Focus Verse: Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
Commentary: What's in a name? These days not much really, at least not in the way it was in the Ancient Near East. Many people today have a story to go with their name, but there isn't a communal story as it was for Jesus and his name. Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, or Joshua, which means “he saves.” Reading deeper in the passage Matthew connects Jesus with a prophecy from Isaiah as he also gives Jesus the title Emmanuel, which means "God with us." Jesus has always been a man with many titles ... but his name is Jesus, the one who saves.
Let us not lose sight of the importance of this title Emmanuel. Throughout Jewish history the Israelite community was devastated, almost annihilated many times over and thought to be beyond rescue. God saved them every time. For this reason, people expected Jesus, if he was indeed the Messiah, to set them physically free from Roman oppression and to establish once again the "kingdom" of God on earth. But Jesus had a bigger vision. Jesus, Emmanuel, had a vision of God's presence in the world, a vision of cosmic proportions, a vision in which the Resurrected Jesus dwells among us in the power of the Spirit who lives with and within each follower of Jesus Christ. What a vision!
Reflection: How do you live into Jesus’ vision? How do you experience the presence of God?
Prayer Breathing in … Sweet Jesus
Prayer Breathing out … Be with me
If music is a spiritual pathway for you, listen to this beautiful duet by Travis Cottrell and his daughter Lily as they sing "What a Beautiful Name/Agnus Dei." It is a familiar contemporary praise song. Although it isn't a Christmas song, I have no words for the beauty of these words in the last few days of our exploration of Emmanuel: The Names of God with Us!
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