What’s In a Name?

After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21

While much of the world celebrates New Year’s Day on January 1, the Church commemorates the “Name of Jesus” on this the eighth day of Christmas. By Jewish law, every baby boy was circumcised and named on the eighth day of life, and the Gospel of Luke reports Mary and Joseph keeping covenant by honoring this practice for their son.

Especially in the Hebrew Scriptures, names are ripe with meaning. The name Jesus, translated from the gospel’s ancient Greek, comes from the Hebrew name Yeshua, usually translated as Joshua, and means “God Saves” or “The Lord is Salvation.” The rest of the gospel describes Jesus living into that calling by his works of healing, community-building, barrier-busting, and acceptance. Through two millennia, Christian thinkers have pondered the question, “How does Jesus save?” To me the best answer is, simply, “By showing us what God’s love looks like.”

Unless January 1 falls on a Sunday, “Name of Jesus” usually gets overlooked amidst Christmas and New Year’s festivities. But the commemoration date suggests an interesting complement to our cultural tradition of making New Year’s resolutions. What if we also used this day to contemplate the ways we have lived into our identities as Christians? Of course, “Christ” wasn’t Jesus’ last name. It was more an honorific supplied by the early church, meaning “God’s anointed.” But “Christian,” meaning follower of Jesus, works as a sort of family name for our faith tradition. So, as both individuals and a congregation, how have we followed Jesus? How are we following Jesus?

I don’t mean this as a yardstick for measuring virtue. I suggest this as an exercise for affirming our sense of identity.  We live in challenging times, perhaps about to become more challenging. In some quarters, our family name will be sullied by those hungry for power and dominance, willing to use threat and brute force to accomplish their desired ends. But might does not make right and the loudest, angriest voices are probably not the ones to listen to as we try to follow Jesus, who reminded us, “As you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”

In this brand-new year, in every way possible, by our words and our actions, may we honor the name of Jesus as we help our neighbors see what God’s love looks like in our little corner of the world.

With hope and love,

Pastor Sue