A sermon for the Feast of the Holy Name
January 1, 2026, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Hot Springs, AR
Readings: Numbers 6:22-27; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 2:15-21
It seems like a throw-away line, something so simple and easy to overlook. After the angels and shepherds, Luke in the gospel writes today, “After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” It doesn’t seem like a significant line. It seems routine, ordinary. But this name, the name of Jesus, the name given to the Son of God by the angel before he was conceived in the womb–this is the name above all names. As St. Paul says, at this name, “every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Continue reading “And They Named Him Jesus”
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