Wednesday, January 3, 2024

The Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

John 1, 29-34

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

This feast was relatively recently added to the calendar of the Holy Church.  The Most Holy Name of Jesus has always been venerated by Christians, particularly in the former Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord, when the Infant Jesus was given his name by St. Joseph.  Over the ages, appreciation for the power and holiness of this name increased, especially through the preaching of St. Bernardine in the 1500’s.  The name itself, meaning “God saves” tells us of God’s love for us sinners and what he did in order to save us.  In 1530 the pope granted this feast to the Franciscans, the chief spreaders of the devotion to the name of Jesus.  Originally the feast was celebrated on January 14.  In 1969, at the time of the revision of the General Calendar, the feast was dropped.  It was recently restored and is celebrated on January 3.  It is accorded the rank of an optional memorial and so proper readings were not assigned to it but only the regular readings of the day.

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  The idea of the Messiah as “the Lamb of God”, and, indeed, the term itself, was entirely new at the time John identified Jesus this way.  John references Isaiah 53, 7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.”  This verse heads a longer passage of prophecy describing the mysterious Servant of the Lord who will suffer, bearing the iniquities of the people and justifying many (cf. Isaiah 53, 11-12).  That John describes from the very beginning of the Lord’s Public Life that Jesus, the Messiah awaited by the Jews, would suffer and die for the salvation of the world showed to all who had ears that he had not come to liberate Israel and reign as its new king.  John even teaches that the Lord is divine through his pre-existence: “A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.”  John admits also, “I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.”  That is, he did not know Jesus as the Lord until he came to him to be baptized.  At that time, John humbly declared that he needed to be baptized by Jesus, though he deferred to the Lord’s wishes.  The subsequent appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the voice from heaven confirmed what had been revealed to him in his heart.  He did not recognize him: the grace of the Holy Spirit was required for him to recognize Jesus as the Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world, and this is required for us today, for “no one can say Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12, 3).  When we believe that Jesus is Lord, we can know that it is through the Holy Spirit imparting this grace to us individually.  “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”  John both sees and testifies.  This seeing is not for us to keep to ourselves but necessitates testimony.  We give this through our words and our actions, each according to his or her vocation.