For the Third Sunday in Lent

Once for all…

We do not need to look to any other than Jesus
We do not need to look for any other than Jesus

Acts 4.12 reads:

"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

This bold statement was said by Peter, the leader of the band of apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven.

Here’s the story … At the beginning of Acts, chapter 3, Peter and John go to the Temple (the headquarters for the Jewish religion in the city of Jerusalem at that time) for mid-afternoon prayer. A lame man there was begging for money. Peter and John did not have money to give him; but what they did have was the power of Jesus to help him. They took this man by the hand and helped him to his feet. He didn’t just walk, he jumped up and down and praised God with all the air he had in his lungs!

This healing, as you would imagine, created quite a crowd, and Peter and John started to talk about Jesus to everyone. However, not everyone was receptive to the message. The rulers, the elders and the scribes called a meeting headed by the High Priest of the Temple. They brought Peter and John in for further questioning, for they thought that they had gotten rid of Jesus a few months ago and now a healing had been performed using His name! Peter told them that it was by the name and power of Jesus that this healing was done. Peter also reminded them that Jesus, whom they had rejected and killed, was in fact the most important part of God’s plan. Then, he said to them, in no uncertain terms: "There is no other name … by which we must be saved."

No other name … What a claim!

At one point, John the Baptist had, what strikes me as, an amazing question for Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" Look for another?!? I take comfort in this question, because I know about doubt. We are not used to linking John the Baptist and doubt together in the same thought, but if you turn to Matthew 11.2-6 you’ll get the whole story. If you have every wondered if Jesus was really "it" or not … or if you have ever wondered whether you could just have a belief in God, but by-pass Jesus (… a nice man and all, but hey … Why go overboard, y’know?) you are not alone. God and Jesus are linked. You cannot have one without the other. "I and the Father are one," Jesus said (John 10.30); "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14.9) God and Jesus are linked. You cannot have one without the other. Truly, there is no other name by which we must be saved.

Consider C. S. Lewis’ insight into Jesus:

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

(C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41.)

No other name … Here are some scriptures to encourage you about the "Name" this week.

Psalm 20.1-9
Psalm 54.1-7
Proverbs 18.10
Luke 24.44-53
Hebrews 13.15
Philippians 2.9-11