What is His Name?

“Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

Names were important in the Bible.  Often they associated someone with their family heritage.  God often told the prophets to name their children as a message—Isaiah named one of his children, “A remnant shall return.”  Here, an angel tells Joseph to name this child Jesus—which means “The Lord saves.”  

There are three questions we’ve looked at so far in this Advent series:  

“How can I be sure?”—asked by Zechariah

“How will this be?”—asked by Mary

“Where is he?”—asked by the Magi

These are the questions of our neighbors, co-workers, and classmates who may not know of Jesus, or are not seeking to follow Him.  Let’s recall:  before any of us took a step of faith, we wanted to be sure, we wanted to understand how it all works, and we wanted to know where to go.  The questions asked in the Christmas story are our questions too.  

The “what” of the name Jesus answers the “Why.”  God sent Jesus into the world to save.  Some of us might feel we don’t need saving, but we do.  The things we’ve done and said, the things done to us that we can’t fix.  The things we regret and have left undone.  All of us need rescue from the rumination about what might have been.    

This Christmas season, let’s remember the name—His Name is Jesus.  Let’s remember the why.

Grace and peace,

David