Job titles are getting increasingly complicated these days. The Telegraph reported earlier in the year on some of the stranger ones in Britain. A lifeguard is now a 'wet leisure assistant', while a bin man is now described as a 'waste management and disposal technician.' However, when Jesus was named, the name perfectly describes his job.
We're continuing to think about the promises of the Lord Jesus coming at Christmas, and today we're back with Matthew's account of when Joseph saw the angel of the Lord in a dream. The appearance was important, because Joseph's betrothed, Mary, was pregnant. Joseph was preparing to divorce her quietly, but the angel reassured him that Mary was not unfaithful, but that this was in the plan and purpose and working of the Lord. Within the message, the angel tells Joseph the name for the child, the same name he had already told Mary, but here, the reason is also spelled out:
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)
Jesus means 'the Lord saves', and so Jesus' name reflects what he came to do - to save sinners, but it also reminds us that the baby born in Bethlehem is none other than the God himself taking on flesh - as Matthew continues, he is Emmanuel, God with us.
Sometimes the Rector in a parish can be addressed as 'Rector' as if that were their first name - their job title is used as a name; here, the name Jesus is his job title. O come, the one who saves from sin, Jesus the Christ.
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