What's in a Name?
Posted on Dec 18, 2016 by David Whetter
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator and Sustainer, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that abides in each of us.
When you hear this Gospel text today, you can’t help but think of Christmas, right. Oh, I know, technically, we are still in the Season of Advent. Technically, we are supposed to be in “wait” mode. You know preparing ourselves for Christ’s coming, but not celebrating, yet. But let’s be real here, when we read this story, finally, we know we are close. This story, along with the story of the angel coming to Mary in Luke, gets us in the mood for Christmas. It’s so close, we just want to sing those Christmas songs, now, but it is still Advent. Although, we always cheat here at Salem. Yeah, if you come to worship Wednesday night to our last Advent mid-week service, we will all be singing Christmas carols while we pack the Pantry Pack Christmas boxes.
Well, let’s get back to our story. As much as I love this story, though, don’t you wonder if there wasn’t more that the gospel writer just didn’t tell us? I mean in our imagination of all the Christmas stories that we will hear this week, Jesus never cried, Mary is made out to be more like a blushing young bride than someone who had just given birth, and Joseph is calm, protective, and paternal. But, don’t you think when this really happened that Mary initially had some real struggles? And Joseph, it must have been a lot harder for him that this story makes it out to be.
Personally, to fully get the magnitude of Joseph’s final decision to “do as the Lord commanded,” I think we need to understand the full custom of the day. Our text begins with “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18).
In the first century, engagement was not a romantic declaration of intent. No, it was a legal contract. To be engaged was essentially be to married without having consummated that marriage, or as Matthew said, but not yet living together. Now, this means that when Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, there was only one conclusion he could have come to; Mary had been unfaithful to him. Now, that news, even today, would create feelings of pain, anguish, and sense of betrayal that any of us would have felt at such a devastating revelation. And in those days, there were only two realistic possibilities of action to take given such a situation. Joseph could have publicly declared his injury, which most likely would have meant Mary would likely have been stoned, or he could divorce, or as translated for us today, “dismiss” her quietly, and avoid all public humiliation on both sides. This real-life situation must have been horrible, not only for Joseph, but for Mary, too. Both of these people must have suffered at the initial news. In a society that seemed to value pride and image more than anything and that would judge both of them harshly for such a situation.
Now, I know none of this is in the biblical stories and I know I am projecting my own feelings on this situation, but I am confident that this harsher version of the story is probably accurate, because in both cases, it took an “angel of the Lord,” to calm the situation. In both cases the angel had to say, “do not fear,” and as was always the case in our biblical stories, when situations were at there worst, God would step in. And, personally, I think this notion is critical and it was a point the Gospel writers made clear.
The gospel writers were intent on making sure their listeners knew that no matter how bad things might get, God would be with them, even when the world seemed to be falling apart. Which, believe it or not, is why I think two names are given in this story for baby to come.
First, the angel said to Joseph, “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (1:21). The name “Jesus,” literally means “God saves.” In essence, the angel was saying to Joseph, “look, I know this doesn’t look good, but through this baby, that you will raise, God will save God’s people. And then, secondly, to remind Joseph of what he already knew, for he was a “righteous man” (1:19), which means he knew God’s Word and God’s promises made through the prophets, the angel reminded him of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us" (Isaiah 7:14).
Wow, in the midst of Joseph’s struggles, his anxiety, his fear, his confusion and his doubt, then angel of the Lord, by stating two names, reminds Joseph of God’s incredible, life-giving promises, that Joseph had forgotten and that we so often can so easily forget that in Jesus, God is always with us and God is always actively seeking to save us. Now that is a promise that can not only change my attitude on life, but it also reminds me that no matter how bad things look, my God, your God, is hear and is at work amongst us.
And for me the awesome part about this promise that we hear today is that not only is God REALLY with us, but God comes to be with us as we are; afraid, confused, doubtful, sinful and, yet, God comes. And perhaps that is the real meaning of this Christmas that we await. God isn’t going to wait for us to change. No, the promise at the heart of this passage is that just as God came to Mary and Joseph, two broken, but faithful people, God, too comes to us in Christ to use us for good, to accept us as we are, and to make us holy.
In something as simple as a name, we are reminded today that, yes, God is with us, really and truly as we are.
I pray that as you go about this week, with all your busyness of the holidays and work, and school and…, that you take time to hear the words of the angel, “Do not be afraid,” for the child that has come, that is here now and that will come again came to save and came to be with you, ALL of you! Come Emmanuel! Come Lord Jesus and praise be to God. Amen.