Sunday, January 1, 2017

What's In A Name?


“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet.” Juliet says this to Romeo in Act II, Scene ii, lines 1-2 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. These words stand out as such memorable lines that they have made their way into our common parlance. It has been awhile since I read that play, but I do remember that as these star-crossed lovers fell for each other this line pointed to the fact that despite them having different last names from feuding families they were nonetheless in love. So, this question wonders should a name matter in a thing like love? Juliet, in this way, summarized the central struggle of all of Romeo and Juliet with a simple question. Today, like Juliet, I too ask, “What’s in a name?”

On this day every year we celebrate not just New Year’s Day, but also the Feast of the Holy Name. In the Jewish tradition on the eighth day of a newborn boy’s life the child would have been taken to the Temple to be circumcised, dedicated to God, and given a name. This is the day when Mary and Joseph gave the little baby from our Nativity story the name Jesus, but what’s in a name?

Let’s start with Luke where we are today. Before Mary conceived of this child the angel Gabriel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” The child’s name will be Jesus, but there is more to it than just that. He will be great, the Son of the Most High (another way of saying God), and he will come to fulfill a hope of the Jewish people that had been around since David vacated the throne: to have a fulfilling ruler! There is more to this name than just how it sounds or whether or not other children could rhyme it with some insult. What about another Gospel account’s perspective?

My New Testament professor in seminary warned against mixing the Gospel accounts together. The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Kittredge would say, “Don’t make Gospel stew.” With all due respect professor it’s a lovely day for stew and, I would like to phone a different gospel account because while Luke lets us know of Jesus’ dedication ceremony, we do not discover everything we need to know about his name.

Unfortunately, Mark’s and John’s accounts of the Gospel do not speak of how Jesus was given his name. However a couple of Sunday’s ago we heard the story from Matthew’s Gospel of an angel visiting Joseph in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall name him Emmanuel’,
which means, ‘God is with us.’
From Matthew’s perspective the child of Mary was to be named Jesus, but he also had this connection with the term Emmanuel.

We hear of the name Emmanuel, which means God with us. This name gives us hope that we have a God who will stand by us no matter what! This was the name foretold by Isaiah. There is also though the name we often take for granted, the name Jesus. In its original tongue it would have sounded more like Joshua, and that name means God for us. This too is profound. What Joseph dreamed points to the truth of our God Incarnate in Jesus: God is both for us and with us!

The Franciscan priest and spiritual leader Richard Rohr sent out a Christmas video on the morning of December 25th. His main theme in this message falls directly in line with this revelation of the meanings of Jesus’ Holy Name or holy names. Rohr explained in the video that we have for centuries been completely focused on the Almighty aspect of God’s nature.[1] This is true. God is almighty! And yet, at Christmas what is made clear to us in a baby born to unwed parents, in a manger, with lowly shepherds being the first visitors is that God is also all-vulnerable. Jesus was both Almighty and all-vulnerable. Jesus is both Jesus that is God for us (Almighty) and Emmanuel, God with us (all-vulnerable).

On the eighth day of his life our Lord was given the name Jesus. He was a vulnerable little child with parents who were not even married yet. He had to rely upon them even though he was the one through whom all creation came to be! This is what we celebrate today. That the God of all creation came down to be for us and with us. He had a mighty and yet also vulnerable way of being, just like the rest of us. What’s in a name? Despite what Juliet says, I would say a great deal rests in a name! Especially in the Holy Name of Jesus.


[1] Rohr, Richard. The Continual Incarnation. December 25, 2016. https://cac.org/the-continual-incarnation-2016-12-25/ (accessed Janauary 1, 2017).

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