What’s in a Name?

16th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/8/24 Acts 3:1-10 What’s in a Name? I. When it’s “Jesus” -- healing II. When it’s “Jesus” -- salvation “What’s in a name?” Many of you recognize this famous question. It was asked by Juliet in her soliloquy in Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Romeo and Juliet.” Love between these two young people was forbidden simply because of their family names. Juliet would go on to opine that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. In other words, the name doesn’t matter. Do you agree? Names don’t matter? Big corporations apparently don’t agree. The name of their corporation matters more than anything else. It’s called “branding” in the world of marketing and your brand name means millions and millions of dollars to your company annually. Advertising aims at name recognition. Every time you see and hear the company’s name or logo, that corporation wants you to draw you into their market. And it was a name that Peter invoked in performing the miracle before us here in Acts 3. These were his words, “At the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And with that name, a man who had never walked a step during his 40 plus years of life did just that and more. He not only walked, he jumped. I imagine he jumped as high as possible. Jesus. The majority of the people in our world care nothing about that name. They might know it, but only as any other name of a person who is recognized in world history. And we cringe when millions of others use it to curse or swear. And why? Because of what that name means. Has that name ever meant as much to you as it did for this man on this miraculous day in his life? I’m guessing there are times in your life as there are in mine when we would say it doesn’t seem to mean much. We wish it would say more. We wish it would do more for us and our world. We’d love the opportunity to do as Peter did—just drop the name of Jesus on some problem and—Shazam!—immediate results. Immediate solution. But that doesn’t happen. So, what’s in a name? Let’s keep that question before us as we discuss this word of our God to us this morning. Part I. I’m glad to know that there are people in our world who are optimistic. They have high hopes. They believe brighter days lie ahead. And, to some extent, that’s a good thing. I wouldn’t want to live in a world full of hopeless people. But I’m a little more realistic, and I’ll bet you are, too. Because, as Christians, we know this is a broken world. All around us we see broken hopes and dreams, broken homes and families, broken futures, broken lives. If your opinion is that our world is broken, you’re not alone. And I’m reminded of that especially when I encounter homeless and destitute people. I get anxious if I get stopped at a traffic light in downtown Dayton and there’s a person with a tattered cardboard sign begging for money near the stoplight. It wasn’t too long ago that I regularly saw the same thing here in warm and cheerful Centerville. It hurts to see such a thing. Now imagine seeing it every time you walk up to our church doors. We wouldn’t allow such a thing, but that’s what was happening here in Acts 3, and it was “normal.” People expected it to be that way when they came to the temple. No matter what day of the week, this man was sitting on the ground at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem. “Beautiful Gate.” How’s that for ugly irony? Luke, who wrote Acts, informs us that this man was crippled from birth. Imagine that. Some pre-birth genetic disorder? The result of a devasting injury during the birthing process? It doesn’t matter. From his first moment of life in this world, his life was difficult. More so than for others. He was entirely reliant on the compassion of others every moment of his life. He relied on relatives and friends to transport him to the temple every day and then transport him home. While he was there, he was entirely dependent on the compassion of others as he begged for enough money to get the food he needed for that day. I imagine some days he received enough. Others, not so much. But I imagine that, at this point in his life, he had reached a level of personal acceptance. Later we read that he was more than 40 years old. Surely by now he had accepted that this was his life every day for as long as he lived on this earth. Unless a miracle happened, he would be known as the daily beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem. But on this day things would change. Things would be different. It happened like this, “Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk.” Healing! What the man had likely stopped hoping for, what he had likely forced himself to stop dreaming of, happened. In an instant. Without surgery or physical manipulation. No weird incantations. Just a name. The name of Jesus. What’s in a name? When it’s “Jesus’’—healing. So, what healing might you want, need, or expect from Jesus? I’ll give you a few seconds to settle on one or two. OK. Now, imagine if Jesus healed you right now. What you wanted him to do for you was done completely. In the words of our text, you are now walking and jumping. But what next? For the rest of today? Tomorrow? Next week? We read that this man went with Peter and John into the temple and worshipped. And we aren’t surprised. What a natural response to what Jesus had just done! He worshipped Jesus. But let’s be realistic. The fact that he was now able to walk didn’t mean that his life was trouble-free. He may have still had hypertension or diabetes. Perhaps his eyesight was less than 20-20. Perhaps he was still estranged from family members. Perhaps no one offered him fulfilling employment. His living conditions were still less than average. But he worshipped. I realize that the difficulties you’re facing in life may not be the best motivation for worshipping. But you have every reason to do so. Like this man, you have a God who knows your situation better than you do and he cares. He cares about you so much that, if he doesn’t remove your troubles or heal you, he uses them to draw you to him. They are daily reminders that this world is not what the Lord ultimately wants for you. It’s a broken world that will never be what you want it to be. But the Lord sustains you through all your difficulties. He brings people into your life to assist you with them. He gives what you need most of all—a Savior from all of this. His name is Jesus. That’s the name of the One who brought you healing for your worst sickness—sin and the hell it deserves. He freely dispenses his healing to you through his word and sacrament. He reminds you that he shed his blood for you so that he can call you his own dear child forever. What’s in a name? When it’s “Jesus”—healing. Part II. As our worship theme states, we see Jesus working in everything. That’s certainly true here. He not only works healing in a man, he also works healing in a multitude of people because of it. That bigger picture is revealed in the final verse of our text, “When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.” The rest of Acts 3 recounts how Peter used this event and the amazement of the crowd to preach a very pointed sermon about Jesus. He blasts these people with powerful law: “You killed the author of life” (3:15). Wow! Imagine hearing your preacher dropping that bomb on you! And then he immediately shared this sweet gospel, “But God raised him from the dead.” Peter called on the people to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus for their forgiveness and eternal life. Is there any more important message to hear and believe? And the Lord blessed that message. They repented and believed. Luke reports that the Christian Church on earth grew to about 5,000 (4:4). In other words, more and more people praised God. Not because he had healed them as he had healed this man, but because he had saved them as he had saved this man and all people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus. What’s in a name? When it’s “Jesus”—salvation. This morning’s worship theme asserts that we see Jesus working in everything. How well does that describe you? I’ll admit that too often that’s not what I see. As I look at my life and my world around me, I see things going in the opposite direction of heaven. I’m fearful, skeptical, and fretful. Too often I focus on the problems, instead of on my Savior and his blessings. Too often I view this life for what’s it’s not, instead of for what it is. Your life is your time to come to know the saving name of Jesus. Do you know him now? Praise him for it. It’s all his doing. He rescued us from hell and made of heirs of heaven. That’s what his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead were all about. We know and believe it. And now we live to share it. We believe in the name of Jesus, and we share the name of Jesus. That’s the Christian life at its foundation. That’s your life. That’s your eternal life. What’s in a name? When that name is “Jesus”, it’s everything to those who know him and love him. It’s everything to you. For you. Amen.