Name Him Jesus

Name Him Jesus

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!

Luke 1:31-33

An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20-21

Most parents spend a lot of time thinking about what they will name their babies. They think through names with special meanings, traditional family names, and names they just like the sound of.

Mary and Joseph didn’t have to wonder what to name the baby Mary was carrying. The angel who appeared to Mary and Joseph separately told them both what to name the baby: Jesus. And this was no random name, though it was an ordinary name for a Jewish boy in that day. The name Jesus was rich with meaning about who this child would be and what he would do.

Jesus, or Yeshua in Hebrew, means “the Lord saves.” It is a combination of Yahu, a personal name for God, and shua, which means “a cry for help” or “a saving cry.” So in a sense, the angel was telling Joseph and Mary by the name he was to be given that this child would be a rescuer, a savior—someone who would be no less than God himself in the body of a baby.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

What does your name mean? Why did your parents choose it for you?

Read Luke 1:31-33. Can you name five things the angel told Mary about her child?

What do you think it was like for Mary to take in what the angel told her about what her baby would do and who he would be?