8 January Sermon

The naming of Jesus (The Circumcision of Christ)

 

Here’s an easy question to start off with : does anyone know who Maurice Micklewhite [Michael Caine]?  Harry Webb is [Cliff Richard]?  Reginald Dwight [Elton John]? Jennifer Anastassakis [Jennifer Aniston]?

 

In celebrity life, a name change seems to be more the rule than the exception. People's names matter — your name is your identity, and you want that identity to be right. So up and coming celebrities will choose themselves names that suit their aspirations.

 

This morning we are looking at the name that is above all names – Jesus who came for his naming and circumcision according to the Law 8 days after his birth.  How significant is the name of Jesus?

 

It's well known that people's names are often important in the Bible. So when Adam calls his wife Eve, it's significant and we should pay attention. When Rebekah gives birth to twins and names one of them Jacob, Deceiver, it's significant. And when Hosea's wayward wife bears a son and the Lord says to name him Lo-ammi, Not My People, a heart-wrenching point is being made.

 

So we should be interested in people's names in the Bible. Sometimes a name change is significant too. For example, we find Abram and Sarai renamed Abraham and Sarah right after God renews his covenant with them, to make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations. We find Jacob renamed Israel right after he had spent a night wrestling with God. He encountered God, and as a result God changed his name. He was no longer Jacob the deceiver, but Israel, the one who wrestles with God. And when in Hosea, his son Lo-ammi, Not my People, is renamed by God, You are my People, it signals a turning point in the book, and in relationship with God.

 

So name changes in the Bible always mark very significant events, and often flag up big changes in relationship with God.

 

Perhaps the nearest analogy we have today is with marriage, when it's still customary, at least in English speaking countries, for a woman to change her surname to that of her husband. Whatever you think of the patriarchal and practical implications of that, it does mark a very significant event. The change of name is a very public statement of a change of relationship, a commitment to a new life. The old single life is put behind; the new name marks the start of a new joint life.

 

In the same way, when God changes people's names in the Bible, it marks the start of a new relationship, or a new phase in relationship with him. When names are given then we need to take note! Just the right note to be thinking about at this the beginning of a New Year as we change the calendars over and put the new dates in, a fresh start for a New Year.

 

Jesus is, of course, a very common Jewish name, often given in memory of Joshua (the Hebrew form of the name, Jesus) It is interesting to compare these two figures of history - Joshua led the nation of Israel into the promised land (Canaan) - Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life who leads the people of God into the Promised Land (Heaven).

 

Jesus (Joshua) means "God is Saviour”. The son of Mary was rightfully called that, because "He will save His people from their sins".  This Jesus would do by saving them from all the burden and guilt of the sins the people bore.  And so the name of JESUS should be a very encouraging name to those who are weighed down by sin and guilt. Souls desiring salvation may draw near to the Father with confidence through Christ who shows mercy. It is a very sweet and precious name to believers: for He continues to intercede in our behalf, to save us from our sins. “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear”. But this precious name needs to be treated with care.

 

Almost a century ago, there was a man in China who had become a Christian. He tried to tell his fellow Chinese in the town where he lived about this Jesus whom he’d come to love. But they laughed at him. They used foul language about this Jesus-god that he worshipped. They tied his hands behind him and strung him up on a high pole. When he was eventually taken down, his church leader came to see him and found him weeping copiously. “The pain must have been terrible”, he said sympathetically. “I’m not crying because of the pain”, the man replied. “It’s because the name of Jesus was taken in vain and dishonoured that I’m so sad”.

 

Your names, the combination of names and your relationship with others and the place where you were born, is part of your DNA. It’s what gives you your identity. Sometimes we acquire nicknames or titles which say something extra about our personality, especially to those who are closest to us. It helps them recognize and respect us. It’s what gives us our uniqueness and distinction. God values us each as individuals.

 

As we heard in our reading from Luke’s gospel, after the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he was brought to be circumcised according to the Jewish tradition and given the name of Jesus. Yes, it was quite a common name, a form of the word Joshua meaning “God saves”. But this was far more significant than others who had borne this name. For in this baby Jesus, God was Immanuel, with us, just as prophets of old had foretold that God would come and do something dramatic to save his people. Not just rescuing them from the exile, and restoring them to city and temple, but being among them so that they didn’t just have to hear what God wanted them to do but see it for themselves in the person of this Jesus. This Jesus son of Mary from lowly Bethlehem was Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, come to redeem all humankind.

 

What a name! The Third of the Commandments reminded the Jews not to dishonour the name of their God. Just imagine what you’d feel if another person took the name of someone you love and used it as a swear word. Then you can imagine how that Chinese evangelist felt. We hear it all around us in contemporary society. Yes, even on the BBC!  Most people do it without thinking what they are saying.

 

 

The commandment is reinforced for us in the prayer that Jesus himself taught the disciples: “hallowed be thy name”. May we regard God’s name as holy. Just as there are holy places, buildings set aside for worship and prayer, which we try to use in a way which is different form all other buildings, so we should use our tongues, refraining from ways of speech which dishonour God, treating God with the respect and honour that his name demands, pointing others to the way we regard him, his unique character and being as separate from and higher than anything around us.

 

So let us revere our God as the one who loves us all uniquely for knows our name.

 

Let us honour the name of Jesus and not be afraid to name the name as we tell of God’s love shown in the one who is the Saviour of the World. And let us see, as Simeon saw, that he is the Light for all nations and peoples, come to set us free, come to claim us as his own. So if we reverence Jesus, the Son of God, we should also reverence every child of God and celebrate how each of them is unique and different in the sight of the Creator God.

Happy New Year everyone!!