YOU WILL GIVE HIM THE NAME JESUS
Among the Hebrews, they didn’t give just any name to the newly born, arbitrarily, since the «name», as in almost all ancient cultures, indicated the being of the person, their true identity, what they hoped from them.
That why the Gospel writer Matthew is so interested in explaining to his readers right from the start the deep meaning of the name of the coming protagonist of his story. The «name» of the child that still hasn’t been born is «Jesus», which means «God saves». He will be so called because «he will save his people from their sins».
In the year 70, Vespasian was designated as the new emperor while he was putting out the Jewish rebellion, and after marching to Rome he is received and acclaimed with the name «Savior» and «Benefactor». The Gospel writer Matthew wants to make things clear. The «Savior» that the world needs isn’t Vespasian, but Jesus.
Salvation won’t come to us from any emperor or from any victory of one people over another. Humanity needs to be saved from evil, from injustice and from violence; it needs to be forgiven and redirected toward a more dignified life for the human being. This is the salvation that Jesus offers us.
Matthew assigns him still another name: «Emmanuel». He knows that no one has been called this throughout history. It’s a name that shakes us up, completely new, that means «God with us». A name that we attribute to Jesus because we believe that in him and from him, God accompanies us, blesses us and saves us.
The first Christian generations bore the name of Jesus etched in their hearts. They repeated it over and over. They were baptized in his name, they gathered to pray in his name. For Matthew, the name of Jesus is a synthesis of their faith. For Paul, nothing is greater. According to one of the first Christian hymns: «before the name of Jesus every knee shall bend« (Phil 2,10).
After 20 centuries, we Christians need to learn to pronounce the name of Jesus in a new way: with tenderness and love, with a renewed faith, in an attitude of conversion. With his name on our lips and in our hearts we can live and die with hope.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
