Good Morning!
Hope your Christmas celebration left you with lots of new, fond memories of family, friends, and worship of Jesus. My friend, Scott, lost his father over the weekend, so that’s tough. Yet, the joy of the Lord is supposed to fill our hearts, right? Sometimes we have to be intentional on reminding ourselves of that. As Scott is fond of saying, “Today is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad.” Here’s to you, Scott, and your faithful servanthood for your dad.
Speaking of the name “Lord”, I want to talk a little about that. I saw a Facebook clip by a Jesuit priest, I believe he was the dean or president of the seminary. I don’t have the link to share, nor do I remember accurately all that was said. What I DO remember was him trying to explain that given all the different religions and points of view in the world, he was sure that Jesus wouldn’t be too concerned about the name we called him. Well, I know that to be nonsense because the bible is very clear about the names of Jesus. His name is VERY important.
Then I ran into a passage that reminded me of another passage. Let’s see if we can’t find something interesting here.
Exodus 33:17-23 And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
It is hard to pick up, but the name Paul describes for Jesus in Philippians 2:11 is not “Jesus” but, rather, “Lord.” Now, I am certainly no expert on Greek or Hebrew, but it is plain for me to see that there is some significant connection between the Lord that passed in front of Moses and the Lord that Paul was talking about. Right? Was Jesus the one that Moses was talking to? Furthermore, we see references in the OT of “the Angel of the Lord” that many believe to be Jesus prior to his birth by the virgin Mary. Is it possible that Jesus has been in and among us the whole time? Perhaps so. Why couldn’t he? After all, he’s the one who made everything, is he not?
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Again, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that we’re seeing this Trinity stuff in all these passages. Three entities, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all separate yet still one and the same. You see one, you see the other, yet they are individual. I can catch glimpses of this, and it seems to make sense. Other times, it seems hard to comprehend. I think the point to be made here is that the person the world calls Jesus is far bigger than we can possible imagine. Way, way bigger.
Does his name matter? I think it does. Furthermore, if I was to make a video about Jesus, I would recommend that people call him “Lord” because that is the name that we ALL will use for him on that day the entirety of humanity bows to him.
Father, as the song goes, what a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus. There is none other like it because there is none other like him. Thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy, undeserved, except for that for which my Lord has done for me. Use me, Lord, to serve you. Amen.
Copyright © 2017 Scott Powers