4th Sunday of Advent.

December 18, 2016

Is 7:7-10; Rom 1:1-7; Mt 1:18-24

Believing in the name of Jesus: why and how?

I never thought that God could use a secular song that I heard in a shopping mall to make me
reflect on how much I really needed Him in my life. I was moved for the very first time to listen
closely to the lyrics of Maria Carey’s "All I want for Christmas is you," in a mall recently. The
song has absolutely nothing to do with the spirit of Christmas. Here is a snippet:
I don't want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need, I don't care about the presents underneath the
Christmas tree. I just want you for my own more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true. All I
want for Christmas is you, yeah…. 'Cause I just want you here tonight. Holding on to me so tight. What more
can I do? Baby, all I want for Christmas is you, you, baby.”

In that God-moment, I found myself reflecting, “Can I really say these same words to Jesus from
my heart and mean it? Can I say to Jesus, “Jesus, all I need for Christmas is you?” Maybe our
Advents and Christmases come and go and leave us unchanged and unmoved because we do
not realize how badly we need Jesus in every single moment of our lives.
We can begin to grasp how badly we need Jesus if we reflect deeply on what the name “Jesus”
means and what it means to say, “I believe in the name of Jesus.” Today’s readings show us
how Jesus remains ever faithful to this name and the mission that it entails.
First, before the Incarnation, the Father named Jesus Emmanuel, “God with us,” the sign
promised by God to the faithless Judean King Ahaz in today’s First Reading, “The virgin shall
conceive and bear a sign, and shall name Him Emmanuel.” The Hebrew name Jesus itself
means “God saves,” showing that this “God with us” is never idle, indifferent, or inactive in us.
Lastly, the name that His parents gave Him in obedience to the angel shows that He acts
constantly to save us from our sins, “She (Mary) will bear a son and you are to name Him Jesus,
because He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus is indeed Emmanuel, the God who is
always with us to save us from our sins.
If I then truly believe in the name of Jesus, then three things must be evident in my act of faith.
Firstly, I must believe that Jesus is truly God, the Second Person of the Trinity deserving of all
my adoration, awe, and reverence. Secondly, I believe that in Jesus Christ, God is always with
me and He knows what I am going through at every moment because He has become one like
me and with me, “He became one like us in all things but sin.” Thirdly, I believe that God is
never idle in me but He is with me always to save me from my sins and to make me His beloved
child, “To those who believe in His name, He gave power to become children of God.” (Jn. 1:12)
We begin to grasp our need for Jesus, our Savior God, alone above all things and in every
moment only when we have come to a practical faith in the name of Jesus as the true God, the
One who has become one with us and like us, not to condemn us but to save us from what is
truly ours – our sins – and to give us what is only His to give – adoption as God’s own children
and a participation in His own faithful love.
It has become so easy for us in our secular times to take Jesus as one more item on our
shopping list or list of things to do? Many of us even conveniently take Him out of the list if we
had to choose between Him and something or someone else. Today more than ever we need to
be firmly grounded on the truth that the name of Jesus is the only name by which we can be
saved (Cf. Acts 4:12) and let our faith in Him affect all the aspects of our lives.
Even authentic devotion to Mary will not dare try to make Mary take the place of our Savior.
Mary, the Mother of the Savior, gives us Jesus by her consent of faith, points us to Jesus, leads
us to Jesus, intercedes with Jesus on our behalf for our spiritual and temporal needs, implores
us to obey Him always, and helps us to open our hearts completely to the graces that He has
merited for us with her cooperation.
Mary is the one who first believed in the name of Jesus, “You will name Him Jesus.” She never
doubted that Jesus was with her, “The Lord is with you.” She always remembered the meaning
of that name. She lost everything in Calvary as she watched her son die but she waited for His
Resurrection peacefully because she never doubted that Jesus will be faithful to His name and
save us by rising from the grave. Mary is our prime model and help to live that true faith in the
name of Jesus.
How then do we begin to show and cultivate our need for Jesus on a practical level? First of all,
we show we need Him when we need His forgiveness for our sins. What joy of God’s children
will be ours when we discover that our sins or failures does not make Him less of an
Emmanuel? Secondly, we show we need Jesus when we let His words of truth alone to guide us
in all aspects of our lives. We refuse to be led by mere public opinions, passing fads, or mere
sentiments. This will lead us to experience the joyful hope of God’s beloved children. Lastly, we
show by our life of prayer and sacraments that we need the graces of Jesus at all times to do
the right thing in love and to overcome evil.

The current drive to reinstate the death penalty here in the Philippines and its growing
acceptance and apathy by many of the faithful is another evidence that we need to ponder
more deeply what it means to say, “I believe in the name of Jesus.” Advocacy or support for the
death penalty is to deny or ignore the fact that, in Jesus Christ, God is with the condemned
person, God alone knows how great the person’s struggle is, and God is laboring constantly to
save the person from their sins and make them a child of God. Having failed to realize that we
all need Jesus’ forgiveness, grace, and truth at each moment, whether we think ourselves good
or bad, proponents of the death penalty consider themselves good and the condemned too bad
to be alive. This is very different from the attitude of St. Joseph, who, despite his righteousness
and good will towards Mary, was not blind to his need for a savior.
As we encounter Jesus, the ever active “God with us,” in today’s Eucharist, are we going to let
this be just another Advent season like the previous ones? We will be transformed greatly this
Advent if we grow in a single degree in the sense of our personal need for Jesus. If we never
forget what the name of Jesus means and believe that Jesus remains ever faithful to that name,
we can indeed say from the depths of our hearts, “Jesus, all I need in this life is you.”

Glory to Jesus!!! Honor to Mary!!!