Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: The Name above all names

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

The Name above all names

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.

As Christians, our faith, our hope and our love is based entirely on the person Jesus Christ. No one else.

In all of our prayers as Catholics, we finish our requests with the formula: "we ask this in Jesus' name" or "we ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever". This is based on what Jesus Himself commanded us John 15:7 and John 15:16 who tells us our prayers will be answered when asked in His Name.

But why is His name so important?

In scripture, a person's name is not only a part of their identity. It also reveals something about them. Names have meaning - for example the Patriarch Abram is given a new name by God in Genesis 17:15. His name is changed to "Abraham" which means the "father of many". Later when he has his son with his wife Sarah, they give him the name of Isaac meaning "laughter" or "he who laughs". We are told in Genesis 21:1-7 that Isaac is given his name because Sarah says that anyone who hears that she is now pregnant as an elderly woman, will laugh at her!

There are many places in the bible where names have meaning that are connected to their identity, their mission from God or an aspect of how God is working through them ie... Elijah means "Yahweh is my God". His mission as a prophet was to bring the people back to true worship of the God of Israel instead of their idolatry to Baal and false gods. The name Yahweh was important to the people of Israel as this was the personal name that God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3:14.

So in Matthew 1:21 we are told that Jesus received his name because he will save the people from their sins. Etymologically the name Jesus means "Yahweh saves" or the "Salvation of Yahweh". Because Jesus is the Saviour, therefore we can also claim salvation in His Name. This is based on the idea in the Bible of "calling on the name of the Lord" - to invoke him, call for help , to be rescued or saved.

This is why we are told Acts 4:12 that there is no other name by which to be saved. Jesus is the salvation of God in the flesh, just as He and the Father are one. So too the Name of Jesus also has the power to saver, because it contains the identity of God - Yawheh Saves.

Jesus himself in the Gospel of John reveals His identity to the Jews by claiming the Divine Name of Yahweh Himself - “I AM” (John 8:54-57, John 28:6). This is why the soldiers in the garden fell down (John 18:6) when they heard the Divine Name. No one was allowed to say the Name of God apart from the High Priest once a year in the Temple, so to hear it out loud and to hear Jesus proclaim he was Yahweh was such a shock ti they they fell into the ground.

St Paul in Philippians 2:9-11 further elaborates on this when he boldly proclaims :

“Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”

This is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 45:23. To bend the knee and bow down we’re signs of subservience, obedience and an acknowledgment of authority of a ruler. So St Paul is showing that Jesus is the Davidic Messiah King who has the authority of God as the Annointed One (Christ is Greek for Messiah), but also he himself is the Lord that is also God. So to bow down to Jesus is the same as bowing down to God Himself (Psalm 72:11) - all the kings of the earth have to acknowledge the King of King and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16).

The Holy Name of Jesus contains His identity and power, it manifests who He is - it saves and can be called upon for salvation because “Yahweh saves”. When we call upon the name of Jesus we reaffirm our own salvation and proclaim the offer of salvation to all who are willing to hear it and call upon it (John 1:12 Acts 2:38-39, Acts 4:2, Romans 10:9).

The Name of Jesus is our hope and salvation. It is the Name above all names, when we call upon Him we are saved. There is power in the Name of Jesus because it contains the mystery of God Himself.

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.