Luke 19:28-40. "This Year, Keep Yourselves in God's Love."

The Advent season... a time of preparation and anticipation, distinct from the celebrations of Christmas. While Christmas focuses on the birth of Jesus, Advent invites us to reflect on why Jesus came into the world and what his mission means for us. It’s a season of looking ahead, much like Lent before Easter, to consider the profound significance of God becoming flesh to dwell among us. During Advent, we remember that Jesus’ life was not only about his birth but also about his ultimate purpose: to bring justice, righteousness, and salvation through his death and resurrection.

Central to this reflection is the concept of God’s name, which represents not merely a title but his character, reputation, and revelation to humanity. Jesus came "in the name of the Lord," fully embodying God’s mercy, justice, and love. Tim explains how believers are called to carry God’s name in their words and actions, living as witnesses to his grace and truth. While humans often fall short in representing God’s character, Jesus’ sacrifice secures our reconciliation with him, making it possible to reflect his love even in our imperfection.

As we begin Advent, the story of Palm Sunday reminds us of Jesus as the King who came to fulfill God’s promises and bring salvation. His triumphal entry into Jerusalem foreshadowed the peace and glory he would achieve through his sacrifice. This Advent season challenges us to consider how we share God’s name and reputation with others through our lives, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of the Savior who came to give us eternal life and peace.

 This Sunday sermon, based on Luke 19:28-40, was preached at Grace of God Lutheran Church on December 1, 2024.  This sermon is preached by Pastor Timothy J. Walsh, a member of WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod). Scripture selections come from the New International Version.

Intro Music "On the Way" by Vlad Gluschenko https://soundcloud.com/vgl9
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

Outro Music "Divenire" by Ludovico Einaudi
copyright (℗) by: Ludovico Einaudi (in 2006)  

Transcript

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” and a Happy New Year to you, friends! Amen.

I love Christmas. I love Christmas songs and Christmas parties and Christmas foods. I love that the birth of Jesus is - even if many people don’t actually believe in Jesus and the work he did on earth - I love that the celebration of his birth is the biggest holiday in the world.

But it’s not Christmas yet. And I do roll my eyes when I see lights and decorations going up the day after Halloween. It’s not Christmas yet. And even today, it’s not the Christmas season. Today we start Advent. Advent is not Christmas. Advent looks ahead to Christmas.

What exactly is Advent? There are two seasons during the church year when we decorate in purple; Advent, and Lent. Advent comes before Christmas; Lent comes before Easter. Those are the two major holidays on the Christian calendar, and there’s a preparatory season before both of them. We take time, during Advent and Lent, to think about what we’ll be celebrating at Christmas and Easter, and why we’ll be celebrating it.

The what of Christmas is, of course, the birth of Jesus. God becoming flesh to dwell among us. To live life as we do, with all its joys and all its sufferings. But then to die in a way that most human beings will never experience; one of the most agonizing and deeply humiliating methods of execution ever devised.

Why? Why was Jesus born? Why did he endure these things? Through the prophet Isaiah, seven hundred years before Jesus was born, God explained it this way in our first reading: “He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely.”

Jesus was born into our world, with the mission that he had, because through it he would “execute justice and righteousness.” He would demonstrate to the whole world God’s anger and sorrow over human sin. God is grieved by all the ways that we humans harm and devalue one another, and dishonor our Creator, with our words and deeds. Jesus came into our world to serve as God’s instrument of judgment over sin. 

But Jesus did that in a way we would never have expected. Jesus did not come into our world to punish us for our sin. He came into our world to take the punishment we deserved on himself. Jesus “executed justice and righteousness” in the face of sin by giving up his own life on our behalf. Sin must be punished; sin was punished. Justice was executed.

Because Jesus executed justice in this way, Isaiah also tells us, “Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely.” That is to say, God makes safe those who trust in his love, shown through the work of Jesus. 

“Judah” and “Jerusalem” are names for the Old Testament people of God, the Israelites who remained faithful to him and to his chosen king. In our era, Judah and Jerusalem are to be figuratively understood as references to us. To those who believe in God’s love and who regard his Chosen Servant, Jesus, as our King. Jesus came into our world to execute justice in such a way that sinners could be saved, could dwell securely forever in the kingdom of God.

Because that was the point of Jesus’ life on earth - to die and rise, that we might live with God forever - we traditionally read the story of Palm Sunday on the first Sunday in Advent. It’s still a hundred and thirty-three days until we celebrate Palm Sunday next spring. But as we begin Advent, we think about what this baby, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, came to do. He came into our world to die.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, with the crowds cheering him as their King and God’s Messiah, they sang a song that, already in their time, was a thousand years old. We know it as the one hundred and eighteenth psalm. They sang out on the road leading to Jerusalem, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

What exactly does that mean? What does it mean to “come in the name of the Lord”?

One aspect of this - probably the one we understand more readily - is to recognize that Jesus, who is truly God, came representing his Father, who is truly God. “To come in the Lord’s name” is to come representing God. We would use similar language today to speak of the work of diplomats or ambassadors, for instance. Nations send ambassadors to other nations in their name, representing their interests. And they expect that their ambassadors will be received with honor and respect. An ambassador does not represent himself solely, as an individual. He represents the United States, or China, or Brazil, as a whole. An insult done to him is an insult done to his nation. Likewise, Christ came as the chosen emissary of God. This is part of what it meant for him to come in the name of the Lord.

There’s another layer here, though, as we think about God’s name in particular. God’s name is not simply the letters G-O-D, arranged in that particular order. God’s name is not Trinity. That’s a description of God; it doesn’t name God. God’s name is not Jehovah, as certain cults would claim, maintaining that only by using that name is God truly worshiped and invoked. It’s plain wrong, first; the Hebrew name of God was simply not pronounced that way. And second, even if that were how the name that we call the Tetragrammaton - usually written Y-H-W-H in English letters, often pronounced Yahweh - even if that were how that name was pronounced, their insistence would still be rooted in a mistaken understanding of “the name of God.”

I’ve seen others make a similar error - perhaps more justifiable - through a fixation on using the name Yeshua rather than Jesus. Just as most names may change from one language to another - Timothy in English becoming Timoteo in Spanish - the originally Hebrew name Yeshua is usually written in English as Jesus, based on its rendering in Greek as Iesous.

Now, does any of this matter? Not really. But to some people, it does very much. And if you interact with such people, it is good to have a clear understanding of what “God’s name” truly means. The business of Jesus versus Yeshua, for instance, is an odd fixation. If it mattered to Jesus that his name only ever be pronounced according to the Hebrew pronunciation, he made an odd choice in having his disciples write it throughout the New Testament using the Greek rendering. (A rendering which, to be clear, was already long accepted among Jews for rendering the name Yeshua in Greek.)

But, again, such a fixation simply misses what “God’s name” really means. When Jesus taught his disciples the model prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer, he taught them to pray, “Father, hallowed be thy name.” What that means in plain English is, “God, may your name be demonstrated as holy and worthy of honor.” God does not have one singular name, in other words. We humans do. I’m, in full, Timothy John Walsh. All the nicknames or other ways I’m addressed - Tim, Timmy, TJ for a short time, Mr. Walsh, Pastor Walsh, Pastor Tim - all these name come from my one name. God does not have a name in that sense. The closest things to that which God has would be the Tetragrammaton, the Y-H-W-H name, or Jesus. But God’s name, instead, is better understood in the Bible as God’s reputation. 

We might speak of someone having a “bad name”  or a “good name” in the community. But either way, that person’s actual name could be “Tim.” A “good” or “bad” name isn’t the name itself, but the reputation of the person. 

God’s name, as a concept in the Bible, is God’s reputation. God’s name is everything which he has revealed to us humans about himself, through his words and his deeds. So the name Yahweh reveals to us that God himself is life. He is the basis for all existence. He explains that name in that fashion to Moses, Exodus chapter three: “I AM WHO I AM.” Jesus, too, is an explanation of God. It means, “YAHWEH is salvation.” With that name, God explains that he is the only true source of safety and security. Every other “name” of God in the Bible further reveals to us who God is, and they all come together to form God’s name, his reputation, his revelation to us of who he is. God’s name is not simply Yahweh or Jesus or God or El-Shaddai or Adonai or any other single name. God’s name is everything God has told us about himself. 

It’s important to note that point. God’s name is not everything which humans say about God. God’s name is everything which God says about God. What humans say about God may be true. It may correspond to what God says about himself. It might not. We humans are capable of misrepresenting God. And if we do so, the name we choose to use for God doesn’t matter.

How might people misrepresent God? One obvious method would be by adding to, or taking away from, what God has revealed about himself in the Bible. Throughout Christian history, people have taken away from God’s revelation by denying such biblical teachings as the divinity of Jesus. Others have added to God’s Word with requirements and regulations which God never called for.

We must be aware of such spiritual dangers. But in the Advent season - this season of preparation for Christmas - we’re better served not by asking ourselves, “How do others misrepresent God’s name?” Advent is an opportunity for us to reflect on our need for the Savior. It’s an opportunity for us to ask ourselves, “How do I misrepresent God’s name?”

As Christians, we carry God’s name with us wherever we go. God places his triune name on us in Baptism. In our words and deeds, we have, each day, opportunities to share the name of God - God’s reputation, his deeds of mercy - with others. 

Our texts today have an emphasis on words spoken. God makes a promise in our first reading. Paul offers a heartfelt prayer to God in our second reading. People sing praise to God in our Gospel. Beautiful words, all reflecting the beauty and glory of God.

What about our words? This past week, maybe you gathered with relatives for Thanksgiving. Maybe you spent time with friends or family in some other way. What words did you speak? 

Did you tell a story involving a coworker which portrayed them in the worst possible light and yourself in the best possible light? Does that represent to others the character of our God, who forgives sins and hurls away transgressions as far as east is from west?

Did you repeat a rumor - about someone you know, or even something you saw on the internet about a public figure - a rumor which you have not confirmed? Does that represent to others the character of our God, who commands that we not bear false witness against our neighbor?

In our actions, those who do not know our Savior get their first impressions of him. And in our actions, we daily fall short in proclaiming to others the name of our God, who is gracious and merciful and just and jealous, who wounds and who heals, who gives life and takes it away. The Pharisees asked Jesus to rebuke his disciples on Palm Sunday, and he refused, because they were proclaiming, in truth and joy, who he was. He would have grounds, each and every day, to rebuke you and me.

Yet he does not. He does not tell us to keep quiet. He does not cast us aside to have stones sing his praise instead. He calls you and me - imperfect, flawed people; sinners - he continues calling us to share his name with those around us. He does so because he is truly the King who came “in the name of the Lord,” who came bearing perfect witness, in word and in deed, to God. Psalm one hundred and thirty tells us, “With you, LORD, there is forgiveness.” In calling flawed sinners to sing his praises, Jesus shows that he is the King we need. The King who rules as God would rule, for he is true God from true God. He is our righteousness, our guarantee that there is “peace in heaven,” that we have reconciliation with God, and that forever we will be able to offer praise to our Savior, “glory in the highest.” A blessed New Year to you, brothers and sisters! Amen!