The Holy Name, Year B                                                          Exodus 34:1-8
January 1, 2006                                                                       Psalm 8
St. Margaret of Scotland Episcopal Church                              Romans 1:1-7
The Rev. Linda McCloud                                                         Luke 2:15-21

The Name above every name 

            Today is another Sunday in which we get a double celebration.  Last Sunday, we had the Lord’s Day and the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord.  Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name.  We would celebrate this feast on January first regardless of whether it was Sunday.  According to the Prayer Book, all Sundays are feasts of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Nothing trumps a Sunday other than another feast of our Lord.  You have probably noticed that the Episcopal Church does not take special notice of such Sunday celebrations as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.  That’s because nothing trumps a Sunday other than another feast of our Lord.   

            Today we celebrate the naming of Jesus.  Our Gospel passage says that he was officially given his name at his circumcision, which would have been when he was eight days old.  Our Gospel also says that Mary and Joseph were not the ones who gave Jesus his name.  “Jesus” is the name that was given to him by the Angel Gabriel before his conception.  No human being named Jesus.  The angel told Mary what his name would be.  The angel had a separate conversation with Joseph and told him to name the baby Jesus, because he would save his people from their sins.  Mary and Joseph were not given the authority to name Jesus.  In other words, God named God’s only Son. 

            This is very important, because in the culture of their day, if you named someone you had power over them.  In their culture, your name depicted your very identity – your person.  Your name was who you were.  In our own day, duplicate names and identity theft have become the bane of our existence.  It’s hard to keep your good name good if someone steels your identity. 

            Names are important to God.  In the second Genesis account of creation, God gives Adam the authority to name the animals.  Whatever Adam called them, that was their name. 

            Further along in scripture, names play an important role in the development of the characters.  Jacob was renames Israel by the angel who wrestled with him.  Moses was named Moses because he was taken out of the water.  Much later when Daniel was taken into captivity into Babylon, the palace master changed Daniel’s name to Belteshazzer.  Somehow this name just didn’t catch on.  We still think of him as the prophet Daniel.  But the fact that his masters gave him a new name meant that they had power over Daniel – even to try to give him a non-Hebrew identity.  The new names of his three friends stuck, however.  You’ll recognize them as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who spent some time unscathed in the fiery furnace. 

            In our Old Testament reading from the Book of Exodus, Moses bows his head toward the earth and worships at the name “The Lord.”  The name of God had been a mystery to the ancient Israelites before Moses encountered God at the burning bush.  That was the day that Moses was minding his own business (or rather his father-in-law’s business tending sheep) when God burst into Moses’ life in the midst of the burning bush.  God had a job for Moses – go back to Egypt and deliver God’s people from Pharoah.  Moses said wait a minute here, God.  I don’t even know your name.  People back in Egypt are going to ask me your name.  They will want to know in whose name I come to deliver them.  They will want to know who gave me this authority.  What shall I tell them? 

            God said, “I AM WHO I AM.”  “Tell them IAM sent you.”  You see, “God” is not the name of God.  “God” is a job description of sorts.  The Jewish people would not speak the name of God.  I AM was about as close as they would get, because IAM simply means that God is present in the here and now.  We see this written as YHWH, which, I am told, is the third person singular of the Hebrew verb “to be.”  It means “he is” or “he will be.”   

            I can’t move on from here without quoting the second stanza of Hymn No. 386, commonly known as “We sing of God.” 

                        “Tell them I AM, the Lord God said,
                        to Moses while on earth in dread,
                        and smitten to the heart.
                        At once, above, beneath, around,
                        all nature without voice or sound,
                        replied, O Lord, thou art.”

            What God is and what God will be is with us in the person of Jesus Christ – Emmanuel – God with us.  When Jesus came into the world and took on a human frame and a human name, he took authority over the human race as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Jesus is the name that is above every name. 

            In the New Testament, the name of Jesus denotes the power and authority of Jesus.  Thus, the Apostles spoke in the name of Jesus.  They healed people and cast out demons in the Name of Jesus.  We are familiar with the ancient Christian hymn quoted by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippian church.  This hymn says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

            A very telling example of the power of speaking in the name of Jesus comes to us from the Acts of the Apostles.  The Apostles Peter and John were healing people and doing signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.  The authorities hauled them into prison and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus.  You know this did not stop them.  They were brought up again on charges of speaking in the name of Jesus.  They were physically punished and ordered not to do that again.  So how did they feel about that?  “They rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”  (Acts 5:41)

            Naming someone is still very powerful.  If you have children, you know what a responsibility it is to name one.  You know that child will have that name for good or ill.  You hope your child will have a good name or “make a name” for himself or herself.  You know the child’s name also helps in disciplining the child.  It gives you a chance to call the child’s entire name and tell them to do something “because I’m your mother/father.”  You as the parent had the authority to name your child, and that child you named remains under your authority until he or she reaches the age of majority or “legal age.”

            Naming the name of Jesus is a very powerful thing to do.  Calling on the name of Jesus is very powerful.  When I am in trouble or sorrow, his Name is usually the first word out of my mouth.  Just breathing the very name of Jesus is a prayer. 

In the fourteenth century, some monks at Mt. Athos in Greece thought they should pray without ceasing.  So they developed what we call today the Jesus Prayer. This can be a breath prayer – a repetitive prayer.  It goes something like this:  “Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  You can abbreviate this prayer as needed.  Try praying this prayer from time to time.  It would be good to have it at the ready in times when we need to repent, or times when we have a personal crisis.  God pays attention when we breathe the Holy Name of Jesus.