January 1, 2023: The Second Sunday after Christmas Day

“Faithful Obedience”

The Feast of the Holy Name

Numbers 6: 22 – 27/Psalm 8/Philippians 2: 5 – 11/Luke 2: 15 – 21

Bishop Ariel P. Santos

We are here to know God and to make Him known. This Sunday is not a New Year’s Day Mass. Although we are thankful and hopeful for the new year, today is the 8th day of Christmas and we celebrate also the Feast of the Holy Name. It is a Jewish tradition that on the 8th day, the male infants are circumcised and just like what we do during Baptism in our Church, the babies are named.

Jesus was given His name during this time. A name is an identification and reveals one's character, characteristic, reputation and trade (what they do or what they are known for). Some are given “names” that are derogatory. Some names reveal who we are to a certain degree. Some names we can trust and others we don't. Even if there is a name, we work on making a name for ourselves.

If we lift up the Name of Jesus, we make Him look good. If we blaspheme His name, we make Him look bad. Words have a certain degree of influence in them. Some companies or advertising use words to influence the minds of the people to get them to buy their products. This is a positive action. There is also the negative use of words, which is gossip. It is so powerful that it can actually cause a person to commit suicide.

Words can make us believe, but to a certain degree or probably more to those who have common sense, good works should convince us more. Words are cheap and some are gullible to believe even if they don’t see the good witness so be careful with our words. If we see a good witness from a person who is being slandered or being built up by good words, we will know for ourselves if what is being said is true or not.

We are called Christians, carrying the Name of Jesus. We give a good witness to God if our life is consistent with that of the life of Christ. We blaspheme the name of God when we act contrary to what we profess. It is very sad that a very famous Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, after reading the Bible especially the teaching on the Sermon on the Mount said this, “I’d be a Christian if not for the Christians.”

At the Cathedral of the King and the Diocese of Metro Manila, we have an acronym TKGMHK, that is, to know God and to make Him known. The question is: what kind of God are we making known? What kind of God are we making known through our witness? I believe that we are giving a good witness through our Church’s ministries – in the number of people we help, in the way we treat each other. It is very good to reflect once in a while what kind of God we are making known.

What do outsiders and insiders see in us to who we claim we are followers of? How do we use Jesus’ name? The phrase “In the Name of Jesus” is not a formula but a spirit. It is not an incantation like “abracadabra” to benefit self or impress others with the use of it. In Acts 19, the sons of a Jewish priest who were not yet converted to Christianity used the Name of Jesus because they witnessed how St. Paul used it in delivering the sick, the oppressed and raising the dead. They invoked the Name of Jesus using words on a demon-possessed man who came after them and clawed on them. They misused the name of Jesus. They didn’t understand its meaning. It is not a formula, but it is a living and active conviction from the heart and borne out of an assimilation of the nature of Son of God which is love. Love is the desiring and pursuing the good of others, not the glorification of self.

Jesus’ name means love. Philippians :10-11 says, “At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” It is the name, not the sound of the name, and by the power of what it carries. When we realize what it stands for, the amazing and unfathomable love, they will bow their knees not in dread or fear but in awe and wonder.

In Psalm 8, David says, “When I consider the heavens, what is man that God would take thought of?” This was said before technology. Today, with our modern technology, we should be more awed. David did not know the expanse of the universe using the naked eye. God made this universe and yet He takes thought of man, and just by this notion, David was awed. We should be more awed today. God is bigger than the universe, and yet, the big God who contains the universe was contained in His mother’s womb for nine months. When He was born, Jesus was subject to the care of His parents – fed, disciplined. This should cause us to be awed and bring us down to our knees!

The big God underwent through all of these for us - we, the unworthy, underserving people. He became one of us. He went through our struggles even though He did not have to. He set aside His prerogative as God. He went through kenosis, incarnation, suffered, humiliated and suffered a cruel death for our restoration, for us, who are purely little earthlings living on a dot in a milky way that is a dot in the universe.

The Collect for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas says, “O God, who wonderfully created and yet more wonderfully restored the dignity of human nature, grant that we may share the divine life of Him who humbled himself to share our humanity, Your Son Jesus…" God is infinite; our science cannot fathom the magnitude of the universe. This should awe us but God has outdone Himself by becoming human to restore. The creation is an astounding display of omnipotent power; but its restoration is even more an astonishing display of divine character. This glorifies God.

God could have used His power to oppress us, to put us on a guilt trip, but yet He shows mercy. This is our God. A realization of that greater wonder brings us to our knees. The Bible says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and one theologian said, “One day, this statement will become less of a command and more of a fulfillment.” Time will come when the last Atheist, if he understands these things, it will bring him down to his knees and will confess that Jesus is Lord and love God with all his heart and soul. It is the realization of the greater power, not of the creation of the universe, but of the sacrifice God made for His creation.

Philippians 2:11 says that the Name of Jesus is something that gives glory to God the Father. St. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5, “Have the same attitude in you,” especially us, Christians, the little Christs, the bearers of the Name of Jesus. Do we give glory to His name or blaspheme Him? Is what we ask in the Name of Jesus for ourselves or for the good of others? If it is love, it is for the good of others. If it is for ourselves, then, we are not giving a good witness. If it is in the name of love, in the Name of Jesus, then, no opposition, lie, gates of hell, weapon, principalities, the economy or even the prices of goods can stop us from accomplishing that we desire in pursuit in the genuine Name of Jesus and accomplishing the plan of God.

In the Name of Jesus, we have the victory! We can do all things in Christ. The Name of Jesus is our love for our Church, for the members of the Church and for the next generation. This is power and can accomplish anything and nothing will be impossible.

The Incarnation is not just a wonder but a reality meant for our good and guide. All because of Jesus’ love. It is a reality that we benefit from but also a reality that we should follow. We cannot hurt, curse, steal, kill, and destroy in the name of Jesus! It is a contradiction. The name of Jesus is only meant for good.

Remember the Name we bear and it is up to us to live it up to. That’s how we give glory to Jesus’ name and the way it is in the kingdom of our God.