\u201cAll hail the power of Jesus\u2019 name, let angels prostrate fall!
Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So proclaims one of the great hymns of the Anglican tradition. It calls upon the people of God to worship the Name of Jesus in anticipation of the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This what the church does today, on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus: We gather together to glorify his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In worshiping Christ\u2019s name today, we join a long line of believers before us who have invoked God\u2019s blessings by calling on the Savior\u2019s name. But the questions arise \u2013 what is the importance of Jesus\u2019 name, and why do we celebrate it today, a week after Christmas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Names can be powerful things, and throughout the Bible God uses names to communicate his purposes and to mark his covenant blessings on those who enter into relationship with him. Abram becomes Abraham, and Sarai becomes Sarah when they embrace the call to become the forbears of many generations of believers. Their son is named Isaac \u2013 \u201claughter\u201d \u2013 on account of the joy God gave them. After a night-long struggle, the shadowy stranger changes Jacob\u2019s name to Israel because he had wrestled with God. In the burning bush at Sinai, God reveals the Divine Name to Moses. He is Yahweh<\/em>, the great \u201cI am,\u201d the Holy One.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2019s lesson from Numbers, Chapter 6 tells us that God commanded the Old Testament priests to bless the people of the covenant with this holy Name: \u201cThe Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n God promises to bless his people when they invoke his Name. The Name of God is blessing to those who call upon him faithfully. In the Ten Commandments, we learn that reverence for God\u2019s Name is serious business: \u201cThe Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because to honor God\u2019s Name is to honor God himself, centuries ago pious Jews ceased pronouncing the name revealed to Moses, saying instead only Ha-Shem<\/em>, \u201cthe Name.\u201d The more familiar custom of English Bibles replaces the divine name Yahweh <\/em>with \u201cthe LORD\u201d in all capital letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several centuries after Moses received the Law, the prophet Isaiah declared that among the titles of the long-awaited Messiah would be the name Emmanuel<\/em>, which means, \u201cGod is with us.\u201d From the gospels we learn that before this Messiah was to be born, the Angel Gabriel announced to the child\u2019s mother that he was the Son of God and would be named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. It was an auspicious announcement that brought both exceeding joy and grave concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In St. Luke\u2019s account of the Nativity, a portion of which we have read today, the evangelist informs us that indeed the Son of God was born as the angel had promised. Despite the difficult circumstances surrounding Jesus\u2019 birth, it was an occasion of great happiness that brought hope to the many people who eagerly waited for God to save his people \u2013 people such as the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, the shepherds of Bethlehem, and later on people such as Simeon and Anna. Matthew\u2019s gospel shares how the news spread quickly throughout Judea and especially in the Holy City of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A week after Christ was born, in obedience to Jewish Law, Mary and Joseph circumcised him and named him Jesus, just as we read in today\u2019s gospel from Luke. This is why we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus today on the Eighth Day of Christmas. We remember that a week after he was born, Jesus was circumcised and received his name in obedience to God\u2019s commandments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The angel\u2019s message that Mary\u2019s baby would save his people helps us to understand the significance of the child\u2019s name. \u201cJesus\u201d (or Yeshua<\/em>) literally means \u201cYahweh<\/em> saves.\u201d The child whose birth the angels praised with songs was destined to save God\u2019s people \u2013 a covenant people drawn from all the nations of the earth \u2013 by shedding his blood and giving his life for ours. The name of Jesus is above all other names, and in the words of the psalmist, is \u201cglorious throughout the world\u201d because it reveals what the covenant God we believe in is like: He saves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christians ought not to forget that, while still a baby, Jesus shed his blood for our redemption when he was circumcised. As the Apostle Paul writes in today\u2019s reading from Galatians: \u201cBut when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The law required that boys who were born to Jewish parents had to be circumcised as a sign that they belonged to God\u2019s people and that they shared in the God\u2019s covenant promises to Israel. In a way, Jesus\u2019 circumcision was his first public act of obedience to the Father\u2019s will, and the blood Jesus shed on this occasion was the same blood he would shed later on the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although he was fully divine by nature, the Lord Jesus was born in the humblest of human circumstances in order to save us from our sins. He was willing to undergo suffering, shame and death in order to fulfill God\u2019s desire to save the world. What kind of obedience could be more perfect, and what kind of love could be more merciful? Jesus Christ loves the whole world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we understand that the Holy Name of Jesus is a sign and symbol for us of God\u2019s great love and of his desire to save the world, we can see why God would honor his Son\u2019s name by declaring it the most glorious name of all. In his love, God\u2019s Son came to the earth, took on our human nature and willingly gave his life so that we could be reconciled to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because God has honored the Holy Name of Jesus, we, as Christians, ought to do the same. We ought to respect his name and love his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As St. Bernard of Clairveaux, an 11th<\/sup>-century French abbot, tell us, to praise the Holy Name of Jesus is to receive light, food and medicine for the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what is so special about the Name of Jesus? The answer is to be found in what the name tells us about the God we worship. The Holy Name of Jesus tells that \u201cYahweh<\/em> saves.\u201d For those who turn to him in faith, the Holy Name of Jesus is joy, hope, peace and eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This sermon was written by the Rev. Jack Lynch<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cAll hail the power of Jesus\u2019 name, let angels prostrate fall!Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all!\u201d So proclaims one of the great hymns of the Anglican tradition. 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