I Believe in Jesus

 

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:18-21 ESV).

 

Just this week I began the process of getting my TSA Precheck renewed. Among other things, I must be able to present two forms of proof of identity. I have chosen to use my driver’s license and a certified copy of my birth certificate. I haven’t looked at my birth certificate in a long while. As I looked it over, my mind wandered a bit about how I got the name “Donald Patrick.” It certainly is not a traditional Italian name like my brothers (Frank, Jr., Michael, and Nicholas). No one else in our family had that name. It is not a Biblical name. Maybe they liked the way it sounded. Or the stories are true that they thought I was going to be a girl and didn’t have a boy’s name ready, so the Irish nuns at the hospital named me. Regardless, that’s my name.

 

It was a bit different when Jesus was too be born. When Mary was about to give birth, she and Joseph didn’t have a choice. Through an angel, God commanded them to name the child Jesus. The name “Jesus” is Greek for the Hebrew name “Joshua”, whom God chose to lead Israel into the promised land (cf. Joshua 1). The Hebrew name Joshua means “God is deliverance,” and that was a fitting name for the man who led Israel out of their wandering in the wilderness and into the land God had promised them. And in God’s great story, the life of Joshua points toward an even greater figure.

 

When we say, with the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in Jesus,” we affirm that God’s Son, Jesus, is our salvation. God’s own Son rescues us from the dark pit of our sin into the light and spacious peace of knowing and resting in God. So many things promise deliverance in this life. Yet the Bible states clearly that there is only one way to know God—and that is through his Son, Jesus (cf. John 14:6). His name means “Savior,” revealing that Jesus is God’s deliverance. That is our declaration in this great creed!