Homily on the Holy Name of Jesus

Madrid 18 August 2011

Acts 4:8-12

Psalm: Is 12:2-6

Matthew 1:18-25

Dear brother bishops, priests, consecrated men and women; and dear young people and friends in Christ:

Introduction

Each of you has a name, one given to you by your parents. Perhaps you were named after some relative, or maybe you were just given a name that your parents liked. In any case, it is your name and you respond to it.

At the time of Jesus, the giving of a name to a child was meant to tell something about the individual, to describe some characteristic or attribute. Moreover, to know someone’s name was to have access to the person, to be able to enter into a relationship with him or her. It’s not much different today. If you know some else’s name, like that of the person sitting behind you, that individual ceases to be a stranger and can become a friend. That’s why it’s important for you to get to know the names of other young people here in Madrid. Knowing someone’s name is the gateway to friendship.

Gospel: Giving the Name “Jesus”

In today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, we have the account of how our Lord received his name ,“Jesus.” This name, St. Paul later wrote, is “above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil 2:9-10).

Neither Mary nor Joseph chose Jesus’ name. It was a name handpicked by God, though Joseph was told to give it to Mary’s Child. The angel, acting on God’s behalf, ordered Joseph: “you are to name him Jesus” (Mt 1:21). In this way, he could claim as his own the child conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary (cf. Mt 1:20).

But what does this name reveal about who Jesus is? It points right to the heart of the wonder of the Incarnation as a saving mystery. The child was to bear the name of Jesus, “for he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). You cannot save yourself. Jesus is the Saviour; he is our Saviour. And he will carry out his mission, the angel says to the sleeping Joseph, because he is Emmanuel, “God with us” (Mt 1:23). The God who “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16) becomes flesh, and dwells among us and with us (cf. Jn 1:14), so that he can be seen with our eyes, heard with our ears, touched by our hands (cf. 1 Jn 1:1), suffer the indignity of the Passion, be crucified in the flesh and rises unto glory for our salvation.

First Reading: Salvation in Jesus’ Name

In a world filled with empty ideologies and false promises, the name of Jesus Christ is a source of life and salvation for those who believe (cf. Jn 20:31). At the very beginning of the Church’s mission, as we heard in the First Reading, St. Peter proclaims that salvation comes through the name of Jesus, because he is our Saviour.

Consider the account we have just heard proclaimed from the Book of Acts. The Apostles Peter and John had healed a man lame from birth. Of course, the miracle drew a large crowd, and the news rapidly spread through the city. Peter, never short for words, seized the moment and launched into a stirring sermon, which was cut short by the religious authorities. They brought the Apostles before the tribunal the next day, and began to question them. Their supercilious inquiry into “by what power or by what name” (Acts 4:7) the man was healed provoked this startling answer: “let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4:10). And, just in case they didn’t get the point, Peter adds with utmost clarity: “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

In Jesus’ name healing is offered to the lame man and to all humanity. Only the name of Jesus – the Redemption he brought us through his Cross and Resurrection – can save us. Jesus Christ is “the one Saviour of all”[1]; he is “the one mediator between God and humankind” (1 Tim 2:5). God’s saving will to save all people is always realized “in Christ,” and never apart from him. Even if those who are saved do not themselves overtly recognize the grace of God working in them, it comes to them through Jesus Christ.[2]

Power and Glory of Jesus’ Name

According to the Scriptures, the holy name of Jesus is a cry for the deliverance of all humanity. It has the power to comfort and heal the sick (cf. Acts 3:6; Jam 5:14-15), to cast out demons (cf. Mk 16:17), and to work every kind of miracle (cf Mt 7:22; Acts 4:30). Most importantly, it is through the power of the name of Jesus that our sins are forgiven (cf. 1 Jn 2:12).

Jesus’ name is also at the heart of Christian worship in every church throughout the world: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Mt 18:20). And Jesus’ name is at the heart of all Christian prayer: “the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name” (Jn 15:16). His name also inspires our love of the least of our brothers and sisters because, as he himself explained, “whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward” (Mk 9:41).

“For the sake of the Name”

Dear friends: as those who are called “Christians” from the moment of your immersion in the saving waters of Baptism, the name of Jesus Christ is also your name. Your baptismal mission obliges you to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4), to speak and act in the name of Jesus, even at the risk of being scorned, persecuted and hated “for the sake of the Name,” as Jesus foretold (Acts 5:41; cf. Mk 13:13; Lk 21:12).

To speak and act in the name of Jesus, to live a Catholic moral life based on the Gospel and the Church’s teaching in the face of peer pressure and a popular culture indifferent and often even hostile to Christianity frequently means being out of step with the opinion of your companions at school and in the workplace. Yet, if you look to the Word of God, you find encouragement for being bold when your faith is tested. The Apostle Peter, who was so often and so sorely put to the test tells you: “Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian . . . glorify God because you bear this name” (1 Pet 4:16). Jesus himself knows your situation – for he experienced it before you; and he says: “In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16:33).

The name of Jesus brings with it salvation and life; but it also brings struggle and the cross, just as it did for Our Lord. This should neither surprise nor threaten you; for what servant, what disciple is greater than his Master? (cf. Jn 3:16). But the name of Jesus also strengthens you to proclaim and live the truth of the Gospel with the boldness shown by the Apostles when confronted by the authorities (cf. Acts 4:13). Courageous and bold proclamation of the Good News is not to be carried out with arrogance – unfortunately all too common today – but with confident joy; not with self-righteousness, but with humility; not with bitterness but always with a charity that befits the dignity of the Word of God.[3]

Down through the centuries, and even today in many parts of the world, great numbers of our brothers and sisters have died and are dying for the Catholic faith. Their witness of fidelity to the name of Jesus inspires us to be courageous in our proclamation of the Gospel. For most of you, however, the price to be paid for fidelity to Jesus and the Church will probably not be the enduring of bodily torments, but being dismissed out of hand, looked down upon, ridiculed or parodied.

I beg you not to recoil in fear from the mission entrusted to you here in Madrid, the mission of making known the holy name of Jesus and the saving truth of the Gospel, the source of your happiness as individuals and the foundation of a just and humane society.[4] Hold fast to the Church’s greatest treasure: Jesus Christ is the Lord; in him, and in no one else, is found salvation (cf. Acts 4:12); he “is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb 13:8).

Conclusion: Paul VI on Jesus

Allow me to close with one of my favourite – if rather long – modern summaries of the our faith in Jesus Christ as declared by Pope Paul VI, during his pastoral visit to Manila more than forty years ago. This is what he affirmed so beautifully:

Convinced of Christ: yes, I feel the need to proclaim him, I cannot keep silent. “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16). I am sent by him, by Christ himself, to do this. I am an apostle, I am a witness. The more distant the goal, the more difficult my mission the more pressing is the love that urges me to it (cf. 2 Cor 5:13). I must bear witness to his name: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). He reveals the invisible God, he is the firstborn of all creation, the foundation of everything created. He is the Teacher of mankind, and its Redeemer. . . . He is the centre of history and of the world; he is the one who knows us and who loves us; he is the companion and the friend of our life. He is the man of sorrows and of hope. . . . he is “the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). He is the bread and the spring of living water to satisfy our hunger and our thirst. He is our shepherd, our guide, our model, our comfort, our brother. . . . to you Christians I repeat his name, to everyone I proclaim him: Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega; he is the king of the new world; he is the secret of history; he is the key to our destiny. He is the mediator, the bridge, between heaven and earth. He is more perfectly than anyone else the Son of Man, because he is the Son of God, eternal and infinite.[5]

As we continue our celebration of the Eucharist today, let us draw near with confidence to the Lord who comes to us in the mystery of his Body and Blood so that we may be strengthened to boldly proclaim the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

✢ J. Michael Miller, CSB

Archbishop of Vancouver

[1] Blessed John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 5.

[2] Cf. Blessed John Paul II, General Audience (31 May 1995).

[3] Cf. Blessed John Paul II, Homily, Los Angeles (15 September 1987), 2-3.

[4] Cf. Benedict XVI, Address at Hyde Park, London (18 September 2011).

[5] Paul VI, Homily, Manila (29 November 1970).