By Joe LaGuardia
A Pastor Appreciates the Hymns is a series on hymnody and worship in the church. By incorporating personal testimony and theological reflection, the series draws meaning and strength from sacred songs past and present.
And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:31-32a).”
In Advent we long for our Savior to come to us, to be born anew and challenge us during this season of hope. But who is this Savior, precisely, and what is the shape and nature of this Savior’s character and integrity?
I am often surprised at how many Christmas carols explore the various names that apply to the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of our heart. Take O Come, O Come Emmanuel, for instance, which calls Jesus by the name given by the prophet Isaiah, “Emmanuel” which means “God with us.”
Depending on the version of the song, it provides a litany of other names for Jesus too: Dayspring, Wisdom, Lord of Might, Rod of Jesse, Key of David, and Desire of Nations. There is something in each title that reveals Jesus’ character and purpose.
The hymn, penned as a medieval liturgy in the 12th-century, is one of many antiphons that are sung at the beginning of a psalm reading or following the reading of the Magnificat. Antiphons are known for drawing attention to the titles of Christ and inspiring deeper reflection on who He is as both personal Savior and cosmic Redeemer.
The names for Christ that we sing about in O Come, O Come Emmanuel echo prophecy from Old Testament scripture and affirm that Jesus is the long-awaited messiah, the one whom God sent to “ransom captive Israel.”
According to Magrey DeVega in Songs for the Waiting, the hymn does more than merely name Jesus, it challenges us to name our experience of Jesus. Who is Jesus to us? What is the nature of our captivity, and how does Jesus, deeply rooted in all of scripture (and is, according to John 1, the very “Word of God”), bring release and liberation to us?
Another carol that focuses on the names of Christ is Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming. Like O Come, O Come Emmanuel, the song affirms that Jesus is David’s offspring, the “root of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1), and the fulfillment of God’s promise to secure David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7). This messiah is a king, but also God’s gift to us: a “rose” that saves us and “lightens every load.”
Jesus is the “rose”, specifically the “rose of Sharon” spoken about in Song of Solomon 2:1. Although Song of Solomon is a love letter between two partners, Christians have incorporated the poetry as a way to experience Christ’s intimacy with them.
Jesus as a “rose” is our beloved, and the fragrance of his life–his birth, mighty works, ministry, death and resurrection–fills all creation with the sweet aroma of God’s redemption. As lovers give roses to each other on special occasions, Jesus is God’s rose to us–a symbol of the covenant that God made with us, and “new covenant” that includes the rosy-red blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our sins.
Names mean something: they tell us of a person’s character; they ground us in stability during hardship and tragedy; they name our experience and posit hope in an uncertain world. The carols and hymns that name Jesus are, for us, a way to remind us who it is that visits us every Christmas. As the prophet Isaiah puts it:
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us;
Authority rests on his shoulders; and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…
For the throne of David and his kingdom; he will establish and uphold it forever” (9:6,7).
During this Advent and Christmas season, as you sing of the hope and longing we have in God, who is this Jesus to you, and by what name do you call him?
Baptist Spirituality 