Holy Name of Jesus B Luke 2:15-21

The celebration of New Year’s Day tends to be a feast of exhaustion, particularly if one stayed up to see the new year in. After the Reformation in Scotland, the old church feasts were abolished. As is often the case, if people are deprived of things to which they are deeply attached, they find other ways to celebrate, and so the old celebration of the Feast of the Circumcision was transformed into a secular day of feasting and sport.

While Anglicans retained the old feast day, we tended not to keep it. The mention of circumcision sounded a bit embarrassing; perhaps made us blush. Now we call New Year’s Day the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Luke records in the verses immediately before the ones chosen for today that when the child of Mary and Joseph was taken to be circumcised, he was given the name Jesus. Certainly to the first-century Jew in Palestine there was nothing earth-shaking about the name. Many male children were given the name Joshua/Jesus, which means “God with us.”

Today in Latino culture, Jesus is a fairly common name to give to a baby. I was not too long ago assigned the task of guiding the studies of the Reverend Jesus Reyes during his conversion from Rome to the Episcopal Church. He is now the rector of Ecclesia Santa Maria in Arlington.
The collect for today states that the holy name of Jesus is the “sign of our salvation.” And the old canons required that we bow our heads at the name of Jesus. You still see that, especially during invocations of the Trinity.
If we continue on beyond our Gospel reading for today, two old people, Ana and Simeon, rejoiced to see the young child:

“When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.

“Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant* in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’

“And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon* blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’
“There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child* to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

“When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.“

So what’s in a name? In the ancient world, to possess the name of another or to have the power to name another person was power indeed. It still is, when you think about it. When parents name their children, that means they have the power to have that child respond to the sound of that name for all their lives. A very few people change their names but it isn’t easy.

In our quest for authenticity we often discount the symbolic. We fear that the symbol may be emptied of reality, become something we just say or do without meaning what we say or do. We set a dreadfully high standard. Yet the truth is that saying and doing things, even by rote, may be reminders to us of the meaning they explore and symbolize. Telling our spouse that we love him or her may be an automatic response, but at times we live into its deepest meaning. Even though we may use “Jesus” as an expletive, the meaning of who Jesus is may and often does communicate itself anew by our mindless utterance. There is power in a name and in a symbol.

Jesus is “God with us.” He is “The Savior.” And that means that we belong to Jesus. It does not mean that he belongs to us. That’s an important point to understand. It is so easy for us to think we can decide who Jesus should love or save and who he should not.

We were named and signed in our baptisms. In baptism we were claimed, adopted, forgiven, and made members of the priestly body, the Body of Christ. We too are here to be God for others. In other words, people have a right to demand that God be seen in us, as individuals, as members of a church and of the Church. And as God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ, we are called to be Christ-like, or Christians. In the midst of church struggles, divisions, and fights, “God help us,” we exclaim. And that is the point, the whole point. God helps us, seeks us, finds us, and particularly at the family table of the Lord’s Supper, the Name of Jesus, the Word, comes with Bread and Wine and transforms us into newness of life through Holy Communion.

AMEN

Adapted from a sermon by the Very Rev. Anthony Clavier, Sermons that Work, http://www.episcopalchurch.org/

Wicomico Parish Church
PO Box 70
Wicomico Church, Virginia 22579