The power and honor to name our children is a gift that comes with great responsibility. The meaning behind the name or the heritage of the name guides our decision-making. When our daughter was born, I knew her middle name would be \u201cElizabeth\u201d because the tradition in my wife\u2019s family is for a daughter to have the middle name \u201cElizabeth.\u201d Names have the potential to proclaim a truth and belief of the parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Matthew 1:18-25, Joseph is not thinking like a father\u2014he is thinking like a betrothed husband. He has heard the news that Mary is with child, and he knows the child is not his. He resolves to divorce her quietly because of his love for her and not wanting to make the situation a disgraceful spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Joseph is sleeping, the angel of the Lord appears. The angel speaks to the betrothed husband, \u201cdo not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit<\/em>\u201d (1:20). The angel of the Lord gives Joseph a new perspective and a calling. Joseph opens himself to the same disgrace he was trying to shield Mary from experiencing. Since Joseph does not divorce Mary then the community will surely believe he is the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The angel continues to speak to Joseph changing the narrative from husband to father when the angel states, \u201cShe will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins<\/em>\u201d (1:21). Joseph will join Mary as she gives Jesus his name. The responsibility of giving Jesus his name conveys the power of this baby born in the manger. He will save his people from their sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout history, from the lowly manger of Bethlehem to today, the name of Jesus proclaims our Salvation. Not just through the name, but through the obedience of Jesus to go to the cross to be the once and for all sacrifice for our sins. When we proclaim, \u201cJesus is Born,\u201d we proclaim the power of transformation and new life entering our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We, like Joseph, are called to play our role in God\u2019s Story. Just as the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph as a husband and as a father, the Lord may speak to our hearts as a spouse, a parent, a worker, a sibling, a student, and an employee\/employer. The Lord\u2019s desire is for our obedience. Whether the obedience will cause people to think differently of us or will cause us to enter the uncertainty of how the story will end, we still obey. In our obedience God works and we participate in life transformation through God\u2019s Son, our Savior, Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I pray that this Christmas, you will experience the life transformation we celebrate in the birth of Jesus\u2014the one who saves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Merry Christmas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer: Lord, whether you call me as a spouse, a member, a parent, or a friend, I pray you would give me the courage for obedience. Thank you for Jesus who saves me from my sin. In this season of Christmas, keep my focus on Jesus. Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The power and honor to name our children is a gift that comes with great responsibility. The meaning behind the name or the heritage of the name guides our decision-making. When our daughter was born, I knew her middle name<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t