Today we celebrate the name of Jesus. If you think about it – it is a pretty good way to start off a new year.
Mary, Joseph and the baby __________
You say the name out loud: Mary, Joseph and the baby___________________.
I thought it was a good way for you to start out your New Year ( as well ) with the sweet name of the Savior on your lips!
The Gospel of Matthew provides us with a specific meaning and intention for the name of Jesus – as being – the one who saves “his people from their sin.”
Did you know or are you aware that there is a long standing Jesus prayer in the history of Christendom? It is simply called the Jesus prayer. And it goes like this: “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
That’s it.
That’s all there is to it. A simple prayer, prayed by millions…around the world – “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
The name Jesus actually means…He who saves…or, He will save or, Yahweh saves.
In the Hebrew Bible it is the same exact name as Joshua or Yeshua…and in the early Christian writings in the Greek it is translated as Jesus.
In Luke 1.31, an angel tells Mary to name her child, Jesus and in Matthew 1.21 an angel tells Joseph to name the child. I guess the angel was attempting to cover all bases.
In Matthew 1.21, the message of the angel in Joseph’s first dream includes the origin of the name Jesus and has salvific implications when the angel instructs Joseph: “you shall call his name Jesus – for he will save his people from their sins.”
Two distinct points are being made here… this is not a name chosen at random.
It is a name given with purpose and from above..
And secondly and perhaps more importantly, it is affirming Jesus as the savior.
By also referring to him as Emmanuel – Matthew at the end of his Gospel indicates that Jesus will be with the faithful to the end of the age.
Therefore Jesus is with us always!
Paul the apostle to the Gentiles – actually started reverence for the holy name of Jesus – very early on…
In Philippians 2. 10 he writes, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.”
Later he writes, that those who call on the name of the Lord, will be saved.
Power is attested to by invoking the Holy Name. Demons are driven out. Baptisms take place and occur and miracles are performed. In Acts 16.18, the invocation of the name of Jesus provides protection by repelling evil.
The reverence and affection with which Christians have regarded the Holy Name of Jesus goes back to the earliest days of Christianity.
The IHS monogram is derived by the Greek word for Jesus…and has been found on ancient altars, ancient vestments and even on gold coins.
Medieval devotions to the Holy Name blossomed and there are actual litanies of the Holy Name of Jesus that have been written…
When a devastating plague broke out in Lisbon, Portugal in 1432 people were urged to call on the Holy Name of Jesus. People who were sick and dying as well as those who had not yet been stricken- down were urged and implored to repeat, Jesus, Jesus.
People were told to write it down on cards, and told to keep those cards on their persons. They were told to place them at night under their pillows, and to place them on their doors, but to above all, constantly invoke with your lips and in your hearts this most powerful name.
Holy water was sprinkled on the sick and on the healthy alike – using the name of Jesus. People were told to take the holy water with them and told to sprinkle it on them and on the faces of the sick and the dying.
Wonder of wonders! The sick got well, the dying arose from their agonies, the plague ceased and the city was delivered in a few days from the most awful scourge that had ever visited it.
The power behind the name of Jesus was going viral.
It is a name above other names, a name not meant to be taken in vain. A name meant to remain sacred and to be adored.