We are God’s Children Now January 3

Wednesday before Epiphany

“Beloved, we are God’s Children now.” 1 John 3:2

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” John 1:29

By Diane Bayne

The readings for today, the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, tell us again who Jesus is and what He has done--and continues to do--for us. Jesus, the Lamb of God, has taken away our sins and the sins of the whole world. Because of what Jesus has done, we come to God not as cowering suppliants but as God’s children and Jesus’ sisters and brothers. All of the various names attributed to Jesus flow from this great Salvific mission: Beginning with the name Jesus, given him by the angel “before he was conceived in the womb,” Jesus is named and renamed throughout the gospels. Jesus, Son of the Most High. Jesus, King of a Kingdom that will never end. Jesus, Savior: “. . . he shall save his people from their sins.” Regarding this verse, A. J. Russell has a quote too good to pass up:

“In that word ‘sins’ read not only vice and degradation, but doubts, fears, tempers, despondencies, impatience, lack of Love in big and little things. Jesus. ‘He shall save his people from their sins.’ The very uttering of the Name lifts the soul away from petty valley-irritations to mountain heights. ‘He shall save his people from their sins.’ Savior and friend, Joy-bringer and Rescuer. Leader and Guide--Jesus. Do you need delivering from cowardice, from adverse circumstances, from poverty, from failure, from weakness? ‘There is no other Name . . . whereby you can be saved’-- Jesus. Say it often. Claim the Power it brings” ( Reading for December 31 in God Calling, Barbour Publishing)

Piety and Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/010307.shtml

Search the Scriptures for the various titles of Jesus and pick one or two to meditate on. One place to begin this search could be Isaiah 9:6 - “A child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

As an alternative, meditate on this sublime passage from Philippians:

Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbles himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Phil. 2:5-12)

Action

This week, put on the attitude of Christ as you search out ways to deepen your relationship with one other person in your life.