A Wi=
th-It
Nick Name
The
Chowchilla News
Pastor’s Commentary by John Parker for
December 27, 2006
Parents sometimes give
nicknames to their kids. My
grandfather called my dad, “Beans.” My friend, Floyd, was nicknamed by=
his
parents, “
Matthew tells us of t=
he
Heavenly Father’s nickname for his son, Jesus. See if you can find it the followi=
ng
scripture.
“Behold, the an=
gel of
the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of Davi=
d,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through t=
he
holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son =
and
you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their
sins.’
“All this took =
place
to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the
virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him
Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’
“When Joseph aw=
oke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his
home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him
Jesus.” (Matthew 1:20-25; Isaiah 7:14)
Answer:
“Emmanuel!” Matthew tells us that it means
“God-with-us!” An=
d even
though there is no record of Jesus being called Emmanuel in his day-to-day
life, Matthew still lauds its importance stating that “all this”
surrounding the birth of Jesus, is described by this nickname,
“God-with-us!” (Isaiah 7:14)
Jesus nickname,
God-with-us, or Emmanuel, really works when reviewing his birth accounts
thoughtfully. (Matthew 1; Luke
1-2) We then notice the painf=
ul,
humiliating, humanness of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; a hurry-up wedding; =
and
a quick, out-of-town, exodus. Add
to it the step-father/step-child relationship of Joseph and Jesus, the
undignified birthing in an animal stable, the manger crowd of mangy shepher=
ds,
along with the wealthy homage of mysterious eastern magicians, and we may
actually connect with the idea that God is truly down here, “with
us” in this oft confusing world.
Matthew’s point=
is
that the Jesus, “who shall save us from our sins” is thereby
Emmanuel or “God-with-us.”&nbs=
p;
He is not God-way-up-there---over us, against us, or absent from
us---but God-right-here-among-us in all the messiness of our daily lives.
It is this Emmanuel-J=
esus
who promises, “Behold, I am WITH you always!” (Matthew
28:20) It is this Emmanuel-Jesus who reassures us with, “I will never leave you nor forsake
you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will=
not
fear!” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
“Emmanuel!̶=
1;---Today,
2007, and Forever!---Pastor John
Rev. John Parker is pastor of
ChristChurch of Chowchilla located at