Sunday before the Nativity of Christ: Sunday of the Holy Fathers; Octoechos Tone 3; Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ; The Holy Martyr Juliana of Nicomedia.
Nativity Fast. Resurrection Gospel 6.
Hebrews 11:9-10,17-23,32-40; Matthew 1:1-25.
Read Matthew 1:1-25
Do names matter? Shakespeare didn’t think so. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet,” meaning that the essence of a person or thing exists no matter what name is given. But what if one wants to express the essence of a person in their name? Then, names matter.
That is the understanding expressed by the Lord in Joseph’s dream: “You shall call His name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” It is the essence of the child to be born of the virgin Mary that “he will save his people from their sins,” so that was to be expressed in his name. Yeshua, the Hebrew/Aramaic name for Jesus, means “Yahweh (God) saves.”
But how does giving Mary’s child that name fulfill Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” which means “God with us”?
It is in the very nature of God to save. God is love – He desires to be with His people. God is also holy – if people are to be with God they must be saved from their sins. Only God can do that. God being with us and God saving us are the same thing and they both happen in the coming of the child Mary was “found with of the Holy Spirit.” God is both with us and saves us when we receive Jesus Christ.