Matt 1: 18-25 “The
Power of a Name”
For anyone who has ever been
a parent,
one of the first tasks of parenthood is to choose a name
for the new baby.
Some parents ponder this for
months before the birth;
some parents have a much more relaxed approach;
other parents have been known to wait for days to name the
baby.
Although the parents get to choose the name, it’s the child, of course,
who must live with the name - and sometimes - live into
the meaning of a name.
The Bible is full of names
that have a meaning attached.
Some of these express the
parents’ recognition of divine assistance or hope.
Ezekial, for example, means “May God strengthen this
child.”
Other names express the
circumstance of a child’s birth.
Samuel, son of Elkanah and Hannah,
was so named because Hannah had prayed for a child from
the Lord.
In some circumstances, there
is divine intervention in the naming
or renaming of persons in the Bible.
Both Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah at God’s direction.
Zechariah and Elizabeth in
Luke’s gospel are instructed
by the angel Gabriel to name their son John.
In today’s scripture reading
from Matthew’s gospel, Joseph husband of Mary
also encounters an angel of the Lord and is given his
instructions.
Although we tend to blend all
the gospels together when it comes to the birth of Jesus,
there are distinctive perspectives that each writer brings
to the text.
In Luke’s gospel, and last
week we heard from that, we hear Mary’s story.
In Matthew’s gospel, we hear
Joseph’s point of view.
In today’s reading the angel
recognizes his reluctance
to marry this pregnant young woman.
“Do not be afraid” the angel
says to Joseph in a dream.
“Take Mary as your wife, for
the child she will bear is from the Holy Spirit.”
And then, he is told, “you
are to name this child Jesus.”
Joseph, a righteous man for
his faithful obedience as much as anything,
follows these divine instructions.
We tend to forget about
Joseph in the birth narratives.
In both Luke and Matthew’s
gospel, we are told
Jesus was conceived by the
power of the Holy Spirit,
and so we tend to set Joseph aside.
But Joseph’s name, given in
today’s scripture reading, helps clarify his role.
This is Joseph, son of David.
By naming the child, Joseph effectively adopts Jesus
into the Davidic line,
fulfilling God’s centuries-old promises
to send his Messiah through the House of
David.
The name Messiah literally
means the anointed one.
Deep within the hearts of the
Jewish people was a longing
for the promised Messiah to deliver the people.
The word literally means the
anointed one,
and comes from the action of anointing kings and
priests.
Someday God would send the
Messiah to save the people.
The name that Joseph is to
give to the child to be born
tells us more about his purpose.
Jesus
is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua,
which means The Lord Saves/ The Lord Helps.
The scripture reading
directly tells us that the saving Jesus will do
has to do with saving the people from their sins.
At the same time this name
was one of the most popular names in the first century.
Thus the Savior receives an
ordinary name,
uniting him with the human beings of the world, rather than
separating him.
As we read further in today’s
text,
we learn that the child to be born has still another
name,
a name that is the fulfillment of a prophecy,
a name that the child will live into, the name
Emmanuel, which means God with us.
The name was first used by
the Prophet Isaiah in the 8th century
for the name of a child whose birth at the time
would be a sign reassuring the Israelites of God’s
presence,
even when faced with an impending war.
We heard this scripture
today, from Isaiah 7.
It was later, that this and
other scriptures from Isaiah
came to be understood as prophecies for Jesus,
God’s way
of continuing to be God with us, Emmanuel.
God will continue to speak to
Joseph in dreams - 3 in all - in Matthew’s gospel.
Through these dreams, Joseph
learns more about the purpose of this child.
But still, he must have
wondered.
It would only be later that
Jesus’ purpose would be fulfilled,
that Jesus would save the people from their sins.
And the name of Jesus would
become the name above all names.
a truth that is celebrated in an ancient hymn from
Philippians 2:
Let the same mind be in you
that was in Christ Jesus,
who though he was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God
as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking
the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human
form, he humbled himself
and become obedient to the point of death - even death on
a cross.
Therefore God also highly
exalted him and gave him the name
that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knew should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
This is the God we worship
this fourth Sunday of Advent
as we light the candle which symbolizes love.
But this is no ordinary love
of human proportions.
This is a God-sized love,
revealed in Jesus Christ.
Through Jesus, God
demonstrates the ultimate act of love,
by being God with
us -Emmanuel - even to the point
of dying on a cross.
Jesus is the one who invites
each of us and all of us
to this table each week, a table where we remember
Jesus who
came to save us from our sins.
This is the table of the
messiah, the anointed one.
This is the table of
Emmanuel, God with us.
This is the table of Jesus,
the name above all names.
All are welcome to this table.