At the Name [Eve of the Name of Jesus; St. Luke 2:21]

A blessed 7th day of Christmass to you all. A day truly marked only by, once again, hearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. Yet, today, once again we run into the mystery of God, for we hear that God is circumcised and that He has a human name. Truly, as St. Paul tells us,

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

This is the true miracle of Christmass: that God was born of a virgin and made man. That He has not only appeared to us, but has spoken to us His Gospel of forgiveness, which He pays for on the cross. In order that, by Faith, we may say that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.

Is this how we are to understand the Introit for this evening? Is God really just a universalist, allowing any and everybody into heaven, if they just bend the knee at the Last Day?

How we understand this is as important as life and death. Giving glory to God means letting Him be God. It means that we stop trying to sugar coat His Word and His actions. It means that we simply believe and receive His words and work, especially when it comes to Christmas and Easter.

For it is in those two miracles that we truly see God at work, in order that we may confess that He is Lord. This means that whatever God does, we acknowledge as good and right. Born of a virgin? Jesus is Lord. Murder of the Holy Innocents? Jesus is Lord. Betrayal, scourging, and death on a cross? Jesus is Lord.

The tongue can not confess Jesus is Lord without acknowledging that these things the Lord does for our salvation. Simply saying, Jesus is Lord, is not the key to heaven. Because you have that little phrase where Jesus says, “Not everyone who says Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven”, that gets in your way.

Repent. In the depths of your sin, you are deluded into thinking that you have a hand in salvation; that you have earned, decided, or chosen to be converted or born-again. Or, even worse, that this year will be the year that you do better. This year will be the year that you really will be a Christian.

Dear Christians, in the disobedience of your unbelief, Christ chooses you. Jesus decides to follow you, being born as a man. Jesus chooses you to receive what He has purchased and won on the cross. Jesus accepts you as His own child, drowning you and bringing you to new life in Him.

Yes, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, but to what benefit? If God is not "God for you"; if He has not been born of a virgin, suffered, died and rose again for you, then what good is a knee or a tongue?

If your knee is not bent at the reception of Jesus in His Holy Supper, then it will not bend at His Second Coming. If your tongue is not literally filled with the Word of God; if you have not tasted the Lord, Body and Blood, and seen that He is Good, then it will not confess Him when He returns.

Thus, we repent that we may be forgiven. We repent that we have not been a good person at all, this year, and that next year will be no different. We repent that we must continue to beg for forgiveness from man and God, in order to continue living here. We repent that we doubt God’s Word and work in ridding us of the guilt and condemnation of sin.

So, we are here, at the end of the civil year, repenting of sins, known and unknown, that we would be forgiven. For Jesus casts out sin and enters in. Jesus washes us in His saving Baptism. He declares us justified before God and fills us with Himself, feeding us salvation.

In this way, through the crucifixion, Jesus places His most Holy Name upon you. Jesus sends His Holy Spirit to convert you and give you the “Lord, Lord” that gets you into heaven. In repenting of your sins, you are made to be comforted, not just because they are forgiven, but because you believe they are.

You believe because you have heard that the Word is in your mouth and in your heart. You believe because the Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, and has sanctified and kept you in the one, true Faith.

You have the Name of Jesus because He has given it to you in Baptism and that means of grace is true, because the Word of God has spoken it and at the end of this civil year and every other "end of the year" you see, it will still be true, for nothing separates you from the Love of God in Christ Jesus;