Today’s Scripture Reading (December 25, 2025): Matthew 1
Most of us have dreams for our
kids. If we were asked what our dreams are for our children, we would probably
reply that we are happy if they stay healthy. However, most likely, our dreams
go just a little deeper. We want them to make a difference in their world. We
want them to find a good spouse who will complement them and help them to make
their dreams come true. We may not wish great financial success on them, but we
do want them to be comfortable, whatever that means, and to be able to pay
their bills and save enough money to purchase a house so that they might,
someday, retire in comfort. We don’t want our children spending their lives
living from paycheck to paycheck. All of this is part of our dreams for our
kids.
Things haven’t changed much in
this respect. We still dream for our kids, as parents of centuries past did for
theirs. So, when Mary and Joseph found out that they were going to have a baby,
they were given a name. The name described all that the baby boy was meant to
be. The angel told them to call him “Jesus.” Many years ago, archaeologists
found a grave marker for a family that bore the names Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.
A thrill went through the world as people wondered whether we had found the
burial site of the Holy Family. Then we started to do the math. Mary was the
most popular name for girls during Jesus’s time. A quick look through the Bible
confirms that Mary was not an unusual name. Joseph and Jesus were also very
popular names. Israel, 2000 years ago, was filled with little boys named Jesus.
The probability of a family having the names Mary, Joseph, and Jesus was
actually fairly high, likely higher than for any other combination of names at
that time.
Parents would name their sons
Jesus or a variant of the name simply because they desperately wanted a name
that would sum up all their dreams and hopes for their children. By naming the
boys Jesus and the girls Mary, they gave their children names that indicated
they were important. However, no one was giving their children the name of
Immanuel. No one wanted to claim that their child would be “God with Us.” One
would come, sometime in the future, who would be “God with Us.” Oh, no doubt
they would have loved to name their child Immanuel, but that would be a little
too forward.
The angel spoke to Joseph. Mary
will have a baby, and you will call him Jesus, just like so many other boys
that he will grow up with, but he is also Immanuel. He is God coming to us.
We don’t worship Jesus; there
were just too many of them, including other men named Jesus who even believed
that they were the Messiah. We worship at the name of Jesus, who is also
Immanuel. God has come to you, just as he has come to me. And no one is more
worthy of our praise than our Immanuel.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah
33
Originally Published on December
26, 2010
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