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What’s in a name?

Isaiah 7:10-14, Psalm 23: 1-6, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew 1:18-24

The First reading presents us with the lack of faith and skepticisim. In fact, King Ahaz could be honoured as the patron of skeptics. He simply would not rely on God to help him through the greatest crisis in his life. In the crisis facing his kingdom, he preferred to trust in his soldiers and his military plans. Are we not like this man? Do we not trust only the range of our own power and resources, and turn to the true God only as an extra insurance, a vague source of possible help in moments of crisis? But such faith is weak and inadequate. A fuller kind of faith would see us relying on God’s invisible, helping presence, not just in those moments when human support fails us. Real faith accepts the reality of God in every moment of life. It sees God as a dimension of all our experience, literally, the Emmanu-El, God-with-us. Faith (trust in God) is thus an important message of the first reading.

The promise that God is with us was not for Isaiah’s time only, it is for our own. Even now the sign of that continuing presence is a young woman and her child, the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus. For Joseph the unexpected pregnancy of Mary was not a sign to confirm his trust either in her or God, it was a contradictory sign. In the hours of his darkness he found the enlightening Spirit of God, the Spirit who teaches us not to judge by what our eyes see or by what our ears hear (cf. Is 11:3.) This gospel shows us that the signs God gives are not always the ones we would choose for ourselves. He gives signs for those who are willing to take on the darkness of doubt in openness and sincerity.

The child to be born shall be called: “Emmanuel” – God with us. As the saying goes, there is something in a name. In my culture and many other cultures around the world, the naming ceremony of the new-born baby is a very important moment for the family. At that ceremony, the name of the child is revealed publicly by the father. Such names always have significant links with the family history as well as the circumstances of the child´s birth. We see something similar in the biblical names: For instance, Abraham meant “Father of a great people” (Gen. 17:5) and Moses meant “Rescued from the Waters” (Ex. 2:10.) “Jesus” means “God saves,” “Christ” means “God’s Anointed Messiah” and the name “Emmanuel” in today’s Gospel, means “God in our midst.”

The name Immanuel as prophesied by Isaiah and fulfilled in today´s Gospel presents Jesus to us as one who lives with us, shares our lot, our life-experience and our troubles. So, at Christmas we will concentrate on the simplicity and poverty of Our Lord’s birth: how human he was, born of a young woman, not in luxurious comfort, but in the discomfort of a stable. That shows him as one of us, the human side of “Emmanuel.” The gospel however mentions the divine origin of Jesus. Although he has a human mother, he has not a human father, but was conceived in Mary by the power of God. This unique way of coming into life, with God as father, and the virgin Mary as mother, underlines who Jesus truly is: both God and man, one of ourselves and yet one with the eternal God.

If this seems mysterious to us, it must have been baffling for Joseph. Close to Mary as he was, and finding her pregnant without any involvement by him, Joseph could only accept in faith what God’s messenger told him, that the child was in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. With great patience and humility, Joseph accepted the part for which God had chosen him, as guardian and foster-father to our Lord and Saviour. This kind of faithful acceptance is asked from each of us, when Christ comes into our lives, as “God-with-us.”

Today’s Gospel describes Joseph as a Just man. As a personal attribute it means someone who is honest, responsible and honourable. It means someone with moral integrity and truthful. Are you a just man? Or Better, do we still have such persons in our communities. Persons who are transparent, just, limpid and morally unimpeachable. God willed that the Foster Father of his son be a man who possesses these human qualities so that he will be an example. Therefore today, the Church presents us the example of Joseph, a just man.

There is a line of contrast between King Ahaz in the first reading and Joseph in the Gospel. King Ahaz´s lack of trust in God comes in sharp contrast to Joseph´s total trust in God. The Gospel says: “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.”

Dear brothers and sisters, the Fourth Sunday of Advent brings us at the threshold of the Christmas festivities. As we celebrate these festivities, let us be inspired by the example of Joseph, the just man who trusted in God. With the Psalmist let us: “Let the Lord enter (into our hearts); (for) he is king of glory. Mahatma Ghandi once said, “If only you Christians took your Christ to heart…” Let us take Christ to heart, let us allow him to be born anew in our hearts. That is the true meaning of Christmas.