Generally for us Filipinos, we want to name our children by combining the father’s and the mother’s name, or the grandparents’ names. Sometimes we name our babies after whoever is the famous actor or celebrity. Some will probably name their child Piolo or Judy Ann or K.C. or Willy.
Mary and Joseph did not face the hassle of finding a name for their baby boy. That important matter was decided for them by God.
Joseph, a carpenter, was deeply troubled. His fiancée Mary was pregnant, and he knew he was not responsible for it. She said it was the Lord’s doing. But Joseph feared that she had been raped, perhaps by one of the hated Roman soldiers. Since she refused to budge from her story, he decided to break the engagement quietly to avoid public disgrace. Immersed in these sad thoughts, Joseph fell into a troubled sleep. And he had a dream. In it, an angel informed him that Mary was telling the truth. He was ordered to go ahead and marry Mary right away.
The angel revealed something else very important. “You shall name him Jesus,” said the angel. And his title shall be one predicted by the prophets of Israel some 800 years earlier–“Emmanuel.” These two really reveal the essence of Christmas.
The name Jesus is the Greek form of a familiar Jewish name, “Joshua.” It means literally “Jehovah is salvation.”
Jesus’ very name highlights the most important mission of his life: to save us from sin and reconcile us to a holy God. He came to challenge the forces of evil and death.
According to St. Paul in his letter to the Christians in Rome, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:24) There are no exceptions–everyone has sinned and needs God’s forgiveness.
Everywhere we look around we see signs of a sin-sick society: drug and alcohol addiction, child neglect, spousal abuse, lying, stealing, cheating, violence, and money worship.
But because of God’s steadfast love, God sent Jesus to the world to point to us that we are lost, and to offer us the way to reconciliation with each other, and with God. This was done to everyone in spite of who we are.
There was this coach who talked about his father. “My parents always took us five kids to church. Once while on vacation, we went to this church that was a little more emotional than we were used to. The minister was shouting and pounding the pulpit, and he began to look around the congregation for someone to single out, and spotted my father and us. My mother was at one end of the pew, and my father was on the other end, with us squeezed in between to be sure we would behave in church. The preacher pointed dramatically at my father, and said, “You there, do you have faith?” “Yes, I have faith,” my father answered. The preacher said, “If I put a 2×4 board on the floor, would you have enough faith to walk across it?” “Yes, I could do that.” “What if I took that same 2×4 board, and placed it across the top of the two tallest buildings, would you have enough faith to walk across it then?” “No, I don’t think I’ll have that much faith,” my father answered. “But what if somebody were standing on the other end,” said the preacher, “and dangling one of your children off the side, would you cross the board then?” The father turned, and looked down the pew at his five kids, and said, “Which one?”
That was just a story. The point is: Our God does not say, “Which one?” He doesn’t say, “Which one should I lay my life on the line for?” God so loved the world, He wants to bring us all in the circle of his love. He comes with the open arms of acceptance for all of us. To each one of us, he says, “You are my child. You are precious to me. My love is for you.”
Then a second name or title that God gave Joseph for the baby is “Emmanuel” which means “God is with us.” This is the only place in the New Testament where we find the word “Emmanuel.” But it is interesting to note that the last words of Matthew’s gospel constitute the definition of Emmanuel: “Lo, I am with you always.”
Emmanuel tells us that Jesus was authentically human. He was not a divine superman disguised as a human. He experienced loneliness, illness, and anger. He laughed, played, swam, built tables, and attended parties. He was tempted, wept, and felt despair. He spoke to us through human lips, and looked at us with human eyes. And because Jesus became one of us, we can say that he, too, experienced our humanness, and can understand what we go through.
When we believe that “God is with us,” when we accept and claim that promise, it will absolutely change our lives!
That is what happened to Joseph at the first Christmas. It happened to the shepherds, it happened to the Wiseman. And it can happen to you and me right here and right now, and the strength that comes from this amazing promise can empower us.
When we are sick and hurting, we know that God suffers with us; when we are grieving, we know that God weeps with us; in times of accomplishments, we know that God celebrates with us. In joy and celebration, in sadness and in suffering, God is with us. It is Love that came down.
And in the midst of a world of violence, suffering, and greed, I see glimpses of Emmanuel, God with us.
When I see our church giving out Christmas gifts to children whose parents are in prison; or our church feeding and giving out gifts to children whose parents could not afford to buy gifts for them, or helping the Rural Pastor’s Fund to help pastors of churches whose salaries are not enough for their Christmas celebration, I see God with us. As I see people helping the poor and the needy or giving money to help those hit by typhoons and floods, I see God’s presence. As I see people visiting the sick, I see God. As I see people laughing and enjoying life, I see God’s presence.
Indeed, in spite of what is happening in this world, I see glimpses of God’s presence among us–Emmanuel.
Over 100 years ago, Fr. Damien deVeuster, a Belgian priest, began working with lepers in a small Hawaiian island. He and the lepers built the first sanitation system, clinic, and constructed a chapel for worship. Each Sunday, Father Damien would begin his sermon with these words: “You lepers know that God loves you.” This went on for years. Finally, one Sunday Father Damien began his sermon this way: “We lepers know that God loves us.” Father Damien had contracted leprosy. And the lepers knew that Father Damien knew how they felt.
We know that sin is not forgiven by the stroke of a pen, and pain is not removed from the heart by a word of sympathy from one who knows nothing of its anguish.
Thus, God sent Jesus to enter into our lives, face our temptations, carry our sorrows, and bear our sins on the cross that we might know the length and depth of God’s love. Jesus, Emmanuel invested himself totally with us sinners.
In every circumstance of life, even when we are frightened, lonely, and in sorrow, we can claim the great Christmas promise. That’s the Good News of our Christian faith. God is with us, Love came down at Christmas.
Thus, my prayer for all of us today is that as we journey towards Bethlehem, may we know the Christ-child whose name is Jesus, the One who came to save us from our separateness and misery. He is ‘God with us’. He is ‘Love who came down’. Believing in this, we are empowered and enabled to do great things for God.
