Sunday 18 December 2022

Background

The popular parenting website BabyCentre recently released the top UK baby names for 2022. Sophia is the most popular girl’s name and Muhammed tops the boy’s chart. Names are important, and many parents agonise over what to call their children. I find it interesting that the story of Jesus’ birth in Matthew's Gospel contains many names and titles given to Jesus, yet none of these were chosen by either his mother Mary or by Joseph, who cared for Jesus as his own son. The names and titles were ascribed to Jesus to make clear who he was and the role that he would play.

We are initially introduced to ‘Jesus the Messiah’. The title Messiah is the Hebrew for the Greek word ‘Christ'. Both mean ‘Anointed One', a term used in the Bible to refer to someone chosen by God and given a special calling. King David was called 'God’s anointed' and the term was also used for God’s people, God’s ‘anointed ones'. The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament spoke of a promised Messiah who would restore the future of Israel (Daniel 9:25-26) and by the time of Jesus, many Jews were anticipating a time when God would send his Messiah to save them. For Matthew this title was clearly very significant – and the first verse of his gospel introduces Jesus in this way. 

The name Jesus is also highly symbolic. Joseph was told "You are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Jesus, the Greek form of Joshua, means ‘the Lord saves’. I wonder how it felt for Mary and Jesus to be given this insight into who Jesus would be, even before he was born. 

Finally, Jesus is ascribed another name when Matthew quotes from the prophet Isaiah (7:14), "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel", which means ‘God is with us’.

So many names and titles were given to the child whose birth is celebrated at Christmas; such a weight of expectation was placed upon him. At the very start of Matthew's Gospel, we are given insight into who this child is and what he will become.  

To Ponder:

• Which name for Jesus do you find most significant and why?
• When life is difficult for so many people and the world seems full of bad news, where do you look for signs that ‘God is with us’?  

Prayer

Emmanuel, God with us, open my eyes to see you at work in our world today. Amen.