Blessed Be The Holy Name Of Jesus

Holy Name of Jesus 2025

Christian apologists are not people who are constantly making apologies, like some politicians. No, Christian apologia is defense of our faith. One of the recurring accusations made against the Christian Scriptures is that there are contradictions in the received texts. So, looking at today’s Gospel, we see one of those passages that attracts anti-Christian assault. Mary, virgin mother of the Messiah, gets word to Joseph that she is pregnant, and explains that an angel appeared and the child in her womb is there by the action of the Holy Spirit. Joseph is called a “just man,” which in the language of that time means he was considered a living saint. In his humility Joseph believes himself unworthy of the honor. Full stop. In a dream, probably the same angel, Gabriel, appears to Joseph and says "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." In Aramaic and Hebrew, that’s probably Ye-shua.

But then the Gospel’s human author, Matthew, parses his Isaiah scroll and finds what he considers the presage of this event. Isaiah is speaking to bad king Ahaz, who has killed at least one of his male offspring as a sacrifice to the pagan gods, to assure him that even though he is a royal murderer, God is going to save his kingdom: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel (which means, God with us).” That looks like a contradiction, doesn’t it? Isaiah calls the one to be born “Emmanuel,” but at His circumcision, Joseph names Him Yeshua, or in English “Jesus.”

It's not a true contradiction. First, Isaiah and the angel are talking about two different human beings, born several centuries apart. They are the son of Ahaz, who fulfills the older prophecy, and the Son of God, Jesus.

Second, and more importantly, we have in both cases the conception of a baby with a virgin mother. In Ahaz’s case, he takes a bride and after the nuptials his new wife conceives and bears a baby boy. Ahaz is the father. Then, centuries later, the Holy Spirit, with Mary’s assent, acts to conceive a child in her virginal womb, and He is born without a human father. All He needs to be both divine and human is the human mother, Mary. Joseph will be protector and foster-father of the boy.

Finally, there is an equivalence between the two names “Emmanuel” and “Ye-shua.” Jesus, our Lord, is the human embodiment of the Word, God Himself. He is truly “God with us.” But His life, death and resurrection saves us from our sins. Therefore, as the God who is with us, unlike the pagan gods, He is with us in order to rescue us from sin and death.

The Son rescues us by the act St. Paul extols in his letter to the Philippians. The Blessed Trinity loves us. The Son, in a sense being restless while men and women are unable to be with Him forever, wants to earn His rightful place of adoration. He empties Himself of all His glory and honor in His conception and birth. He becomes like us in everything but sin and the urge to sin. He becomes pure gift. Even more, He subjects Himself willingly to unjust conviction. He is tortured and dies in our place, thus giving us a sure path to our own justification and glorification. He is exalted at the Father’s right hand as our Lord and Savior. With the psalmist then we praise Him who raises us lowly humans from the dust, and with His divine riches bestows all His graces on us forever. Blessed be His holy name. We must treat the name of Jesus with the utmost praise and respect.