January 1: Holy Name of Jesus

But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart

Numbers 6:22-27

6:22 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

6:23 Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,

6:24 The LORD bless you and keep you;

6:25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;

6:26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

6:27 So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Psalm 8

8:1 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

8:2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

8:4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

8:5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

8:6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

8:7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

8:8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

8:9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Philippians 2:5-11

2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,

2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,

2:8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

2:9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

2:11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Luke 2:15-21

2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."

2:16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

2:17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;

2:18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.

2:19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

2:21 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. 

I used those lines from Numbers as my benediction for the congregation throughout my brief but unspectacular pastoral career. Ancient words you can still hear in use today.

There is a through line from Psalm 8 through the passage from Philippians to Luke, to the Christchild Lullaby. That through line is the humility of God, and before God, and which is the example of both God and Christ. What else is it but humility, to send the heavenly messengers to shepherds to announce such important news? The Creator, the Psalmist says, of the heavens, of the moon and stars which God has established. Yes, that’s why Matthew’s Magi see the new star and understand it. A cosmic event has cosmic effects, all a part of God’s creation. As are the shepherds; not quite the babes and infants of the psalm, but the mortals that God cares for. And makes his face to shine upon.

Like I said: a through line. And what Paul identifies as I’m self-sacrifice of the crucifixion establishing the holy name of Jesus, Luke pushes back to the time before his conception.

May his name be holy. But that’s up to us, isn’t it? Whether or not the name is holy, I mean.

May the Lord bless you, and keep you. May God make God’s face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord look upon you kindly, and give you peace.

And Happy New Year.🎆