There are certain things we cling to that give us reassurance and comfort…things that are constantly with us.  Young children often have a favorite blanket, stuffed animal, or pacifier.  For adults, perhaps it’s our wallet, car keys, or cell phone. Perhaps it’s a steady income, a reliable occupation, a predictable food source.  Without any of them we feel lost.

Yet, beyond the material things that we cling to, we intuitively know there is something else that powerfully clings to us.  Our name. 

The majority of us are given our name when we are born. The choice is not ours, but we live with it throughout our lives.  That is why parent’s-to-be spend considerable time choosing a name for their baby.  They know it will be with the child for a lifetime – and it will be a powerful representation of who that person is.

In a bit, we’ll focus on the significance of two names given to Joseph as he and Mary pondered names for their child-to-be.  But first, let’s back up a bit and set the scene – a scene that introduces an awkward situation for Mary and Joseph.

She and Joseph were engaged to be married.  The exchange of property between families had begun.  They looked forward to the usual pattern – engagement, marriage, children, living a good, honest life.  A utopian life seemed to be within reach – a perfect life.

Then the storybook life was interrupted.  Mary was pregnant out of wedlock.  Now what?!  Joseph had to think fast.  He had to keep the gossip to a minimum.  He would to do the honorable thing – keep silence.  He resolved to dismiss Mary quietly, to break the promise of betrothal.  He obviously had a great love for Mary and didn’t want her reputation to be ruined and become a public disgrace.  The law said she could be killed for getting herself into that situation.  But Joseph quietly made a plan to let her out of this engagement.  Keeping things quiet was the honorable thing to do.

Mary must have taken great comfort in that – that Joseph would stand in solidarity with her.

So, having resolved in his mind what he would do, Joseph went to sleep. And as he slept an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.  The angel came with an incredible message. 

Joseph shouldn’t be afraid to marry Mary.  The baby to be born was legitimate, conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And what’s more, the baby was to be the savior of the world and be named Jesus – which means “the one who saves.”  This baby was to be Emmanuel – “God with us!”

With names like that and a promise of God in their midst Joseph didn’t need any more convincing after he awoke.  He obeyed the command of the Lord and resolved to marry Mary.  Joseph had cooperated with God’s action in human history.  He understood that obedience to God, even in the most dire of circumstances creates a life of substance and character.  He understood that while he was prepared to do the right thing, the honorable thing, God was prepared to do a new thing, a different thing  – something totally unexpected.

And there was something else equally important. God intended to be present with Joseph and Mary as they navigated this unusual journey together.

God had reminded them of Emmanuel – that despite the curve ball thrown into their lives, God was very much in the midst of it – recreating a new thing.  God turned them around – especially Joseph.  He repented of what he had resolved to do and as a result he came to see God face to face, in the flesh, Emmanuel. 

And a new thing happened.  Indeed, new things do happen when God is in the midst of life.  Despair is not the last word.  Fear is not the last word.  Hopelessness is not the last word.  “I am with you” is the last word – Emmanuel. 

That is why the story today is such good news.  As the heirs of that legacy, we are privileged to know the experience of  I Am With You at every juncture of our lives.  When fear threatens to overwhelm or keeps us from being authentic witnesses to the gospel, when friends betray us, when sickness overcomes us, when death approaches, I Am With You transforms our fears and failings into faith.  Mortal flesh cannot keep silence when I Am With You spurs us to action.

The Apostle Paul writes this in his letter to the Romans says:  “What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?  He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?  Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 

Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  

…. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is the Good News – that Jesus, Emmanuel is the one who clings to us in all of life.  Even during those times when we question our own identity, our own self-worth, when it’s difficult to cling to Jesus for whatever reason, we are assured “I Am With You” clings to us.  

AMEN