Meditation: You Shall Call His Name Jesus
The Gospel of Matthew begins with a long list of Hebrew names that give the family tree of Jesus on the human side. As we read these names some two thousand years of history pass in review. At the end of the list we find the name above every name, the name of Jesus. The procession passes through the centuries and comes to rest at Bethlehem. “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). The whole story of Christmas is wrapped up in that one name: Jesus, the name which means literally GOD IS SALVATION, GOD SAVES.
God knows my name and in His grace He has granted me to know His name that I may call upon Him freely and enter into His presence boldly. “Jesus”-the name of my God! “Jesus”-the name of my Savior! “Jesus”-the name by which devils are cast out, “Jesus”-the name that beats in my heart and on my lips: Lord Jesus. Son of God, have mercy on me! “Jesus”-the name that forgives and cleanses and restores! “Jesus” -the name that opens the gates of heaven!
Meditation: Jesus is Calling Us by Name
Jesus calls us by many names. He calls us servants, followers, disciples, co-workers. He calls us his friends. His prize possession, His unique people, His holy nation. He calls us children, newborn, living stones of a new temple, temples of His Holy Spirit. All of these names are important. They bestow upon us God’s honor and love, but none of them is as important as our own personal name: “George, Mary, Paul, Grace-I have called you by name. I knew you before you were born. I made you and formed you in the womb of your mother. I called you into existence. Before you were born from your mother’s womb. I pronounced your name. I love you with an everlasting love. I want you to be with me forever to behold my glory. I carne to be born at Christmas not just in Bethlehem but in your heart.
Will you receive me? Behold. I have been standing, calling and knocking at the door of your soul all these years. I come to release you from sin and death, to set you free, to bring you God’s life and power, to help you achieve your fullest potential as my child.
George, Mary, Paul, Grace, this is Jesus calling you. Do you hear me?”
Meditation: Is Your Faith Personal?
Christianity is not abstract. It is personal. When we sin, we are not breaking an impersonal commandment: we are breaking a relationship to a Person Who loves us: Jesus.
When we repent and confess our sins, we confess to a Person: Jesus. It is to this Person that we say, “I am sorry, Lord, for all my sins. I know that I have hurt You. I beg Your forgiveness. Help me to go and sin no more.”
Our Orthodox Christian faith is not something abstract. It is a relationship-a personal relationship to God in the Person of Jesus. It is on this relationship that the happiness and the purposefulness of our life depends. And it shall be on the basis of this relationship to Christ that our eternal destiny shall be decided.
What kind of relationship do you have to Jesus? Is it a relationship that is kept alive through faith, love, prayer, the Eucharist, the reading of the Word? Or is it a relationship that is dead through unconfessed sin and indifference? It was concerning this relationship that Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers … If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you” (John 15:5-8).
Advent—time to strengthen my personal relationship to Jesus through more intense prayer and feeding upon God’s Word; time to repair my relationship where it has been broken by sin, through repentance and confession, and time to let Jesus restore in me the joy of salvation.
~ Presbytera Emily Harakas & Fr. Anthony Coniaris, DAILY MEDITATIONS and Prayers for the CHRISTMAS ADVENT Fast and Epiphany: Living the Days of Advent and Epiphany according to the Orthodox Church Calendar
