Sermon text: Matthew 1:18-25
“What’s in a name?”
Behind every name is a story. A tale to be told...
My late grandfather was nicknamed “Bup” because a two-year old me couldn’t pronounce “Pop.” Sarah’s brother is called “Kik” for much the same reason. That’s a story.
My previous congregation and previous community was notorious for odd nicknames. There was a guy in town named “Bowhunk.” There’s was an elder in the congregation named “Hun” (as in Atilla.) His wife was called “Pan.” There are stories behind those names.
Emily is named for my wife’s two favorite singers. There’s a story there.
People have wondered about my email nickname “Avouz.” Is it French? No, it’s nerd, the name of a heroic elf I created for a Dungeons and Dragons game long ago. Another story.
I was to be called Michael, but around the time I was born the news in WV was full of stories about the murderer Michael Schwarz. So I ended up being Allen instead.
What stories do your names tell? Are you named for someone, an ancestor, a celebrity, a famous figure in history? Is your nickname an allusion to a funny story only a few close friends know (or are allowed to share)? Is there a reason for an unusual spelling or why you prefer to go by your middle name instead of your first name?
Names do have meaning. We may not approach the naming of a child in quite the same way as the great figures of the Bible do, but we have our stories too. We have our meaning and our understanding, our tales and our anecdotes. Our reasons why we call ourselves what we do. There is a purpose behind each of our names.
So when we come to a story like our Gospel lesson today, it should not seem so alien to us that God and his chosen people also have purpose behind why they name themselves and their children what they do. Abram becomes Abraham. Jacob becomes Israel. Hosea is told to name his children names that condemn the apostasy of the people in the time of his prophecy. Mary’s name is translated “rebellious one” (Told you she was a punk.)
And Jesus is to be named Jesus. (Or Yeshua, as I said to the children.) He is to be named this because “he will save his people from their sins.”
His story, his purpose, his reason for being is right there in his name.
He is not the first to bear this name in the Biblical narrative. There is, after all, a whole book of the Old Testament named for the other Yeshua. Joshua, the story of the leader of the people who brought them out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. That connection is not coincidental. This new Yeshua will bring out his people from the wilderness of sin and death into a good and bountiful place. Life abundant. Life eternal.
This new Yeshua will go among the people. He will teach them and remind them of the heart of God’s commandments and promises. Love your neighbor. Care for those who lack. Bind up the brokenhearted. Treat even the unclean with dignity worthy of any who are created imago dei, in the image of God. He will give to them samples of what that new life will be like by healing the sick, the blind, the lame, the leper. He will unburden the hearts of those bent low by the regret and guilt of sins unforgiven by giving them what they need most.
His whole life will demonstrate the truth of his name. He will save people from illness, from hatred, from guilt. But his name carries a universal ring to it. It is not “God will save some” or “God will save a few;” It is “God will save.”
So to spread this salvation as far and wide as God desires, Yeshua, Jesus must do the unthinkable. He must take on all the sin and all the death in the world. And these he must carry to the cross and have them nailed there in his body. He “became sin who knew no sin.” He embraced death: God incarnate dying for his created ones?
He had to. To fulfill the promise of his name, he had to. For God to save you and me and all, he had to. It was the course he plotted. The path he chose. The purpose for which he was named.
Jesus. Yeshua. God is our salvation. God will save you. God has saved you. Amen.
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