Luke 2:21 “On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given to him before he had been conceived.”

We tend to name our children because we like the way the name sounds. Some celebrities give their children strange sounding names like “Football Helmet” or “Pilot Inspektor” or “Moon Unit,” I think because they are unique and they draw attention. I will resist the temptation to say anything more about the practice.

Some people get their names because they run in the family. There is history and tradition behind the name. Some parents name their children after best friends or heroes or people they respected.

The names God gives himself are all meaningful and descriptive. His names are ways that he reveals things about himself to us. The name “Jesus” is no exception.

It was traditional for Jewish families to make a son’s name official on the day he was circumcised. Circumcision officially recognized the boy’s identity as one of God’s chosen people. It made sense to give him the name which would identify him on that day as well.

Unlike other parents, Mary and Joseph didn’t get to pick the name of their first child. That had been chosen by God before he was born. Angels had visited both mother and stepfather to make sure they were both aware.

It wasn’t a strange name. Archeologists have discovered the tombs of at least 70 people named Jesus who lived in Israel about the same time. It is a shorter form of “Joshua,” which was shared by several prominent people in the Old Testament. We know it best from the man who led Israel after Moses.

The name means “The LORD saves,” (that’s LORD as in Jehovah or Yahweh). The angel told Joseph to name him this because “he will save his people from their sins.” Every time we hear or use the name “Jesus,” then, we have a little gospel sermon promising us the forgiveness of our sins.

As we begin another year, doesn’t Jesus’ name promise us new beginnings? When two people live with resentments, they are living in the past. I can’t tell you how much marriage counseling I have done, and it is all about what she did behind my back, and what he said about me in front of the family, and how he always fails to do his part, and she can never control her spending. Two such people are living in the past. It drives everything about their relationship in the present. In one way, marriage counseling is easy, because what we need to do is almost always the same. Someone has to say, “I’m sorry,” and mean it, and someone else has to say, “I forgive you,” and mean it. Unfortunately, those two phrases happen to be two of the hardest things for anyone to say.

The name Jesus received on this day promises us that our God is ready and waiting to say, “I forgive you.” He doesn’t want to live in our past. He wants to put it behind him and us. He wants a day of new beginnings for him and for us, a year of new beginnings, a lifetime of new beginnings. His forgiveness promises that we can start fresh, like it never even happened. Jesus’ name promises that his forgiveness is real, because he came and saved us from our sins.

As we start 2024 together, I can wish you a happy new year, but I certainly can’t promise you one. For all I know the year ahead may be filled with more anxiety and heartache than the year we leave behind. But I can promise you this: with the Lord, every day will be a day of new beginnings, cleansed of sin. God promises it is so, in Jesus’ name.