The Feast of the Holy Name, Year B

“WHAT’S IN A NAME?”
Exodus 34: 1 – 8; Psalm 8; Romans 1: 1 – 7; Luke 2: 15 – 21
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given by Mr. Eugene Sandow Myers, at Church of the Redeemer, Cairo, IL; and by Mrs. Linda Nelson, at St. Stephen’s Church, Harrisburg, IL; January 1st, 2006


It’s interesting to see how new parents name their children….Sometimes, they give them very unusual names that they have a hard time living down as life unfolds, like the person I heard of once whose last name was “Uta” (pronounced like Utah)….His parents gave him the first name of “Northern”. So, I imagine that he went through life telling people he wasn’t from Northern Utah, but that he was Northern Uta.

Names can become very trendy, and get applied to many people who were born at about the same time, while some names disappear almost completely from common usage…Compare how many newborns today are named “Nancy”, as compared to “Melissa” or “Tiffany” or “Jessica” today. It’s even possible to tell to some degree in which generation a person was born by the first names they bear that were common about the time they were born.

In our society, the name we go by is often simply our “handle” (if we may borrow a term from the CB radio world).

We rarely ever think of the meaning that might be behind our names…for example, a person with the last name of “Cartwright” probably had some ancestor who made carts.

But in Biblical times, a person’s name meant something….For example, John, in Hebrew, means “God has been gracious”. “Nathaniel” means “gift of God”. Many, if not most,
Biblical names have meanings.

Jesus’ name means “God saves”, and His name describes very well just exactly what Jesus came to do, to save us from our sins….Matthew, in his Gospel account, records this fact very well…In chapter one, verse 21, the angel says to Joseph in a dream “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him ‘Jesus’, for He will save his people from their sins.”

In addition to having meaning, in Biblical times, speaking a person’s name had almost the same power as a person’s actual presence, even if they weren’t physically there. The connection between a person’s name and their identity and their presence was much stronger than it is in our culture today.

Our service of Holy Communion ties together the two strands of the meaning of Jesus’ name and his presence among us: for whenever we celebrate communion together, we remember Jesus’ saving acts, His death, burial, and resurrection. In the opening prayer of the communion, right after the “Holy, Holy, Holy”, the prayer recalls God’s saving acts down through history, which reach their climax in Jesus Christ. (The prayer found on page 368 of Eucharistic Prayer B, at the top of the page, is an excellent example of this prayer, which recalls God’s saving acts down through time.)[1]

So, we remember Jesus’ saving acts on Good Friday and Easter morning.

Then, we also know that Jesus is present with us in some unique way whenever we celebrate the Holy Communion together…Jesus is present whenever “two or three are gathered together in my name”,[2] and is especially present in the Communion itself. Jesus’ presence is often called the “Real Presence of Christ” in the Eucharist.

We also remember that Jesus’ name is holy, and so many people can be seen bowing their heads slightly whenever Jesus’ name is spoken during the liturgy. This simple action is a tangible and physical reminder of just who Jesus is, as “Immanuel”, that is, “God with us”.

Finally, God calls us into a new community in Jesus Christ….St. Paul’s opening sentence from Romans, chapter one (by the way, it’s interesting to note that, in the Greek, all seven verses we read today are also one sentence…Paul could write some very long sentences!) reiterates this calling…Paul says, “including yourselves, who are called to be saints.” God, in Jesus Christ, is calling us into a new community.

The first letter of Peter (chapter two, verses 9 – 10) states this another way, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you might proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

So, how might we reflect on the meaning of God’s calling our names, by name, each one of us individually? What about the meaning of God’s calling us by our names?....What do we mean to God when God calls us by name? What difference would it make to think that we are somehow especially present to God whenever He calls our name? There are some thought provoking questions to ponder as we begin this New Year.

The reading from First Peter seems to indicate that God’s invitation to us is very intentional. In God’s call through Jesus’ name, we are given a new name, the name of “Christian”, in the sense of being a “disciple of Christ”. As we bear Jesus’ name to the world, Jesus, as our High Priest, bears our names to God, mediating between God and us.

Thanks be to God for the holy name of Jesus Christ, by whom we have salvation, and mediation before God.

AMEN.

[1] By the way, the technical term for this prayer (in Greek) is the anamnesis, which simply means the “not forgetting” (= remembering). You can see the root word for amnesia in this Greek word.
[2] Matthew 18: 20