What's in a Name?

What’s in a name? Most names have a meaning. How about yours? My name, Kirk, means church. It’s pretty ironic that I ended up working in a church for the past 25 years. Sometimes destinies are bound up in names, at least that seems to be the case biblically. It's certainly so for the one whose birth we anticipate during the Advent season.

In Matthew’s account (1:18-23), we learn that the baby who is to be born to Mary is to be named Jesus, the meaning of which is “God saves.” The name will have particular significance for the child, as he will “save his people from their sins.”  But Matthew also sees in the birth of the child the fulfillment of a word given by God through the prophet Isaiah that the child born of a virgin is to be named Emmanuel, which means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14).

What’s in a name? In this case, the identity of the perfectly suited mediator between a holy God and sinful human beings. We needed a thoroughly righteous man to accomplish what we could not do -- live a sinless life -- and so be our champion, who at the same time was powerful enough to bear the eternal wrath of God. Only the heavenly named redeemer would do.

God knew that we could not save ourselves. If we were going to be rescued he would have to do it. And wonder of wonders, our savior is a baby, sent from heaven to be for us Jesus, Emmanuel. Advent is intended to be a time when we reflect upon the circumstances that prompted the loving and gracious act of God sending his Son. May our hearts be humbled and filled with gratitude.