The Name of Jesus (Second Sunday of Christmas)
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As many of you are aware, there are two different timelines for the Christmas Season. Secular Christmas begins just before Halloween, and comes to a complete, dead stop after Christmas Day! But in the Church, the liturgical season of Christmas begins on Christmas Day, and continues for the next 12 days (so the 12 days of Christmas are the days following Christmas!) And some of those days also have special significance.
Today is the 8th day of Christmas. At least since the middle ages, this day has often been a day on which we remember the naming of Jesus. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that Luke reports in today’s Gospel reading that “after 8 days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” Although there’s really no Jewish tradition of naming a child as part of the circumcision ceremony, that’s the day Luke reports that Jesus was officially given the name “God saves” (which is what the name “Jesus” means)…
Another reason is that the 8th day of Christmas is New Year’s Day. And there developed the idea that a new year ought to begin in the name of the Jesus, since in Colossians we read, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col. 3:17)
So we begin this new year by remembering the naming of Jesus. It seems like a small thing. It takes only half a verse. And of course, we knew what he’d be named before he was born.
But “naming” can mean more than giving somebody a name. It can also mean how that name – and therefore, how that person – is lifted up in the lives of others. We sometimes “name” a person when we want to invoke their authority or credentials. We “name” a force or a power that helps or hinders us. And we “name” people in our lives who have helped us become the people we are today.
So celebrating the “Name of Jesus” should mean more than simply remembering that Jesus was given a name. It should also cause us to reflect on how we name Jesus in our lives. For as baptized children of God, we’re also sealed with Jesus’ name, and called to be people who name Jesus in our lives.
So how is it that we’re called to name Jesus in our lives? Unfortunately, many of the people I’ve known who think they’re “lifting up the name of Jesus” are more often just being “pushy” about Jesus. And that almost always does more harm than good.
Instead, I think that naming Jesus in our lives is about:
- Remembering the meaning of the name of Jesus – “God saves.” Not “God judges”; “God condemns” or “God is out to get you unless you repent sufficiently.” God’s purpose in the incarnation was to save people – from sin; from death; from hopelessness; from the feeling that they were alone and forgotten in the universe. God did this for everybody, not just “good” people and even for people who don’t believe; if we keep that in mind, then when we speak about Jesus in our own lives, it lifts up not just the name, but the meaning of “Jesus”…
- Projecting the attitude of Jesus – in the first couple centuries of the church, Christians were sometimes persecuted – and they never dreamed that they would ever be in the majority anywhere. But the Christian community continued to grow because Christians actually projected faith and confidence in God’s love and presence in their lives; because they didn’t feel threatened by the fact that most others didn’t believe; and because they actually practiced the love and care of God that they said they believed in. They often simply named Jesus by their attitudes of faith, hope and love. That’s not as simple as it sounds. But it’s often still the most effective way we can name Jesus in our lives…
- Doing what Jesus did – Martin Luther, like some other theologians of his time, often took very literally those words of Colossians and began his writings with “Jesus”. It’s kind of silly in a way. But on the other hand, it reminds us that whatever we do, or say or write can reflect who Jesus is in our lives. That ancient tradition of “imitating Christ” isn’t a pious exercise for the devoutly religious, but an actual opportunity to name Jesus by what we do and how we live each day of our regular lives…
So on this eighth day of Christmas, we remember the name of Jesus. And in doing so, we should remember again that “Jesus” means that God came into our real lives to give us a real and living experience of God’s saving presence. And in naming Jesus in our own lives, we get to be people who can help others experience that loving and saving reality in their lives as well.
Amen.