"Joseph, son of David..."
-- Matthew 1:20
"What's in a name?" asks Shakespeare's Juliet. It is a good question. What's in your name? In mine?
It is easy when beginning a read of the New Testament to skip over, or at least skim through, the first 17 verses. These begin Matthew's account of Jesus. They are filled with names: fathers, and a few mothers, of sons. Some are recognizable. Some are odd and forgettable.
As I read this morning though, I was struck with a thought: each of these names carries stories. Some are admirable, even heroic. Some are not. A few of the names immediately bring to mind great acts of faith, and others treachery. (Often, both coexist within the same name.)
Matthew is moving rapidly through the generations to get to the theme of his first chapter - the birth of Jesus. I planned to do the same in the familiarity of my reading. But this morning the ghost stories attached to the names of genealogy captured my mind. Ultimately, I came to Jesus' (earthly) dad, Joseph. And then, to the way an angel addressed him... "Joseph, son of David..."
Joseph was actually the son of a man named Jacob My guess is Jacob and his wife had huge hopes and dreams for their infant son (and yes, I'm projecting) . They named him Joseph for a reason. There was another Jacob/Joseph father and son way back in the lineage. Their story is a picture of a flawed father of faith and a privileged golden-child son who learns humility and grace. (I won't prolong this post, but it is worth a read: Genesis 37-47). The dreamer Joseph from that ancient story proved to be a man of strength and perseverance. He was a man of faithfulness.
We don't know much about Jesus' dad, Mary's husband, Joseph. But I believe he too was a man of grace and strength. Faced with an obvious betrayal by the woman he loved, he chose not to retaliate or humiliate her. GRACE. Even more incredibly, when told by an angel that Mary had not betrayed him, but in fact was carrying God's Son to be be born, he agreed to the plan. STRENGTH.
The angel knows what is in Joseph. In addressing the young bewildered man, the heaven-messenger calls him "Joseph, son of David."
Joseph was actually the son of a man named Jacob My guess is Jacob and his wife had huge hopes and dreams for their infant son (and yes, I'm projecting) . They named him Joseph for a reason. There was another Jacob/Joseph father and son way back in the lineage. Their story is a picture of a flawed father of faith and a privileged golden-child son who learns humility and grace. (I won't prolong this post, but it is worth a read: Genesis 37-47). The dreamer Joseph from that ancient story proved to be a man of strength and perseverance. He was a man of faithfulness.
We don't know much about Jesus' dad, Mary's husband, Joseph. But I believe he too was a man of grace and strength. Faced with an obvious betrayal by the woman he loved, he chose not to retaliate or humiliate her. GRACE. Even more incredibly, when told by an angel that Mary had not betrayed him, but in fact was carrying God's Son to be be born, he agreed to the plan. STRENGTH.
The angel knows what is in Joseph. In addressing the young bewildered man, the heaven-messenger calls him "Joseph, son of David."
David... as in David the giant-slayer.
David the king.
David the flawed but faithful man after God's heart.
That David.
Joseph, you are a son of David.
Joseph, that is your name.
And there is a lot in a name.
Now, Joseph, Son of David...
Live up to your name!
Children's pageants and nativity scenes have dismissed him to the simple role of inn-door-knocker; a wide-eyed bit player marveling at stars and shepherds and strange eastern travelers. But there is more to this man. He speaks with angels. He listens and acts. He is a man of strength and perseverance. He is a man of faithfulness. He is named in the building tympani swell that preludes Immanuel.
What's in a name. I guess it really depends on who knows your name; who calls you by name. There is One who knows your name. He knows all the ghost stories behind it - good and bad. And he calls you BY name. He was there, intimately at work in the lives listed in the initial run-on 17 verses of Matthew's account.
He was there in the cave-stable.
He was there with Joseph, Son of David.
He is here with us.
God, you know my name.
For now...
D
