What's in a Name? - Numbers 6:22-27; Luke 2:15-21

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I find it disheartening to calculate how far into the new year I make it before falling short of my goal. Perhaps there are some folks out there today who have a great track record of making and keeping New Year’s resolutions year after year, and if so, I applaud you. But I have found that following instructions I give myself is just as challenging as following instructions given by others. 

Today our Gospel is full of good instruction followers, much to my chagrin. The shepherds leave their flocks to find the baby Jesus in the manger, and then go on to spread the news of his birth just as the angels instructed them. Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple when he is eight days old, as is their cultural custom, they perform the prescribed ceremonies, and they name him as the angel Gabriel instructed them before he was born. It seems like everyone who was present at the birth of Christ is doing a great job at keeping their New Year’s resolutions. 

We heard most of this Gospel passage last week during our Christmas services. In fact, the only thing new this week is the very last line: “after eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” I wouldn’t put it past the Holy Spirit to emphatically reiterate the Christmas story with just a little extra encouragement about instruction following, but I do think there’s something else going on here. 

Until the 1979 Prayer Book, this day was called the Feast of the Circumcision (a marketing disaster). Today we call it the Feast of the Holy Name, and every single scripture reading mentions names in some form. So I can’t help but ask, what’s in a name? Or perhaps, what’s in Jesus’ name? Jesus is actually the Greek form of the Hebrew name, “Yehoshua.” In English, both names are translated as “Joshua.” The name “Yehoshua” literally means “God is salvation,” or simply, “God saves.” This is the name that God gave to the incarnate Son through the angel Gabriel. God saves. 

So Jesus’ name is more than just a label. It is more than just a handy way to get his attention when you have something to tell him. Because his name was bestowed on him by God, his name marks him as holy. And the meaning behind his name marks his purpose, namely, to save God’s people. When we call Jesus by name in worship, in prayer, in evangelism, we are asserting his holiness and we are recalling his divine purpose.

Holiness and purpose may not be as clearly discernible in every name. For example, my parents got my first name from a baby name book, which doesn’t feel particularly holy. And Hannah is a Hebrew word that means “full of grace.” If only my parents had known how truly ungraceful I would turn out to be. Ballet was certainly never my life’s purpose.

Actually, “full of grace” is a fairly modern translation of the name Hannah. In Ancient Hebrew, the word meant something more like gracious, or, with favor. In the first book of Samuel, Samuel’s mother, Hannah, is so named because God showed her favor by granting her a child. Another form of this word for gracious appears in today’s Old Testament lesson from Numbers. “The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.” 

This is a passage you may have heard before, though perhaps not in the context of scripture. It is a common blessing for the end of a worship service. If you’ve ever been to a wedding at Christ Church, you’ve heard it there. It’s actually been a benediction of sorts for millennia, but the best part of the scripture gets left out of the blessing. This passage from Numbers ends with God’s instructions that Aaron and his sons will put the name of the Lord upon the Israelites and the Lord will bless them. Aaron and his sons followed the instructions.

For me, this changes everything. Regardless of which name my parents chose for me, where they got it from or what it means, God has put God’s name on all of us. All names are now holy. We all have God’s purpose. And, God is clearly present when we bestow a name. The act of naming  is important. It appears throughout scripture, from Adam naming the creatures of the world to Zechariah’s voice returning to him when he names his son, John. Because God has given us God’s name and made us holy and full of purpose, when we give a name, we are marking something or someone as holy and giving them purpose in the image of God.

These are lovely revelations about names, but I wonder where we might see their impact in our everyday lives. In recent years, social media has had a lot to say about names. I’m reminded of people who have lost their lives to violence and the offenders have gone unpunished. The victims’ families often take to social media to exhort us to remember and to say their names. They are asking us to affirm the holiness and purpose of their lost loved one, to affirm that they were named in and made in the image of God.

I’m also reminded of a wonderful trans man that I have the privilege of knowing. When he came to understand that he was not in the right body, he also understood that he did not have the right name. But he recognized the sacred act that his parents had taken part in when they named him, and so he invited them to give him a new name when he transitioned. I am deeply inspired by him.

I think the best thing about names is that they call to mind the people we love. How often have met someone with the same name as you or your spouse or a friend, and gleefully shared that knowledge, grateful for the reminder? Or how many of you are named for or have named a child for a family member who meant a lot to you. Names are markers of holiness and purpose, but they’re also markers of the people and places and memories we hold most dear.

This is what John Calvin had in mind when he wrote about Jesus’ Holy Name. In a moment of eloquent genius, Calvin writes, “the name of Jesus is not only light but also food; it is also oil, without which all food of the soul is dry; it is salt, without whose seasoning whatever I set before us is insipid; finally, it is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, rejoicing in the heart, and at the same time medicine. Every discourse in which his name is not spoken is without savor.”

Of course we have a feast day to celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus. We celebrate the holiness and divine purpose of his name, of our own names, and of all the names we give. And we also relish in the joy and comfort of hearing the names that bring to mind those we love most, especially that of Jesus Christ, who followed all his instructions and kept all his New Year’s resolutions when he saved the world. Amen.