Immanuel - You shall call his name Immanuel.
Have you got a Nickname? For some reason or other, my father nicknamed me Bimbo and the way that he would say it was always underlined with a sense of endearment. Evidently, at the time there was a song recorded in 1949 that had the words, “Bimbo, Bimbo, whatcha gonna do-e-o, Bimbo is a little boy who's got a million friends, And every time he passes by, they all invite him in.”
In the case of Jesus, Joseph was instructed to give the name Immanuel, why, because the name personified the reality that in this given son - God was and is with us. Read the whole event in Matthew 1:18-25.
Joseph is faced with a heart-breaking dilemma. His life is in turmoil because he loves Mary so much. Let us imagine for a few moments how welcome the angel’s message must have been to him! How quickly he acts, allowing himself to follow his heart and not allowing his sense of legal obligation to rule.
Is Joseph being taught a lesson about the surprising ways in which God works? Surely God is saying something here about the divine ability to bring good even out of situations the world thinks scandalous! ‘Nothing is impossible to God.’
‘God is with us!’ reminds us that every time we pray, God is with us. And every time we respond to the promptings of the good Spirit, God is with us in what we do. God is now present in the world as never before. We are surrounded by God.
No wonder that John Wesley’s last words were, “The best of all is, God is with us.”
Lord, I thank you for Joseph’s generous, courageous risk-taking. He trusted completely in your words “do not be afraid” and allowed his carefully made plans to be unravelled. May I too be open when you invite me to risk. In in that risk know that “God is with us” Amen
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