"What should we fear?" F.C.D. Wyneken on the New Year

You exit the old year as one accursed. Will you now enter the new year, still accursed, only to die cursed? O my God, be merciful! Behold the picture once more. Behold the blood of Jesus, [which] cries out still today as mercy for you. The name Jesus calls to you: “Why will you die, you of the house of Israel?” Have mercy also upon yourself and upon your poor soul, and cry out to this man! “O Jesus, Savior and Redeemer, have mercy on me; give me Your grace unto repentance and let me not die in my sins. Turn me and I will be turned! Purify me and I will be pure!” Do this and hold to Him in silence. Flee to repentance and faith, so this year will bring nothing but pure joy and blessing. Here, with His first drops of blood, this little child is guarantor against the Law that judges and condemns, and [He is] the righteousness of god. For the one who has faith in this little child and has held to the name of Jesus can head into the new year with joy and confidence. He is called “Jesus” because He shall save His people from their sins. For this little child, after He completed His work of redemption, sat down at the right hand of almighty God. Through His crucified hands He governs the entire world. His hand sends you everything that will come upon you this year, and His name is the guarantee that out of this hand must flow pure blessings to you.

It is true, He has not promised that no want, plague, or trouble shall befall you this year. to the contrary, He has said to you beforehand: “Unless a man take up his cross daily and follow Me, he cannot be My disciple” [Luke 9:23, Luther Bibel]. Thus, as at Baptism, He has allowed you to be marked by a cross. This is [the case] so that at all times, you think about this cross and about the fact that you belong to the cruciform kingdom of the Crucified One. As His disciples, we must pass through many troubles to enter the kingdom of heaven. As certain as you are a Christian, so certain will you experience cross and need. Indeed, dear friends, seeing the accumulating sin of this nation and the mounting apostasy from the gospel and the horrid rage against it, we can make a calculation on two matters: The judgment of God will finally and all the more harshly come to bear upon this land, proportionate to God’s blessings upon her and to the duration of His patience; finally, open persecution against the gospel and those who confess it will break out in the land that hitherto has been its sanctuary.

But “nevertheless,” it says for us Christians, “nevertheless Israel has god for its consolation.” That gives us assurance for the present, [and] promises protection by the gospel. The circumcision of Christ teaches us who have a Savior that every cause of fear and angst and concern is removed. For the Law with its curses and judgments has been removed. Thus, in the misfortune that may affect us, we no longer see any punishment or anger of god, but rather the disciplining hand of a loving Father. The name Jesus encompasses all compassion, all love, all promises, and all blessedness. It guarantees us that God is with us and is our reconciled Father. As such, He can only let good things come to us. Indeed! What should we fear? The Almighty, who sits on the throne of glory, who rules in the midst of His enemies, before whom all His enemies must bow down, before whom every knee must bow, whether in heaven or on earth or under the earth—He is our Savior, Brother, Bridegroom, and Judge.

Friedrich Wyneken

2^nd President of the LCMS

Sermon for the Eve of the Name of Jesus, January 1, 1868

At Home in The House of My Fathers, pp. 433-34