel that were unimagined in Peter’s day. We’ve got a
standard of living in this country that would make Herod the Great
salivate with envy. But the sinful human heart hasn’t changed one
little bit. It’s just as proud, arrogant, self-righteous and
self-centered as it was when the apostle Peter first preached the
crucified and resurrected Jesus. And our need of God’s mercy and
grace in Jesus Christ hasn’t changed either. Human being are still
born into this world dead in trespass and sins,
helpless to save themselves, helpless to know God by their own
feeble efforts.
No matter how technologically proficient the
human race may become, we will never outgrow our need of Jesus. No
matter how many luxuries we surround ourselves with, we will never
outgrow our need of Jesus. No matter how much progress we make in
the battle against cancer, heart disease and death, we will never
outgrow our need of Jesus. For only Jesus – by the perfection of
His holy life, the agony and suffering of His death, and the
glorious wonder of His resurrection – can save us from the hell we
each deserve as sinners.
Jesus works. And His works save us. That’s the
way it was then. That’s the way it is now. He saves us by His work
of keeping God’s Law on behalf of us transgressors. He saves us by
His work of dying on the Cross as the atoning sacrifice for the
sins of the whole world. He saves us by His work of defeating
death through His Easter victory, when His much-abused body came
out of the tomb triumphantly alive. He saves us by His work of
ascending to the right hand of God to take to Himself all divine
authority for the blessing and well-being of His Church.
Jesus’ works save us. When the water is poured
over a newborn sinner or a full-grown sinner in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, that’s Jesus at work
to forgive and save. He’s at work through the water and Word of
Baptism to deliver all the blessings and benefits of His vicarious
death on the Cross. When Jesus’ Cross and resurrection are
proclaimed, that’s Jesus at work too. The message of the Cross may
be complete foolishness to those who are perishing, but
to us who are being saved, the Scripture says,
it is nothing less than the power of God.
For in the preaching of Christ crucified the weakness of a God who
permits Himself to be nailed to a Cross is proven to be the very
strength that accomplishes our salvation.
Jesus’ works save us. When you are troubled and
heavy of heart because of your sins and come to your pastor to
hear him speak the words of absolution over you, it’s the work of
Jesus that brings you forgiveness. It’s the work of Jesus that
brings God’s own peace and comfort to your wounded heart through
the words the pastor speaks. In the same way, it’s the work of
Jesus that puts into your mouth His own true Body and Blood in the
Lord’s Supper. For who but the crucified and risen Son of God has
the power to place His Body and Blood in the earthly elements of
bread and wine for the comfort of sinners? Who but the Lord of
heaven and earth could give the forgiveness, life and salvation
which the faithful receive in the Sacrament? Who but the Word made
flesh could give you to eat of the holy Body sacrificed on the
Cross for the sins of the world, and give you to drink of the
holy, precious Blood that spilled from His veins as He hung on the
tree?
Today’s reading from Acts tells us that those
who heard Peter’s sermon repented of their sins and were baptized.
That means they recognized the folly of their sin. They saw as
foolish the secret lusts, the closeted adulteries, the socially
respectable idolatries of worshiping pleasure and status and power
rather than the God who makes Himself most clearly known in the
weakness of the Cross. Recognizing their sins, they fixed their
eyes on Jesus and were baptized in His Name for the forgiveness of
sin. And from henceforth they devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
the prayers.
They who were baptized devoted time and energy
to hearing the Word of God as the apostles preached and taught
that Word. They made it a priority to gather together in the
company of the redeemed to worship God and to receive His gifts.
The reception of their Savior’s Body and Blood in the breaking of
the bread was a focal point of their liturgy. And together they
called out in prayer to their heavenly Father who in holy Baptism
had made them His children for the sake of His crucified and risen
Son. All this was the shape and center and focus of the new life
that was theirs in Christ.
That was then, and this is now. And because
human beings today are still sinners just as they were 2,000 years
ago, and because sin still earns God’s wrath and condemnation just
as it did 2,000 years ago, and because Jesus is still Lord and
Christ and Savior just as He was 2,000 years ago, what God has
given the Church to do hasn’t changed a bit. She is still to call
sinners to repentance through the preaching of the Law. She is
still to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected, as the
one Mediator between God and our sinful human race. She is still
to baptize in the Name of the Triune God. And she is still to
celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and see that people are properly
instructed so they can worthily eat Jesus’ Body and drink His
Blood and thus receive forgiveness and salvation.
2,000 years doesn’t change a thing. Jesus Christ
is still your Savior from sin, death and hell. The Name of Jesus
is still the only name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved. Holy Baptism is still a means of grace that washed
away your sins and united you to your Savior’s death and
resurrection. And our crucified and risen Lord still places in
your mouth His very Body and Blood to eat and drink as the
medicine of forgiveness and immortality. You still have
forgiveness of all your sins through faith in Jesus, just as the
first Christians did 2,000 years ago.
The more things change, the more they stay the
same. Our fallen race’s need of Christ’s forgiveness has remained
constant even though we’re far more technologically advanced now
than 2,000 years ago. And the Church is still called to distribute
that forgiveness in water and Word and bread and wine to those who
in repentance and faith know their need, and know that Jesus alone
is the One who can meet that need. Then and now are still the
same, as far as Jesus is concerned. And even after 2,000 years,
the Name of Jesus still sweetly sounds upon the believer’s ear,
bringing consolation, peace, and the assurance of God’s love and
mercy.
In Nomine Patris. . .
