“Call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” That’s what the voice of heaven told Mary and Joseph. “Jesus” was a common enough name in those times. But giving this name to this particular child was loaded with faith. “Jesus” meant “God is Savior.” Christians have called Jesus Light, Shepherd, Master, Lord, Priest, Lamb, Mediator, Redeemer, Water, Bread, Resurrection, Life, and many other names. Each of these titles is really a way of saying that Jesus is the Savior of men. Whatever else I may call him, Jesus is what God called him—Savior! This name describes what he came to be and to do: to seek and to save that which was lost. The name that Mary murmured over his manger was later written over his cross. Although the name was given to him, its meaning was for others. He saved others; himself he could not save. His destiny was to be the Savior of others. The name “Jesus” relates him to us. We need a Savior. We get out of control, guilty, enslaved. We feel alone, meaningless, lost, trapped, helplessly perishing. We are unloved, unloving, frustrated, fed up. We are entangled in a network of lies, overpowering systems, and conflicting claims that tug us in a dozen different directions. But we have a Savior! Jesus is a name of hope, a name of promise, a name of power. By Jesus the Savior I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved ultimately and forever. He saves me from every state of sin and misery sooner or later, and he saves me for God. He saves me from human enemies and the judgment of God, for the sonship and blessing of God, for likeness to God in service to his world.
The name of Jesus glorified everything he touched and gave it a higher value. We must call his land the “holy land.” His people are the holy church. God grant the coming of the day when the name of Jesus the Savior may be truthfully written upon all homes, all factories, offices, stores, mills, and classrooms. Most of us want the name of Jesus the Savior called over us at our baptisms, our weddings, and our funerals. May it be meaningful over us on every ordinary day, everywhere and always. We need a Savior, a personal power, a powerful person, to come to us from beyond to set things right with us. The perversity of the world has always beaten every mere reformer who tried to change it. Men’s moral efforts, efficient organizations, scientific achievements, and cultural education are not enough. We still need a Savior. Without God for us, with us, and in us, we’re beaten. Jesus the Savior has had a deeper and more wholesome effect on the quality of human life around the world than any other man or group of men. I believe that the future belongs to Jesus!
Books by Dr. John A. Ross
