Holy Name

Naming a new baby is a challenging process. It’s hard to please everybody with a name. Pop wants a name with alliteration in it, something that would sound good on a sports report, like Steven Stamkos. Mom selects a fashionable name, something like Benjamin or Brittany. Grandpa wants to use a hallowed family name from the past, like Hubert or Horatio or Agnes or Agatha.

It’s a miracle of diplomacy that a name is ever chosen. Back in 2001, I spent a lot of time struggling with a moniker for our little bun in the oven. I would come home each day and spring my latest idea on my wife, who would give me the look that says, “You’ve got to be kidding!”

It was a tough process. There was no way our son was going to be named after his grandfathers, Eugene or Arthur. Then I thought of Remington Winchester Reese.  But Jeanette shot those names down. After going through a long search, I finally came up with Hamilton Prescott. Jeanette liked the sound of it.  Hamilton means ‘mountain lover’ and, since we lived in the beautiful mountains of Colorado for so long, we thought the name appropriate. Prescott means ‘dwells in the priest’s cottage.’ So that, too, was an apt moniker.

Others, however, did not agree. When I called my mother with the news, there was a pregnant pause, after which she cried, “Oh no! You didn’t!” She was hoping we would name the kid Daniel, after her little brother who died in childhood.

Well, at least Mary and Joseph didn’t face any hassle in naming their baby boy. That important matter was decided for them by God, and the message was delivered by an angel. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Joseph had a dream in which an angel told him the name of the baby and his title. “You shall name him Jesus,” said the angel. And his title shall be one predicted by the prophet Isaiah some 700 years earlier – “Emmanuel.”

The name and the title really reveal the breath-taking essence of Christmas.

Jesus is the Greek form of a familiar Jewish name, “Yeshua,” or “Joshua.” It means literally “Jehovah is salvation.” It was a rather common name among Jewish folks back then, the ‘William’ or ‘John’ of the day.

Today is New Year’s Day, but it’s also the feast of the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It’s the eighth day of Christmas as well.  It’s on the eighth day after birth that a Jewish couple circumcises a newborn son and names him. And that’s just what Joseph and Mary did, fulfilling the law as spelled out in Leviticus Chapter 12.  The ceremony is called a bris and is a very festive occasion.

Jesus’ name highlights the most important mission of his life: to save us from sin and reconcile us to a holy God. Jesus was the only baby in history born for the purpose of dying. Across his manger fell the shadow of the cross.

The good news is that a cure has been found for the sin virus. God sent it through a baby. How do you appropriate the cure? Admit you need help, declare your need, and claim Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

The devil is not happy at all because the cure is so free and available. So, in order to mislead us, he suggests that we don’t need to be saved and changed by God. Satan likes to remind us of our good deeds: We give to the Salvation Army, we work hard, we provide for our families, and we don’t break any laws, except perhaps speeding on occasion. So, who needs to be saved?

Some folks prefer to proclaim a Christ who came to compliment our best rather than to redeem our worst.

A college student named Amber came home for Christmas after having been enlightened by a religion course. She told her pastor, “I’m not interested in a God who saves me; I’m more attracted to a God who identifies with me.”

The pastor said, “Amber, let me ask you a question. Imagine yourself on the 8^th floor of your dorm building, and the place catches on fire. The stairs are blocked by the fire. Let’s suppose that firemen at great risk to themselves manage to climb extended ladders to your window. At that point, do you want those firemen to save you, or just identify with you?”

Thankfully, Jesus was born to save us.

            There’s a second name that God gave us for His son: “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” Matthew 1 is the only place in the New Testament where we find the word “Emmanuel.” But isn’t it interesting that the last words of Matthew’s Gospel constitute the definition of Emmanuel: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Emmanuel tells us that Jesus was authentically human, really one of us. He was not a divine superman disguised as a human. He had no x-ray eyes or knowledge of computer technology. He was as human as you or me. He experienced loneliness, illness, and anger. He laughed, played, swam, caught fish, built tables, and attended parties. He was tempted. He wept and felt despair.

Why is that important? Because if Jesus really experienced our humanness, then he can understand us thoroughly.

Bishop Earl Hunt recalls that as a boy of about ten, he had an intense desire to have a record player. One day he found a second-hand model in a downtown store for only $5.00. Of course, those were Depression days when $5.00 was a significant chunk of money. Earl rushed home to tell his dad, thinking all the while that because money was so scarce, his chances were somewhere between slim and none. To his amazement, his dad liked the proposal. They worked out a series of chores around the house by which Earl could earn the money. Then the father and son went downtown and bought the record player. Earl was thrilled beyond description.

Some years later, when Earl and his parents were visiting grandparents at Christmas, his father said, “Son, do you remember the record player that I helped you buy years ago?” “0f course I do,” said Earl. His father said, “Come with me. I want to show you something.” They walked out to an old barn, filled with ancient kegs and boxes. There his father uncovered an old, dust-covered object. It was one of the earliest RCA Victor record players, with a huge megaphone-type speaker and the trademark of a dog on top.

The father touched the old machine lovingly and said, “Son, when I was a boy, I worked three months in the fields to repay my father for buying me this thing. I wanted it badly. So, you see, when you came to me asking for a record player, I understood immediately. I had been there, done that.”

That story has a message in it. Because Jesus was an authentic human being like us, he understands us. Jesus has walked the paths we walk. He is truly Emmanuel, God with us. As the author of Hebrews declares, “Because Jesus himself was tested, he is able to help those who are being tested.” (Hebrews 2:18)

This Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is a friend who understands our every need, hurt, frustration and joy. He is Emmanuel, God with us.

And this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, is the Son of God who sacrificed his perfect life so that we could be saved. If those two truths cause your heart to beat faster and a tear to occasionally moisten the eye, then you have the real Christmas spirit. All that Jesus came to do is summarized in those names: Jesus . . . Emmanuel.

God saves. And God is with us.