The Most Holy Name of Jesus

This is a sermon I preached this past January. It is not in "polished" form, as these are the notes that I spoke from.

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The Solemnity of the Holy Name of Jesus – January 1, 2006
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingston, NY
Lessons: Exodus 34.1-8; Romans 1.1-7; St. Luke 2.15-21; Psalm 8

+May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer.

The Mystery of the Incarnation is this: That God, who by all rights is above, beyond, and transcendent to our everyday, ordinary existence, condescended to become one of us. The extraordinary became ordinary, so that we ordinary folks, might become extraordinary. St. Athanasius said it like this: "The Son of God became the Son of Man so that sons of men could become sons of God." And Pope Benedict says this: “In the Incarnation, human nature truly becomes the throne and seat of God, who is thus forever bound to the earth and accessible to our prayers.” [Pope Benedict XVI, The Spirit of the Liturgy, p. 68]

As Christians, we believe in a sacramental universe. We use the word “Sacrament” a lot. We talk of the “Seven Sacraments of the Church.” And sometimes we talk about other “sacramental” things – like holy water or incense or the sign of the Cross. The catechism defines a “Sacrament” as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” But this definition (like most definitions) seems too flat and un-exciting. What it really means is that God uses ordinary, everyday, common place things, to nourish us. He uses Bread and Wine, Water, Oil, and Human Touch.

But the Sacramental is not limited to these “church-y” things. The whole world has been given to us to minister to us – to be sacraments to us. “The trees of the field clap their hands.” The mountains “bow down” to God. If we are silent, the Gospels tell us, “even the rocks will cry out.” This is the sacramental world in which we live.

And to live in a Sacramental world means that ordinary, everyday things, have extraordinary meaning. Temporal things have eternal significance. Or to put it another way, the symbolic is more real than the ordinary.

This Sacramental understanding is an outgrowth of the Incarnation of our Lord – God becoming flesh. The pure taking on our imperfection. Life Itself embracing death, so that death might be overthrown.

We celebrate today the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. Years ago this feast commemorated the Lord’s Circumcision. But, being embarrassed by such delicate matters, the Church has decided to commemorate instead an event that takes place along side a circumcision – which is the naming of a Jewish boy. Our Gospel lesson this morning tells us that on the eighth day, God incarnate was named “Jesus.”

Why is this so profound? To explain, we should go back to our Old Testament lesson. In Exodus, we have an account of Moses being given the Name of God. Take a minute to look in your Scripture leaflet and notice something – when God’s name is given it is written as “THE LORD” (all capitals). This is the translator’s doing. The actual word given is four Hebrew letters long – Yud Heh Vav Hey. Modern translators have sometimes translated it “Yahweh” or “Jehovah.” But the ancient Hebrews (and contemporary orthodox Jews) never would have said this name. Instead, every time Yahweh was written in the Scriptures, they replaced it with adonai – “THE LORD” – and this is what our Scripture translators have done.

You see, to the ancient mind, to know something’s name, was to have a “handle” on it. Remember the creation account – that Adam (the representative of humanity) – names the animals? This is to show that humanity has an authority over them. Well, in the ancient world, to know the name of a deity was to somehow get a “handle” on it – to invoke the god or goddess for your own ends.

But the Hebrews knew that theirs was not a God that you could get a handle on – but a God who was in control. Therefore, the Name of God was too holy to be pronounced, too holy to become familiar.

This is why the Naming of Jesus is such a major event for the Christian. It means that God, who is extraordinary has stooped to become ordinary, like us. The unnamable has taken an ordinary, human name.

About this time last year, Erin and I were tossing back and forth potential names for our first child. Those who have had the responsibility for naming another human being can understand something of the importance of that naming: You want it to sound good, right?

But names have deeper significance than just the way that they sound. Most cultures have held that names have meanings. The Jewish culture into which Jesus was born is no different. The name Jesus, which was given by the Angel, is infused with meaning.

It means, as you may know, “Savior.” The Angel tells Joseph, “You are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This is, in essence, saying, “you shall call him ‘Savior’ for that’s what he’ll be!”

But there’s another layer of meaning here. And that is: “who else in the Biblical story, was named Jesus?” Well, Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Yeshua” or “Joshua.” Can you recall what the Old Testament Joshua did?

Joshua “fought de battle of Jericho!” And what happened? “And de wall came a-tumblin’ down!” How did he do it? He surrounded the walls of the city of Jericho and they crumbled.

Using the name Jesus (or Joshua), I believe, was no mere coincidence. For just as Joshua surrounded the city of Jericho and it’s walls crumbled – so, too, in Jesus, God surrounded himself in our humanity – in our ordinary-ness – in order to tear down the walls that imprison us to sin, and hell, and death.

The Name of Jesus is a sign for us – a sacrament if you will – that God is giving us a “handle” on him – he is inviting himself into a relationship with him. He’s still God! – but he’s also our Brother.

Now, this Jesus – this extraordinary-turned-ordinary – comes to us doing the will of God the Father. As we will say in just a few short moments during the Eucharistic Prayer: “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord.” We are speaking of Jesus here. To do something in another’s name is to do it just as they would do it, if they were present themselves.

And Jesus comes proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is even now breaking into this ordinary, everyday, commonplace world. All his healings. All his miracles; all his teachings, forgiveness, and sufferings – these all point to a extraordinary reality that is BEHIND our world and HIDDEN within the context of our ordinary existence.

About a month and a half ago, my boss called me into her office and said to me, “Geoff, I want you to plan our Christmas party. I want you to pick a good restaurant and meet with the manager and plan our meal. I want appetizers and entres and dessert and drinks. And, here – here’s my credit card. Put it on this.”

Now, I did as I was told and I picked a restaurant and met with the manager and planned the meal. And I knew darn well that as long as I was using her credit card, I had better being doing exactly what she herself would be doing if she were doing it herself.

When Jesus came among us 2,000 years ago he came “in the Name of the Lord.” Jesus came to do the work that the Father would be doing if the Father himself were among us. He proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was among us – the Kingdom of God was at hand. In word and deed he proclaimed that even now the Kingdom of God was more real than the kingdoms of this world. Jesus was a "sacrament" of the Father- an outward and visible sign of the reality of God.

But St. Paul tells us that just as Jesus came in the Name of the Father, so too, we are “given the grace and apostleship” of Jesus’ name. In other words, now we’re carrying the credit card. In baptism we are given the name of Jesus and we’d better be about the proclamation of his Kingdom. “Glory to the newborn King!” we sing. Let’s show it!

The story is told of Alexander the Great, that after one of his conquests, his captains brought in a soldier before him. The soldier had been drunk and disorderly, womanizing and stealing. Alexander the Great asked him if it was true. “Yes, my Lord,” said the soldier – it was true. Alexander the great then asked him his name. “Alexander” the soldier replied. To which Alexander the great said, “Either change your behavior, or change your name.”

My sisters and brothers, let us now in this season of Joy, reaffirm our commitment to the Holy Name of Jesus. Let us remember that we, too, are sent out as apostles “in his name.” Let us remember that we are to be the outward and visible signs – the sacraments – of God’s grace in this broken and sinful world. Let us be about the proclamation of “glory to the newborn King!” – that the Kingdom of God is even now breaking in among us.

In Jesus’ Name….Amen.

Copyright © 2006, G. Joel Mackey