Dead, Buried, Descended

                 

Twenty-first after Trinity

Collect: Grant, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in Jesus Christ who was...dead and buried. He descended into hell.

One of my favorite movies is “What about Bob?” It’s a story about a psychiatrist, his wife and two children, and a neurotic patient named Bob. There is a scene in which the psychiatrist’s little boy, Sigmund, is talking to the patient, Bob. Sigmund, who is 8 or 9 years old, asks, “Bob? are you afraid of death?” “Yeah,” says Bob. The little boy replies, “Me, too. There’s no way out of it.  You’re going to die.  I’m going to die.  It’s going to happen.  And what difference does it make if it’s tomorrow or 80 years? Do you know how fast time goes?  I was 6 like yesterday.” He goes on, “I’m going to die.  You’re going to die.  What else is there to be afraid of?”

1. Christ’s Death and Burial

We might wonder why the creed included that Christ died and was buried. It is because, according to St. Paul, these two facts are part of the Gospel. Paul reminds the Corinthian church of the Gospel he preached to them and by which they are being saved: “For I delivered unto you as of first importance that which I received: that Christ Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures and was buried.” Why are the death and burial of Jesus essential to the Gospel?

1.1 Dead. The Gospel writers are careful to record the death of Jesus. According to St. Mark, “Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last” (15:37). He said two things with that loud cry. First, “It is finished” (John 19:30). He meant not, “I am finished,” but “The work of salvation the Father gave me to do, is finished.” Then he said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). Having arrived at the moment of death, Jesus entrusted his human spirit to the God who gave it. These words of Jesus were remembered by the early church, so that Stephen, the first martyr, when he was dying, entrusted himself to Jesus, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).

As sunset on Friday neared and the Passover Sabbath was soon to begin, the Jewish leaders became concerned that the bodies would remain on their crosses on the Sabbath. So they went to Pilate and asked that the legs of the crucified men be broken. This would make it impossible for the men to lift their bodies to breathe and so would hasten their deaths. Pilate agreed and ordered the soldiers to break the legs of the crucified men. They broke the legs of the men crucified with Jesus, but when they came to Jesus they found that “he was already dead,” so “they did not break his legs.” But one of the soldiers, wanting to be sure, “pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out water and blood.” Jesus was dead. His respiration had ceased. His heart had stopped beating. His brain waves had gone flat. Jesus was dead beyond all doubt.

Buried. All four Gospels also record the burial of Jesus. A rich man named Joseph from the town of Arimathea got up the courage to go to Pilate and ask that he be given custody of Jesus’ body. The Gospels tell us Joseph was “a good and righteous man” who was “looking for the kingdom of God.” He was a “respected member of the council” (the Sanhedrin) who “had not consented to their decision and action.” He was a disciple of Jesus but in secret because he feared the Jews. Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he asked, and a centurion affirmed that Jesus was dead. So Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

Joseph took custody of the body. He was accompanied by another secret disciple, Nicodemus, who earlier had gone to Jesus by night. St. John tells us, “So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid” (John 19:40-41). When the burial was complete, Joseph rolled a stone in front of the tomb. There was no sign of life in the body of Jesus. He was dead and buried.

1.3. Why did Paul say the death and burial of Jesus were part of the Gospel delivered to him by Christ and which he preached? Why are the Gospel writers so careful to record both the facts and evidence for Jesus’ death and burial? Because the death of Christ is necessary for our salvation.

God had warned Adam and Eve, who not only were the first humans, but also represented the whole human race, that, if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17). The prophet Ezekiel warned, “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). St. Paul wrote, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Death is universal because sin is universal. The fact that Jesus died and was buried means he has paid in full the penalty of our sins. There is nothing left for him or for us to do. Our sins are forgiven for Jesus died for them.

That Jesus died and was buried means that Jesus has been through what most fear most. He has fully experienced death, death worse than ours, for he died experiencing the penalty of sin that he might remove death’s sting for us. His body was buried where he awaited his own resurrection as we await ours when our bodies are laid in their graves.

2. Christ’s Descent into Hell

“He descended into hell” is by far the most difficult statement in the Creed. When I learned the Creed as a child, we did not say “he descended into hell.” Later a new minister got it added and so I learned to say the sentence. The reasons that some churches do not include “he descended into hell” are because the sentence was not a part of the earliest form of the Creed, and more important, because there has been uncertainty as to what it means.

One thing we know for sure is that is does not mean that Christ after death went to the place of punishment reserved for the unrepentant. He did not go to hell to suffer the rejection and wrath of God. The sufferings of Jesus were complete when he died. There was nothing more to be done for our salvation.

One important thing to know is that the Greek word in the Creed is “hades.” There is another Greek word “gehenna” which  means what we mean when we say “hell” - eternal punishment. The word “hades” means the same as the Old Testament word “sheol” which means “the place (or realm) of the dead.” If you go to one of our sister congregations in the Anglican Church in North America, you may find that they say, “he descended to the dead.” This is not a matter of not wanting to say what the Creed actually says but of saying what the Creed means by hell or hades.

That leaves us with the question, “What does it mean that he descended to hell or hades or the realm of the dead?” The 39 Articles don’t help, saying, “As Christ died for us, and was buried; so also it is, to be believed that he went down into Hell.”  What does it mean?” Actually there have been a variety of answers. There are two main ones given by evangelical Anglicans. I will tell you about two them.

Dr. J.I. Packer, now in his 90s, a man God has used greatly winsomely to defend and teach Protestant Anglicanism says: “First by his presence he made Hades into Paradise...for the penitent thief and presumably all those who died trusting him during his earthly ministry, just as he does now for the faithful departed. Second he perfected the spirits of the Old Testament    

believers bringing them out of the gloom (of) Sheol into this same Paradise...This is the core truth of the Medieval fantasies of ‘the harrowing of hell.’ Thirdly, he ‘made proclamation’...of his kingdom and appointment as the world’s judge...to the imprisoned spirits who had rebelled in antediluvian times (presumably the fallen angels…).”

The other Anglican is Dr. Alistair McGrath of Oxford who says, “(He descended to the dead) is a statement of belief that Jesus really did die….Jesus shared the fate of all those who have died...Being God incarnate did not mean he was spared from tasting death. He did not merely seem to die; he really did die and joined those who had died before him.”

These two understandings show the difficulty of the statement, but do not question that it should be included in the Creed. They are nothing to fight about.

The important thing for us is this. The fate of Jesus is the fate of all who die believing in him. He died and was buried. He met the repentant thief in Paradise, a place of blessedness and happiness. On the third day he rose. The little boy was right. We are going to die. Our bodies will rest in peace. Our spirits will be with Jesus. And on the great Day to come we will rise to glory.

Suffered and Crucified

Suffered and Crucified

Twentieth after Trinity

Collect: O almighty and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things which thou commandest; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in Jesus Christ...who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified.

There is no symbol more associated with Christianity than the cross. There is a cross on the outside front wall of our church and one over the Communion Table. Bishops and priests wear crosses. You may be wearing a cross necklace or a pair of cross earrings. The minister makes the sign of the cross when he pronounces the absolution. Some cross themselves when they receive Communion.

St. Paul wrote, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Why is the cross so central to our faith?

Today we consider, “I believe in Jesus Christ...who...suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified.”

1. What the Creed Says

1.1. Suffered under Pontius Pilate.

The Creed speaks of 5 persons. Three are divine: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Two are ordinary mortal human beings like us: the Virgin Mary and Pontius Pilate. We surely understand Mary’s inclusion in the Creed. She was the mother of our Lord. But why Pontius Pilate?

If it were not for his condemning Christ, Pilate would be at most an obscure historical figure. He was governor of Palestine from A.D. 26 to 36 and not a very good one. Jesus was arrested Thursday evening. The Jewish leaders put him on trial over night. They found him guilty of blasphemy and worthy of death. They lacked the authority to execute to the death penalty, so the next morning they took Jesus to Pilate and asked Pilate to execute him. After interviewing Jesus, Pilate found nothing worthy of the death penalty, but the Jewish leaders persisted. Pilate tried to remove any guilt from himself by symbolically washing his hands. But he wanted to please the Jews so he condemned Jesus death as a threat to the state. Jesus was an innocent man killed for reasons of political expediency.

The importance of naming Pilate in the Creed is that it sets the death of Jesus in history. Mythical stories can begin, “Once upon a time, in a place far away, there lived a handsome prince,” because the story is not dependent on time. You can’t do that with a historical figure like George Washington. That’s why all four Gospel writers say that Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate. Jesus is a historical person who was condemned by Pilate and was crucified outside Jerusalem on a hill called Golgatha.

The sufferings of Jesus under Pontius Pilate were horrendous. Pilate had him scourged with a whip. Soldiers dressed Jesus in a royal robe of purple, placed a crown of thorns on his head, pulled at his beard, and mocked him saying, “Hail! King of the Jews!” Jesus was forced to carry his own cross until he collapsed under its weight because of the earlier torture. Jesus suffered great pain and humiliation under Pontius Pilate.

1.2. Was Crucified

Jesus was condemned to death by crucifixion, one of the cruelest methods of execution man has ever devised. Death by crucifixion was slow and torturous. It was a public spectacle meant to shame the victim and to deter would-be criminals. In cases of rebellion there were mass executions on busy roads. Crucifixion was not often described by Roman writers, because it was so gruesome and repulsive.

The condemned and flogged criminal was often forced to carry his own cross to the place of execution. At the place of execution, the crossbeam was laid on the ground, the criminal was stripped of his clothes, and forced to lie down on the cross. In our Lord’s case nails were driven through his palms and feet. The executioners then picked up the cross and dropped into a hole dug in the earth.

The victim bled from the wounds inflicted by the whipping and the nails. But he did not die of blood loss. He died from asphyxiation caused by exhaustion. Hanging on the cross made breathing hard work. Over hours breathing became shallower and shallower till at last the victim died.

There are two things we ought to note before we move on:

• There was nothing unique about the form of execution used to put Jesus death. Thousands upon thousands of criminals were put to death in this way throughout the empire. Our Lord was one of many put to death by crucifixion. In the view of the time Jesus was just one more rebel executed on a cross.
• It is remarkable that Christians use the cross as the symbol of their faith. Who would put gallows over the holy Table? Which of you ladies would wear a gold electric chair around your neck? What bishop or priest would wear on his chest an axe and chopping block used to lop off heads? Why do we sing, “In the cross of Christ I glory,” when it was an instrument of execution despised by Jews, Greeks, and Romans?

2. What the Cross Means

The fact that Jesus was crucified does not make his sufferings unique. You have to know what God was doing at the cross.

On February 23, 1945, Marines captured Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. At the top they found a piece of pipe and raised an American flag. As a fact, it is one of many American flags raised all over the world by Americans. What sets that flag raising apart from others? Planting the flag was symbol of the triumph of the Marines on Iwo Jima and has stood for 61 years as symbol of the fighting spirit of the Marines. It is inscribed in the nation’s memory in a sculpture at the Marine Corps Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The question we have to ask about the cross of Christ is: What makes it unique? What was happening when Jesus was crucified?

If you ask many Christians the meaning of Christ’s death, they are likely to say, “To show us that God loves us.” Taken by itself that statement is not true. What would you think of a husband who demonstrated his love for his wife by stepping in front of a speeding truck, or a mother proving her love for her child by having a gang member shoot her. Those acts would be meaningless and futile expressions of love. But, what if a husband pushed his wife out of the path of the truck and was killed in the process? What if a mother shielded her child from the gang member and was killed? Those are demonstrations of love.

But there is another element. A wife is worthy of her husband’s love and a child worthy of a mother’s love. But would you out of love die for a person who is hostile toward you? A person who has done his best to harm you? A person who is your enemy? A person whose actions deserve your righteous anger?

This is the kind of love God has for us in Christ - purposeful love to redeem us, undeserved love to save his enemies from eternal death. St. Paul wrote:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life (Romans 5:6-10).

If you want eternal salvation, there are three things you have to come to terms with:

• We are sinners who are naturally hostile toward God and have rebelled against him.
• God hates sin and is determined to bring sinners to justice. He is rightly and justly angry with us. If he were not, he would not be a good and holy God.
• Christ took responsibility for our sins. On the cross he became the object of God’s anger with us and paid the penalty that our sins deserve, so that we may be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to God. The Prayer Book says what Christ did was “to suffer death upon the Cross for our redemption; (and to make) there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.”

Do you acknowledge you are a sinner? Do you believe you are by nature under God’s condemnation? Do you trust in Christ who died for you so that you may be forgiven and given eternal life?

When we come to this holy Table, we come always as sinners trusting in the Savior’s cross. Let us come with the words of our first hymn in our hearts:

              For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,

              thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation;

thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,

              for my salvation.

Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee,

              I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,

              think on thy pity and thy love unswerving,

              not my deserving.

Conceived by the Spirit, Born of the Virgin

Conceived by the Spirit, Born of the Virgin

Nineteenth after Trinity

Collect: O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in Jesus Christ...who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the virgin Mary.

Do you believe in Santa Claus? Not a myth or fable or but a real jolly guy with a white beard and red suit you could find if you traveled to the North Pole.

For some if you believe in the Virgin Birth you might as well believe in Santa Claus. It’s a Christian fable borrowed from the Greek religions or a myth that’s not literal but points to a spiritual reality.

But for the writers of the Creed and Christians who confess it sincerely the virgin birth is  historical event. A virgin conceived and gave birth to  a Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. The Scriptures

There are two places in Scripture that record the fact of the Virgin Birth.

1.1. Luke 1: 26-38

St. Luke wrote his Gospel initially for prominent Roman named Theophilus who had received some instruction in the Christian faith. St. Luke makes it clear that he is serious about writing history:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us,  it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1-4).

When Luke wrote about the Virgin Birth, he believed he was writing about a fact of history.  

Luke records the account of a young woman named Mary, who was probably about 15 years old and lived in the town of Nazareth. She was betrothed to a man named Joseph. The angel Gabriel appeared to her with a startling announcement: “Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Mary knew the facts of life, so she asked, “How can this be since I am a virgin?” Mary surely took what the angel announced as literal. Though she was a virgin, she was going to have a baby. She knew that she was having no sexual relations with her fiance or any other man. How could she get pregnant?

Gabriel answered her question: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”  This is the explanation of how she will get pregnant. It is by the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High God that Mary, a virgin, will conceive a child without intercourse.  What we traditionally call the Virgin Birth is more accurately the Virgin Conception. The birth of Jesus was entirely natural. It was his conception that was miraculous. Because of his supernatural conception, the child will be the holy Son of God.

Mary’s response expressed her faith: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Whatever the Lord’s will she is at the Lord’s disposal.

1.2. Matthew 1:18-25.

St. Matthew records the reality of of the virgin birth from her fiance Joseph’s perspective. Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. He also knew the facts of life. He knew he was not the father, but he knew somebody else had to be. In those days betrothals were serious matters, established publicly and legally. Joseph was not prepared to  go through with the marriage, but he was a good man, who did not want to humiliate Mary publicly, so he decided to end the betrothal privately.

But, while he was thinking about all these things, an angel came to him in a dream and said: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”  

Matthew explains: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel.’ “

Joseph’s response expressed his faith: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,  but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.” Joseph accepted the angel’s word and obeyed the Lord’s command. That there might be no doubt that the conception of Jesus was a miraculous event, Mary and Joseph had no relations till after the birth of Jesus.

2. Significance

Two Gospel writers, Luke and Matthew, record the fact of the supernatural virgin birth or virgin conception. But, why the virgin birth? What is it about? What is it’s significance?

2.1. Incarnation. The virgin birth is about how God chose to enter human life, how God became man, so that the Son born to Mary was fully God and fully man. Because of the role of the Holy Spirit he was the Son of God, who did not cease to be God when he became man. Because  an ovum of Mary developed in Mary’s womb, he was man. Jesus was one Person who was fully God and fully man.

As a man, he was a baby who nursed at his mother’s breast, who needed his diapers changed, who cried when he was unhappy and needed his mother’s attention. He was truly and fully human.

At the same time, by becoming man, he did not cease to be God. He was still the One through whom God created the world and who holds the universe together so that it does not disintegrate. He did not put aside or diminish his Godhood by becoming man.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus is fully God and fully man.

Lo, within a manger lies

He who built the starry skies.

2.2 Implications

There are two important implications of the Virgin Birth.

2.2.1. Divine Intervention

The Virgin Birth is perhaps the most striking instance of divine intervention to accomplish what was man could not.

• The children of Israel were caught between the Red Sea in front and the pursuing Egyptians in the rear. Then God parted the Red Sea, and Israel crossed over to safety while the Egyptians were drowned in the Sea.

• There are several examples in the Scriptures of divine intervention in cases of birth.
• Abraham and Sarah were childless. Abraham was on old man, and Sarah was post-menopausal. But God promised them a son, and at the time God had chosen God intervened so that Abraham and Sarah conceived a son named Isaac.
• Hannah was loved by her husband, but she felt a great emptiness because she had no child. She pleaded with the Lord for a son. The Lord granted her request, and she conceived and bore a son named Samuel.

In the cases of Sarah and Hannah, God intervened so that they both conceived children with their husbands. In Mary’s case God intervened and worked apart from the normal process. There is no biological or natural explanation. The Holy Spirit caused Mary’s ovum to develop in her womb so she conceived a son without the aid of a man.

The necessity of God’s intervention for the Virgin Conception to occur is true of the whole of the salvation of human beings. By human initiative, wisdom, and  power there is no way that salvation could have been accomplished. One of the most persistent human illusions is self-salvation - that we can work out way up to God, that there is something we can do by human ability to save ourselves. The Virgin Birth says, No. You cannot save yourself. Salvation is wholly the Lord’s work for us.

2.2.2. Divine Protection

In order to be our Savior Jesus had to have no need of salvation himself. He had to be one of us, fully human, but without sin. But how could that be?

Nothing could be clearer by observation than that every human being without exception is a sinner. Why are all sinners? Original sin. Adam was created sinless. But when he rebelled against God he not only sinned; he became a sinner. His nature changed so that he was now inclined to sin. Adam’s sin has consequences for all human beings. We all have inherited from Adam a nature inclined to sin. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners by nature.

How was Jesus kept from being a sinner? It was by the intervention of the Holy Spirit who disrupted the normal transmission of sin. There are two things we need to emphasize. The Virgin Birth was not necessary because there is something that is evil about the normal sexual relations between man and woman. Nor was the Virgin Birth necessary because the sinful nature is transmitted by the male alone. No, women are sinners by nature as much as man. Mary was a sinner as much as Joseph. The reason Jesus was sinless is because the Holy Spirit protected Jesus from the transmission of sin. God could have done that in some other way, but he chose to do it by the Virgin Birth. God gave us his sinless Son that he might offer himself as the sacrifice for sins so that we who are by nature children of wrath might become the children of God.

When you come to this Table, come in the only way you may or can - by faith in virgin born Son of Mary, Jesus Christ. Believe that the sinless Jesus bore your sins on the cross to pay for your sins and reconcile you to God. By faith eat his body given for you and drink his blood shed for you and live.  

Jesus Christ, His Son. Our Lord

  Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord

Eighteenth after Trinity

Collect: Lord, we beseech thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Text: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

The Apostles’ Creed consists of 112 words in English. Of those 112 words 12 are devoted to God the Father, 6 to God the Holy Spirit, and 73 to God the Son? Why is that? It is not because the Son is more important than the Father or the Holy Spirit.

More words are devoted to the Son for two reasons. The first reason is that Christianity focuses on a person - the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is final revelation of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that in former times God spoke in different ways through the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken through his Son. The second reason is that Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation that was planned by the Father and is applied by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Peter proclaimed that salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ.

That is why the Creed, following the Bible, focuses on Christ.

1. Jesus Christ

A great many people believe “Jesus” is the first name and “Christ” the last name of Jesus Christ.

1.1 Jesus

His given name is Jesus. It is not uncommon for people to think that no one has ever had the name “Jesus” except our Lord Jesus Christ. But the name Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua. The best known Joshua of the Old Testament was the man who assisted Moses and then succeeded Moses when Moses died. He led the children of Israel across the Jordan River to the Promised Land and then led them as they conquered and took possession of the land.

The story of the Joshua we call Jesus is set first century Palestine. He was a man born to Mary in Bethlehem and who lived during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberias Caesar. He grew up in Nazareth and was trained to be a carpenter. Then at the age of 30 he began a three year ministry as a traveling rabbi. He was put to death by the the Roman governor, Pilate, around A.D. 30. He is not a legend or mythical figure. He is man whose life is set in history.

The reason he was named Jesus is that the Angel Gabriel told his mother, “You will...bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Later an angel told Joseph, Mary’s fiancee, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” The angel gave the reason Mary’s son should be called Jesus: “for he will save his people from their sins.” The name Joshua or Jesus means, “The Lord saves” or “The Lord delivers.” Jesus in the One who will accomplish the deliverance the human race needs - salvation from condemning power of sins.

1.2. Christ

Christ is not the second name of Jesus. People of Jesus’s time did not have second names. Sometimes they were distinguished by the town they lived in or by their father. The Apostle Philip called our Lord, “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

The word “Christ” is not a name but a title. The man who may eventually be the King of England is Charles Prince of Wales. His name is Charles; his title is Prince of Wales. Jesus is the Christ, which is the Greek form of the Old Testament title Messiah. Christ or Messiah means “Anointed One.” When the Lord revealed to the prophet Samuel that David would be the next King of Israel, the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him” and “Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him.” The Lord chose David, and his choice of David was symbolized by the pouring of oil over his head.

Our Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Lord’s anointed One, the One the Lord chose and appointed to the the Messiah, the One who would save his people from their enemies and rule over them as their King. The Jewish expectation was that the Messiah would defeat the Romans, drive them out of the land, sit on a throne in Jerusalem, and restore to Israel its military, national, and economic prosperity. That they did not understand is that Jesus the Christ came to do something much bigger than that - to defeat Satan, sin, and death, to gather people of every ethnic and national group into his kingdom, and to reign forever over his kingdom of salvation.

2. Only Son

Sometimes we hear that there are three monotheistic religions - Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. People say that despite their differences all three religions have the same God.

However, Christianity is set apart from both Islam and Judaism because Christians worship Jesus as God. In the Old Testament the phrase to “call on the name of the Lord” means to worship the Lord. The Old Testament insists time and again that there is only one true and living God. God himself forbids the worship of anyone else: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” But then St. Paul writing to the Corinthian church greeted them along “with all those in every place who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christians call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They worship him. Why?

The reason Christians worship Christ is because he is the Son of God. In one of his conflicts with the Jews, Jesus said to them, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). He did not say, “I and the Father are one person,” but “I and and the Father are one thing.” He meant, “I and the Father have one nature - the nature of God.” The Father is God and possesses all the qualities, powers, and prerogatives of God. The Son, also, is God and has all the qualities, powers, and pregrogratives of God. The Jews understood what Jesus was claiming. They took his words as blasphemy and picked up stones to stone him to death. When Jesus asked if they were stoning him for one of the many good works he had done, they responded, “It is not for a good work we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, since you being a man, make yourself God” (10:30).

When we confess that Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, we say with St. Paul that he is “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

3. Our Lord

St. Paul wrote, “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” It is likely that “Jesus is Lord” is an early Christian confession of faith.

What does it mean to call Jesus Lord?

If you read the Old Testament in English you cannot miss how often God is called Lord. The Hebrew word for Lord is “adonai”  means, of course, a master or ruler which could refer to a human ruler or to God.  God is Lord for he is the ruler of the universe and everything in it. He is the Lord of his people, and they are called to submit to him and obey him.

But that Hebrew word Adonai or Lord was used in another way also. The most personal and intimate word for God in the Old Testament was Yahweh or Jehovah. Yahweh and Jehovah are just two different pronunciations of the same letters. God himself proclaimed the meaning of his special name: “ ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…’ “ (Exodus 34:6.7). This name was so special and holy that the Jewish people hesitated to say it. So, for instance, when a reader came to this special name instead of saying “Yahweh” he would say “Adonai.”

So the word “Lord” had two meanings. It could mean Ruler which could also refer to a human or it could mean Yahweh which referred only to the one true living God. When the writers of the New Testament called Jesus “Lord” they were deliberately giving him the most personal and holy name of God.

On the Day of Pentecost, when St. Peter preached to the Jewish crowd he said,  “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” God himself declared that Jesus is both God and Messiah. The Apostle Paul wrote of Jesus Christ, “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” (Philippians 2:9-11). Jesus has the name above all other names - Lord - and eventually all will confess that he is Lord.

He is our Lord, the Lord of the church. We acknowledge him as God the Son. He is our Savior and Lord. We willingly and happily bow the knee to him.

There is only one question. Is Jesus your Savior and Lord?