She will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. – Matthew 1:21
Choosing a name was hard.
As we awaited our oldest’s birth, the first baby name book I looked at had some very interesting, and non-realistic, options. Apparently, it was the “best ever,” but I seriously doubt that.
In the end, we picked a really cool name.
I couldn’t wait for her to be born so we could call her by her name. Even when we knew she was growing bigger and stronger, it was having a name that brought the awareness that this was real. She would become a real, living, breathing human being.
Joseph and Mary didn’t get to name their baby boy. The angel brought the message, and it was so.
How could they have picked a better name, though?
“The Lord saves.”
That’s why He came, that’s what His sacrifice was all about. It captured his mission in a word, in a name. His name.
Emmanuel. Jesus.
Names are a remarkable indicator of who a baby is and becomes. Babies often live into their names and become who their parents named them to be, even if the parents only picked a name because it sounded good.
What must that have felt like, to be told your baby’s name, representing what He would become?
Christ really has many names, or nicknames, which describe who He is. But this one name, His name, is Jesus. The name has so much power, so much passion. God sent Jesus for us, to save us from ourselves.
One of the joys of the process of preparing for baby girl to come into our lives was to choose her name.
I can’t wait to see how our girls both live out their names.
Jesus did, why can’t she?
This post appeared in its original form in the Advent 2011 series as we anticipated the birth of baby girl. Follow along with the #ChristmasCountdown2020.
