When we read the Bible – and it doesn’t matter whether you’re reading the Old Testament or the New Testament – you run into a lot of names that are unfamiliar, that are difficult to pronounce, names that don’t seem to make a lot of sense to us here in the 21st century. But thousands of years ago, names were every bit as important as they are to us today. Important not only for what they mean, but important for how they are used.
For those of you who have children, think back to the time and effort you spent choosing their names. You may have chosen a name that had a connection with your family – perhaps a son named after a grandfather or a daughter named after a grandmother. You may have chosen a name that just sounded “right” with your last name – for example, I’ve always liked the name Brian – but when our son Todd was born, there was no way that Sharon would let me name him “Brian O’Brien.” Sometimes parents choose names that sound cute, but the person who bears that name later comes to hate it. For example, I used to know a man whose name was Forrest Parks, another whose name was Forrest Trees, and two men whose names were Dusty Rhodes.
Today’s Gospel lesson begins where last week’s Gospel lesson left off – with Jesus taking some time to prepare the disciples for his upcoming death and resurrection – and to prepare them to spread the Gospel of salvation following Jesus ascension into Heaven.
Our reading opens with a complaint by the disciples. No sooner had Jesus given His disciples a lesson in humility and service to the Church – we remember that he told them that if they really wanted to be first in the Kingdom of God they must actually be last of all and servant of all – than the beloved disciple John complains that someone else – not one of the 12 – had been casting out demons in Jesus’ name.
In Mark chapter 6, we read that Jesus sent the disciples out into the countryside, specifically giving them authority over unclean spirits. Mark tells us just a few verses later that they “cast out many demons,” but later in chapter 9 we read of the occasion when they were unable to cast out a demon of a young boy. Now this unnamed man is also casting out demons in the name of Jesus, and the disciples didn’t like it. After all, they were the disciples – and he wasn’t. He wasn’t one of their group. He hadn’t been chosen personally by Jesus as they had been chosen. He hadn’t been told specifically by Jesus to drive out demons as they had been told. As far as they were concerned, Jesus had not given that man the right to drive out demons in His name – and he needed to be stopped.
As happens so many times in the Gospels, what Jesus tells them next is probably the opposite of what they were expecting. They probably were expecting Jesus to congratulate them for telling the other man to stop, but instead, Jesus tells them not to stop him. And then Jesus says: “No one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.”
“In my name.” In Jesus’ name. The name given to our Savior by His Father in Heaven and announced to the Virgin Mary prior to the incarnation. Two thousand years ago, “Jesus” was actually a common name in the land of Israel. Even today, some Spanish-speaking men bear the name Jesus that is pronounced “Jesus.” The word “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua.” The first Joshua we met in Scripture was Joshua the son of Nun, the Joshua chosen by God to lead His people into the Promised Land following the death of Moses. Both “Jesus” and Joshua” can be translated to mean “the Lord saves.” The first Joshua completed God’s plan of saving His people from the slavery of Egypt and bringing them to the blessings of the Promised Land, while our Jesus completed God’s plan for saving His people from the slavery of sin and delivering us to the blessings of our eternal promised land, heaven.
Of course, Jesus is known by many other names, too. The prophet Isaiah foretold that the virgin would conceive and bear a son, and his name would be Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” The pages of Scripture give us countless more names for Jesus – the Word, Prince of Peace, Light of the World, Lamb of God, Son of David, Son of Man. The names “Christ” and “Messiah” are actually the same word – Christ is Greek and Messiah is Hebrew – and both mean “the anointed.” I’m sure we all remember Peter’s stunning confession of faith when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
In the second commandment, God tells us: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” When the disciples heard about this man who was driving out demons in Jesus’ name, they accused him, in effect, of violating the second commandment. He had not been authorized to drive out demons in Jesus’ name, so what he was doing was – in their eyes – wrong. But as far as Jesus is concerned, it isn’t wrong. This man had heard of Jesus – he possibly had seen Jesus driving out demons on earlier occasions – and when he had the opportunity, he used the name of Jesus to drive out more demons. The disciples saw him as an outsider, but Jesus saw him as a believer – a believer whose faith was every bit as strong as the faith of the disciples. This man was not misusing the name of Jesus, but was using Jesus’ name to bring honor and glory to Jesus. This man was not an official member of the twelve disciples – but he didn’t have to be.
Jesus tells the disciples, “For the one who is not against us is for us.” On another occasion, quoted in Matthew 12:30, Jesus says, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” What we see here is that it is impossible to be neutral about Jesus. When you’re talking about the Son of God, you can’t straddle the fence, you can’t be impartial. You’re either a believer or an unbeliever – period. If we’re not for Jesus, we must be against Him. If we’re not against Jesus, we must be for him.
In ancient times, pious Jewish people never used the formal name of God, the name that we pronounce Yahweh. God was always referred to as Adonai, which we translate as “the Lord,” or as El Shaddai, which is translated as “God Almighty.” But the formal name of God, Yahweh, was never spoken – it was a holy name not to be used by the lips of sinful men and women.
How things have changed! Turn on your television set to any channel tonight and see how long it takes to hear God’s name used in vain. Today God’s name is no longer holy – it’s just a word. It’s just a word that people use carelessly, with no thought or reverence. When you hear people say things “Oh, my God” or “for the love of God,” they don’t use God’s name with respect. They use it in anger. They use it in fun. They use it in ignorance. They use it in sin.
Why is God’s name so important? Why do we begin our Worship Service in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit? Because not only is God’s name holy – but His name tells us what He has done for all of us wretched sinners. We and everyone and everything that exists in our entire universe were made by God the Father. Our sins were redeemed by God the Son. We were brought to faith by God the Holy Spirit. As Luther’s Small Catechism states, every name of God is nothing less than pure Gospel, the good news that God loves us, that God forgives us, and that God wants us to be with Him in heaven for all eternity.
Most of you probably know by heart Luther’s explanation of the Second Commandment, but I’d like to read it to you again this morning. He writes: “We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by his name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.” Pray. Praise. And give thanks. As King David wrote in what is both the first verse and the final verse of Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”
The unnamed man mentioned in our Gospel lesson had been casting out demons in the name of Jesus. The disciples tried to stop him because he wasn’t a member of their own select group, not realizing that he was, indeed, a member of a far larger group – the men, women and children of all ages that are believers in Jesus Christ. The men, women and children of all ages who have been washed by the waters of Holy Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The men, women and children who have been brought to faith in the name the person and the mighty deeds of Jesus. For as St. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians: “Therefore 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.
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