What's in a Name?

Do you know how - or why - you got your name?

I was told many times by my parents that, prior to my birth, my daddy wanted to name me after his grandmother.  Her name was Harriett Annie.  There's nothing wrong with that name, but I really don't think it suits me, which is just as well, since that name was discarded fairly early on.

Once they had agreed what I would not be named, my parents continued trying to come to an agreement on what my name would be.  Daddy, who had given up his grandmother's name, began a push for me to be named after his mother.  I never met my Grandmother Austin, although I understand she was a wonderful woman.  I would love to have met her, but I am thankful not to carry her name.  Somehow, being called Eudora doesn't suit me either.  Mother finally agreed to call me Eudora if Daddy would promise to name the next child after her mother, or so the story goes. 

In any event, I was eventually named Susan Elizabeth.  I'm not sure where the "Susan" came from, except that it was a very popular name for baby girls in the year I was born.  My middle name is also my mother's middle name, a name now belonging to my niece and my great-niece as well.  I'm happy to report that my brother was not named for my Grandmother, but rather carries our daddy's name, John Samuel.  Samuel was our grandfather's name, as well as belonging to our great-great grandfather, and is a name that is also the middle name of my brother's first grandson.

Maybe you were named for one of your parents.  Or you carry the name of a grandparent or some other relative.  Or maybe, as is true for our sons, your parents just picked names they really liked.

However you got your name, choosing a name for child is a big deal.  There are numbers of books on the market to give assistance if the choice becomes too stressful.  Prospective parents often agonize over the choice.

I don't think there were any of those kinds of discussions about what Mary and Joseph were to name the baby they were expecting.  It had already been determined.

"And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus."  (Luke 1:30-31 ESV)

"An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."  (Matthew 1:20-21 ESV)

That settled it.  The baby's name would be Jesus, a name that means "savior", because "He will save his people from their sins."  That's why He came.  To be our Savior.

Matthew's Gospel goes on to give one more detail about the baby's name, as he quotes from Isaiah's prophecy.

"Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name 'Immanuel' (which means God with us)."  (Matthew 1:22 ESV)

Commenting on this verse, John MacArthur had this to say:  If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.”

Jesus.  Savior.

Immanuel.  God with us.

Here in the hustle-bustle of the Christmas season, as we're rushing here and hurrying there; as we are cookie-baking and decorating; as we're setting out our nativity sets and thinking about that Baby in a manger; as we are pushing ourselves into exhaustion with our celebrations, we would do well to remember those names.  To remember why He came.

And we would do well to remember that He is no longer a baby in a manger.

On that holy night so long ago,  Christ Jesus came to earth to be God with us.  To be our Savior. To live a sinless life. To die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  And to one day rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Philippians 2:5-10 NASB, emphasis mine)

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
(-from "O Holy Night")