The Feast of the Holy Name
Thursday, January 24th, 2008The gospel readings are identical in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). The epistle readings differ, though, as we will see below.
Luke 2:15-21
The gospel for today is spread across two segments of commentary in the Journey series. The first portion contains Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus. Luke places the Holy Family in its long trek from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, an eighty-mile stretch of often difficult and dangerous terrain. At the beginning of this passage, Joseph and Mary have found temporary shelter among the animals because there was no room in the inn.
Yet, the family is not alone. The birth of Jesus is heralded by angels. One would think that heavenly messengers making a monumental announcement would appear to the priestly classes, or to the highborn, wealthy, and powerful. Instead, the message is delivered to shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. God’s ways are not the world’s ways.
It is tempting to view this pastoral scene as a biblical affirmation of God’s special affinity for the solid peasantry, the people of the land who work with crops and herds. But if we were to think this way, we would be wrong. Shepherds worked out in the elements. Their tasks often required them to be ceremonially unclean, as they had to protect the flocks from whatever risks arose, regardless of where that led them. Moreover, with easy “confusion” among flocks and animals, shepherds were often regarded as thieves. The result: in first-century Judaism, shepherds were virtual outcasts.
So it is to the ruffians—not the kings or the priests or even the solid, law-abiding peasant stock—that the announcement of the birth of the Savior is made. What might that mean for the way we think about conventional morality and piety?
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However, the above section does not complete our reading from Luke. The Feast of the Holy Name, as the title suggests, involves the actual naming of the Savior. We pick up that strand in verse 21, where the evangelist reports that the child has been given the name that the angel directed before he was conceived in the womb.Because our Journey series divides the material differently from the lectionary reading, we will include an additional section of commentary regarding the rites of circumcision and purification. Mary and Joseph, as observant Jews, follow the requirements of these rites. Luke’s descriptions of them depict an evangelist who possesses less-than-a-comprehensive understanding of the Mosaic law. Perhaps this trait is a byproduct of his Gentile identity. However, the fact that he shows Mary and Joseph undertaking the considerable efforts to observe the rites (even if Luke is wrong about their precise details) demonstrates a high regard for Jewish tradition. Luke shows how, from the beginning, the new Jesus movement remains in continuity with ancient Judaism.
Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume I in PDF format.
Romans 1:1-7 (BCP)
The BCP and RCL readings from the epistles diverge for the Feast of the Holy Name. Since we provided commentary on the BCP’s epistle in the Journey series, we will include that here as well.
The introductory material to Paul’s Letter to the Romans states that the ancestry of Jesus “according to the flesh” follows the Davidic line. It reports God’s declaration that Jesus is his son “according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead.”
The concept of how Jesus stands in sonship toward God is easily glossed over, as if its meaning were readily apparent. In fact, it is not. We considered this idea in Volume I of the Journey when studying Luke’s version of the baptism of Jesus. That event served as a springboard to address the broader questions of what we mean when we say that Jesus is the Son of God.
Click here to download the actual page excerpts from Volume I in a PDF format.