How did you get your name? Did your parents pick your name based on its meaning? Or because it was a trendy name? Or maybe because it was classic? Maybe they named you after a family member or someone who impacted their life.
I was named after my father. Believe it or not I’m a junior…really I’m a second (II) because my parents were afraid I would be called “Junior” my whole life.
I looked my name up one time in one of those baby name books and it said Roscoe meant “hunter of deer.” Another book said “of or from the forests.” I like that…maybe it’s slightly prophetic.
Everywhere I go someone has an opinion on my name. Last week I was checking into a hotel and gave the lady at the front desk my name. She commented on how my name was “gangster.” In college I remember a guy from Philadephia telling me that’s what they called a cheap gun on the street…a roscoe.
Naming a child is stressful! We weren’t sure what we were going to name our last two children until after they were born. Our strategy was to give each of our children a simple classic middle name in case they decided later on they didn’t like the names we chose for them.
Can you imagine how stressful it would be to come up with a name for the Son of God? What if the name Mary picked wouldn’t translate well? What if it’s trendy? What if people can’t pronounce it? Fortunately for Mary she didn’t have that problem. The angel told her what to call him…Jesus.
You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. -Luke 1:31
Not only did the angel tell her that the name was to be “Jesus,” an angel told her husband Joseph too.
And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. -Matthew 1:21
There is something about that name. It’s a name that stirs something inside of every person. A name that generates some type of emotion within you.
Here are some of my favorite passages about that name:
Matthew 18:20…the reason every church gathers is for this name.
John 14:14…the reason we have the privilege to ask anything of God.
Acts 16:18…demons flee at the mention of His name.
Acts 4:12…the name of salvation
Acts 2:38…the name that offers forgiveness
Philippians 2:9-11…the name above all names
That one name causes more political squirming than any other name. You can say “God” all day long, but you start naming God as Jesus, you start saying “in Jesus’ name I pray,” and people can even get angry.
There is something about that name.
I’ve often been amused that when people swear they use the name Jesus. Why don’t they say Buddha? Or Allah? Or Muhammad? Or Moses? Or Abraham? Why do people say Jesus Christ?
There is something about that name.
We have this saying in our culture…”Go out and make a name for yourself.” The idea is that when people say your name or hear it they think power, prestige, fame, and wealth. We love those rags to riches stories of people who went out and made a name for themselves. They had nothing, but then became someone. People like J.K. Rowling who was a broke single mom and scratched out Harry Potter in a coffee shop. Now she is worth a billion and is a household name.
Christmas is not that kind of story. It’s the opposite kind of story. It’s not a rags to riches story. It’s a riches to rags kind of story. Where the God of the universe who created everything humbled himself and took on the form of a human baby to show us what He is like and what He values. He showed us how to live. He came to save us from ourselves.
He wants to adopts us into his family and made the way to do that through the cross. He says you don’t have to make a name for yourself. You can use my name. You can become sons & daughters of the Most High King.
So what does the name Jesus mean to you? No other name in the world like it. The name hasn’t faded from history, in fact it has changed the world. And those who sought to stamp out his name have faded into history and we now name our dogs Caesar (and Roscoe)…but the name Jesus is worshipped in all corners of the globe.
One name can change your one life this one Christmas.
