The Feast of the Holy Name
Texts: Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 2:15-21
After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Name, which has replaced the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on the Episcopal feast calendar. And that’s fair. It’s much easier to talk about the naming of Jesus, which occurs at the circumcision ceremony, than to talk about the action that occurs at the ceremony. The only reason Jesus’ bris is mentioned in the Bible is to connect him to his Jewish ancestors. His name connects him just as well.
The fact that Jesus made it to his eighth day to receive his name was a miracle in itself. A barn is not a clean place to make your entry into the world. There were all sorts of hazards in his environment. It is due to the grace of God and the care of those surrounding him that this child, born in a manger, made it to his eighth day.
On that eighth day, after his parents had spent a week adjusting to newborn life and entertaining shepherds who told everyone they could about this new baby, they had a simple ceremony, marked their son as a Jewish person, and gave him the name Jesus.
Names in the Bible often mean something. Prophets are known for naming their children such great names as “Not my people” in order to send messages to the entire nation, something I’m not sure the kids appreciated as they grew older. The name Jesus as well sends a message to the people of this region, though the meaning is obscured in translation.
The name Jesus really is the name Joshua, the name of a very important figure in the Bible, in Greek. Wanting to ensure that we always knew who we were talking about, translators chose to keep the Greek derivation of the name to talk about the messiah while using the name Joshua for this ancestor. Joshua has his own book in the Bible, filled with the tales of the Israelite people coming into the promised land and establishing it as their home. Moses had brought the people out of Egypt and led them through the wilderness, a land that was not their own, all the while sharing how God would one day bring them to a place where they could settle down. But Moses died on a mountain overlooking the promised land just before the people were about to enter it. He brought the people there, but could not pass over into the land himself. It was the young leader Joshua, Moses' second in command, who led them into that land. Joshua’s name means “God is my deliverer” or “God is my salvation”.
The book of Joshua can be a hard read today. It is filled with tales of the Israelite people coming in from another land, taking over cities, and slaughtering inhabitants so they could take their land, as well as the division of the land between the twelve tribes of Israel. The most famous story in Joshua is the battle of Jericho. At Jericho, God commanded the people to march around the walls of the city of Jericho every day with the ark of the covenant for six days. On the seventh day they marched around the city seven times, blew seven rams’ horns, and the walls came tumbling down. God gave them that city and they rejoiced. These stories have been used by people in the United States for both good and ill. African Americans in slavery saw the walls falling as a symbol that one day God would topple unjust systems and bring righteousness to the people. White Americans used the stories from Joshua to justify taking land from Native Americans, feeling themselves justified by the idea that this place was a modern day promised land, they were taking the land God had promised to them. Manifest Destiny in the United States was in part justified by the tales found in the book of Joshua. Tales of conquering cities should give us pause and cause us to examine our own cultures. Are we using these tales to help us see what walls need to tumble down in our own society or are we using these tales to justify an unwarranted exertion of power over other people?
Jesus was named after Joshua not because he would take his land back for God. He was not a warrior. He did not lead battles. He let himself be taken up on the cross and crucified. If he were a militia leader, he failed every step of the way.
But Jesus does lead us into the promised land. It’s not a physical location. We don’t have to pick up swords or guns. We don’t have to invade places where others live or use manifest destiny to get there. This promised land is different. It is a state of being, a way of critiquing society, of sharing with each other. It is a way that upsets the balance of order in society to favor the most vulnerable, giving freedom to those in captivity.
It is an internal disposition that gives rise to an external renegotiation of power. In Phillipians, Paul uses one of the earliest hymns of the Jesus Movement to describe this disposition. While Jesus was in the form of God, the most powerful being in the universe, he didn’t exploit his power. Instead of leading military movements like his namesake, Joshua, Jesus emptied himself of all power. He took on the form of someone who had no control over their life, a slave. Then the most powerful person who ever lived, filled with the power of God, willingly allowed himself to be murdered by human beings. Then, through the resurrection and Pentecost, the Holy Spirit spread like wildfire, empowering the disciples to work for justice, even at the cost of their own lives. And most of the disciples did die at the hands of others, theirs were not natural deaths. But death itself was reframed as a victory, not a defeat. They believed that If death is not the end, the movement can continue long past individual deaths, striving for more justice, more peace. If resurrection is real, then its power is unstoppable. The promised reign of God has to come someday, there is no way to stop it. It will be a reign of equality, of a rebalancing of society towards ways that benefit all, justice for those who are oppressed. The walls of power will topple. This is not done by becoming even more powerful people than those who currently control things, but by listening to God and following God’s ways. Eventually, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bend in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Jesus, not us, is Lord, to the glory of God.
This statement is one of submission. Not the kind of submission that asks us to conform to a certain way of being that puts one person in control over others. It’s not the kind of submission that asks us to become small, to be meek and mild. Submission to God looks like Mary being filled with the Holy Spirit and becoming the mother of God. It looks like shepherds listening to the angels and becoming the first evangelists. It looks like Jesus fully and completely embracing his ministry, sharing the great news of salvation with the world. This kind of submission is an opening of oneself to mystery, to the unexpected asks of our Creator. It looks like an exploration of our deepest longings and asking God, “How do the dreams you have placed on my heart help me take my part in the improvement of society?” Living into this way does mean taking the time to be with God and give God the chance to speak with us. This is why I love the Bible. It's not a rule book. Sometimes different authors disagree with each other. But whenever we dig into it, whenever we engage with the texts and ask good questions, the Holy Spirit shows up. God is present. We can experience the mystery of God, and within the mystery find ourselves. That's why I ask each of you to seriously consider joining a Bible study group. These groups are designed to help us explore the mystery together and examine how God is connecting with us today. It's about exploring the good questions that bring us closer to the one who made us. Rather than simply hearing what came out of my personal study, you are supported in your own study. My words can help illumine what God is saying to you, but studying together helps us all go deeper.
By engaging in this kind of work, it is my hope that we might all become more confident in where God is leading us, making it harder for other humans to lord over us. God is sovereign, not men. We all have access to God.
One final note: Submission to God is not trying to remove the power we hold within us. It is refusing to abuse the power we hold within ourselves. We all have different levels of power in society based on race, gender, socio-economic status, educational achievement, you name it. We don't live in this world on equal footing. We navigate privileges. Humbling oneself is a recognition of how much potential and possibility resides within each person on the planet. It is seeing where others have it harder and taking a non-judgmental stance. It is willingly choosing to connect with and amplify the voices of those who have lower status in society. It is using our power to help create equity and uphold equality. It is the embrace of the dignity of every human being. That is the way of submission to God.
Jesus was all about standing up to the abuse of power and rebalancing power so that each person’s power works with, not against, the power found in others. This is the way into the promised land, a land where death and dying will be no more, where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. This is the power and deliverance found in Jesus’ name. Jesus is the better Joshua. The deliverance and salvation found within Jesus is not coming into a physical promised land, it’s a way into a better world.
The name of Jesus means salvation, deliverance, a share of the power of the Holy Spirit for all of us, not just a select few. So let us give ourselves over to the power found within Jesus. Let us take on what God has gifted each of us to do, our own unique ministries that match each of our unique personalities and personhood. Let us move forward, not abusing power, but giving power away so that we may all have equal footing in this world. Let us take Jesus’ name and Jesus’ mission into our hearts and our lives. Amen.
