THE FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS - 2012
A MORE THAN HUMAN NAME
A MORE THAN HUMAN NAME
Today is the Feast of The Holy Name meaning of course our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, the name given above all other names, in heaven, on earth or under the earth, for our health and for our salvation.
Watching the holiday bowl games this past week and looking forward to today's pro games, while thinking about this homily, has brought to mind the origin of contemporary names. The personal names of players in particular, how often a first name appears to be a spelling mistake until one realizes, it is a creative combination of the mother and father’s first names or the sound an older sibling made in trying to pronounce the given name of a new baby in the family. Names historically identify the bearer as being part of a clan or tribe, a country or region of origin (for example, the name “Frank” refers to a fourth century Germanic tribe). Names relate physical traits (“Short”) or character traits (“Bright”). Names celebrate locations (“Rivers”) or occupations (“Smith”). Why not then hold up a profoundly human accomplishment of mutual conception, honoring the parents by creatively forming a new name, especially if the child is going to grow up and become a famous athlete!
Here we come to the defining difference in the naming of Jesus, the subject in today’s lectionary. The name of Jesus does not derive from geography or human activity or traits. The birth of Jesus is not even a human accomplishment. The difference here is divine, not human. The naming of Jesus is about the divinity of Jesus or, said in different words, it’s about God’s meaning and purpose and time in Christ. Follow the infancy story from the angel of the Lord’s announcement first to Zechariah and then to Mary, and then to the shepherds in the field. It becomes clear: the conception, birth and naming of this child is of God. God takes on flesh that we might take on spirit. It's all about God's grace, God's initiative of love, and only then is it a matter of faith, our response of love.
From the Gospel according to Luke - “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Watching the holiday bowl games this past week and looking forward to today's pro games, while thinking about this homily, has brought to mind the origin of contemporary names. The personal names of players in particular, how often a first name appears to be a spelling mistake until one realizes, it is a creative combination of the mother and father’s first names or the sound an older sibling made in trying to pronounce the given name of a new baby in the family. Names historically identify the bearer as being part of a clan or tribe, a country or region of origin (for example, the name “Frank” refers to a fourth century Germanic tribe). Names relate physical traits (“Short”) or character traits (“Bright”). Names celebrate locations (“Rivers”) or occupations (“Smith”). Why not then hold up a profoundly human accomplishment of mutual conception, honoring the parents by creatively forming a new name, especially if the child is going to grow up and become a famous athlete!
Here we come to the defining difference in the naming of Jesus, the subject in today’s lectionary. The name of Jesus does not derive from geography or human activity or traits. The birth of Jesus is not even a human accomplishment. The difference here is divine, not human. The naming of Jesus is about the divinity of Jesus or, said in different words, it’s about God’s meaning and purpose and time in Christ. Follow the infancy story from the angel of the Lord’s announcement first to Zechariah and then to Mary, and then to the shepherds in the field. It becomes clear: the conception, birth and naming of this child is of God. God takes on flesh that we might take on spirit. It's all about God's grace, God's initiative of love, and only then is it a matter of faith, our response of love.
From the Gospel according to Luke - “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke’s gospel narrative declares three divine truths worthy of note on this Feast of The Holy Name. First, the divine inheritance of the bearer of the name Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. The appellation “Son of the most high” and the bequesting of “the throne of his ancestor David” are monumental in their divine significance. God in this action crosses over from heaven to earth, becoming resident among his creation and creatures in the person of Jesus literally, “God’s salvation."
The infancy narrative also proclaims the divine purpose of the child-bearer of the name Jesus. To rule over the house of Jacob for ever. The divine initiative and presence has a purpose. We remember and petition this purpose every day of our Christian lives when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus, is here and now already in the person of Christ’s body - the church, and will come again in the final judgment of Christ’s return.
The infancy narrative also proclaims the divine purpose of the child-bearer of the name Jesus. To rule over the house of Jacob for ever. The divine initiative and presence has a purpose. We remember and petition this purpose every day of our Christian lives when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus, is here and now already in the person of Christ’s body - the church, and will come again in the final judgment of Christ’s return.
The third truth embedded in Luke’s gospel account is divine time or as Luke says, Of his kingdom there will be no end. Luke proclaims God’s time, what is called kairos, distinct from chronos or time as marked in this world. In chronos, we know the time and channel of all our games, who is meeting whom and when on the field. Kairos is God’s time of opportunity to meet heaven on earth. Kairos happens all the time and beyond time. It can't be scheduled or broken down into discrete manageable bits.
The God of the Incarnation is not Big Data to be programmed with algorithms and reduced to predictable occurrences. The divine conception, birth and naming of Jesus are all moments of God’s time, as is every moment of grace when we hear or look and see or touch God’s presence in this life. To invoke the sacred name of Jesus, not as a fan rooting for yet another player with a strange name, but as a believer in faith, is to enter God’s kingdom, to enter God's time being; at its best invocation it is to become part of that mystic sweet communion that is between God and humanity as intended from before the time of Adam and Eve.
This then is the name of Jesus, a more than human name, above all names in heaven and on earth, holy and blessed. It's time to embrace His holy Name.


