The J Factor

At the start of a new year, it is natural for us to look to the future. I just read about a study in The Atlantic (April 2008) that suggests that our initials can help determine our fates.

Yes, that’s right. Our initials. It seems that our preference for our names is so strong that we unconsciously gravitate toward people, places, and objects that begin with the same letter as our name. A woman named Mary is more likely to marry Mark, drive a Mazda, and move to Maryland than is a woman named Virginia. Virginia is more likely to marry Virgil, drive a Volvo, and move to … you guessed it … Virginia.

If this tendency is true, I guess I should feel a strong desire to gravitate toward Hawaii.

Our initials can even affect our careers, according to this study. As many of you know, the letter K is the symbol for a strikeout in the game of baseball. An analysis of Major League Baseball records reveals that plays who have first or last names that start with K have an interesting tendency — they strike out 18.8 percent of the time, compared to 17.2 percent for other players.

If you have children named Kevin or Kristin, better steer them toward basketball.

Words have power, both to draw people together and to affect their success. “In the beginning was the Word,” says the Gospel of John, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). This powerful Word was a part of God’s creative work at the very beginning of time, and John tells us that “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (vv. 3-4).

In time, this “Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (v. 14). The Word entered human life as Jesus Christ, full of both the grace of God and the truth of God. The shepherds discovered him on Christmas, and the Magi on Epiphany. We shouldn’t be surprised that this person with the initials J.C. would then start his career as a Jewish Carpenter.

But there is much deeper significance to the name of Jesus. As I said last week, the name means “God saves.” This is true, but to be even more precise, we need to understand that the name Jesus is a Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “Yahweh is salvation.” The word “Yahweh” is the personal name of God, a name so holy that devout Jews will not risk corrupting it by saying it out loud. At certain times in history, this name has been translated into English as “Jehovah,” and we still use the name in hymns such as “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah.”

So Jehovah is one version of the personal name of God. And here’s the important point: It’s a name that is part of the name of Jesus. Jesus has God in his name — literally — and this is a key factor in God’s grace and truth coming through him.

Jehovah and Jesus. They belong together. Call it “The J Factor.”

Eclipse Glasses and Jesus -- FPC sermon excerpt

Kids are given the strangest names.

In June 2001, a total solar eclipse was about to cross southern Africa. To prepare for this event, the African media started a massive astronomy education campaign, focused on warning people not to stare at the sun.

Apparently, the campaign worked, according to mental_floss magazine (February 2008). The Africans took a real liking to the vocabulary in the education campaign. Today, birth registries are filled with children named “Totality,” “Annular,” and “Eclipse Glasses.”

Yes, that’s right: “Eclipse Glasses.” It’s a name that works equally well for boys and for girls.

There is a tremendous focus on names in the Christmas story we have heard tonight, and these names have meanings deeper than “Totality” and “Annular.” In a time of violence and warfare, the prophet Isaiah says, “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel” (7:14). This name means “God is with us,” so the birth of this child comes as a powerful sign that God is entering into the middle of human life, to help and protect his people.

One of my colleagues is the pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in McLean. At a recent lunch he said to me, “You know, the very center of my theology is captured in the name of my church, Immanuel. It means that God is coming into the world, in human form, to show his love.”

Immanuel. God is with us. It’s a strange name, but deeply significant.

Then an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21). The name “Jesus” has significance as well — it means, “God saves,” and it reminds us that God is working through Jesus to save us from sin and death.

Joseph realizes in his dream that this is taking place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us” (vv. 22-23).

So the baby really has two names: Immanuel and Jesus. They mean, “God is with us” and “God saves.” Both are important, and both point us to the true meaning of the gift of Christ at Christmas.

First, Immanuel. The promise of Immanuel is that God is with us now and always — through stress and sickness, conflict and confusion, failure and frustration, despair and even death itself. Nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). That’s the guarantee of Immanuel — that God is with us, in every time and place and situation. When I visited a grieving church member recently, she said that her greatest comfort, after losing a child, was that God was with her. That’s Immanuel.

But the name Jesus is important as well — it reminds us that God is not merely with us, but that “God saves.” You see, God is not just a divine cheerleader, encouraging us and urging us on, but is hard at work in the muck and mire of human life to rescue us from sin and death. God is acting through Jesus to bring us forgiveness of sin, and healing of body, mind, and spirit. God is reminding us again and again that Jesus has gone all the way to the cross to show us just how much he loves us. Our Lord has died to bring us forgiveness, and been raised to offer us new life. Jesus is the clearest possible sign that “God saves.”

Immanuel and Jesus. God is with us; God saves. So much more meaningful than “Totality,” “Annular,” and “Eclipse Glasses.”

The Knockoff Jesus -- FPC sermon excerpt

“I like the Christmas Jesus best.”

That’s what Will Ferrell says in the comedy Talladega Nights, when he is playing a stock car driver named Ricky Bobby. “Dear tiny Jesus,” he says as he begins his prayer at a family meal. “Golden fleece diapers, with your tiny, fat, balled-up fist …”

“Jesus did grow up,” his wife reminds him. “You don’t always have to call him baby.”

“I like the Christmas Jesus best when I’m saying grace,” he insists. And so he continues his prayer, “Dear 8 lb., 6 oz., newborn infant Jesus. Don’t even know a word yet. Just a little infant, so cuddly, but still omnipotent … Thank you for all your power and your grace, dear baby God. Amen.”

Now we might laugh at Will Ferrell, but the truth is that we like the Christmas Jesus, too. We love to sing “Away in a manger, no crib for His bed, the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head.” We like to “Go, tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born!” We enjoy Christmas pageants with glittery stars and shepherds in bathrobes, along with the chance to join our voices in “Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin mother and child! Holy Infant, so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.”

We like the Christmas Jesus best.

But what if this tiny infant is a bit of a knockoff? Not a fake, but a version that is not quite as valuable as the original. The problem with knockoffs is that they can take our focus off the genuine article.

In New York City, a battle is raging between designers of high-fashion clothing and manufacturers who create knockoffs. My daughter Sadie has seen this first hand, as she spent this semester doing an internship at the fashion magazine Marie Claire. A designer dress will cost you $750, while a quality copy — a knockoff — can be purchased for $260. You will pay $300 for designer jeans, but can get something similar for $30. The factories that make these copies work fast, delivering knockoffs even before the designer version is available in stores.

So do you want the real deal, or a knockoff? With clothing, it probably doesn’t matter. You are going to be okay with either version. But when it comes to our Christian beliefs, it is important to separate the Knockoff Jesus from the genuine article. We don’t want Will Ferrell’s dear tiny Jesus in golden fleece diapers to distract us from the one who is the Son of the Most High God.

The story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary gives us a glimpse of the original Jesus, and you can tell his authenticity by the presence of certain brand names — they include Favored One, Jesus, Son of the Most High, Servant of the Lord. Unless you see these names, you might find yourself looking at a knockoff.