What’s in a name?
I don’t have any idea why my parents named me ’Mark.’ I haven’t once been curious about it. I wasn’t named after any well-loved relative. I guess they just liked the sound of it.
My wife and I were really spiritual when we had our first child, so we named him Jonathan Christopher, one name derived from Hebrew (God’s gift) and the other from Greek (Christ-bearer). Actually, we were so surprised that she was pregnant that the gift part was a stretch, but we didn’t know the Hebrew word for ‘God’s-shock’.
God was very particular about the name of his son.
The name of his son would describe the child’s identity and purpose, and one other thing – our greatest need.
This Sunday at the Gathering Church we get to look at Joseph’s reaction when he finds out that the woman he is going to marry is pregnant. Ugh! He’s not too happy about it.Â
Found in Matthew 1:18-25, we get the name that the child is to have. Suddenly the issue is bigger than Joseph’s dilemma.
The name of Jesus is so familiar to us that we miss what God had in mind with this particular name.
To understand the name is to know our greatest need.
This Sunday.