Jesus
Introduction
Jesus’ proper name derives from the Hebrew “Joshua,” meaning “Yahweh saves” or “salvation is from Yahweh” (Matt. 1:21).
Jesus. The Hebrew Jeshua means “the Lord is Salvation.”
Jesus. See v. 25; Lk 1:31. The name actually means “Savior” (see note on v. 1).
1:21 The name Jesus was given to sons as a symbolic hope for the Lord’s anticipated sending of salvation through a Messiah who would purify his people and save them from oppression (see note on v. 1). But the angel points to a more important theme: to save his people from their sins. Salvation from sins was a repeated promise in OT prophets (e.g., Isa. 40:2; 53:6; Jer. 31:31–34; Ezek. 36:25–27; Dan. 9:24; Zech. 13:1).
Jesus (Gk. Iēsous) was the historical, everyday name, and is Yeshua‘/Yehoshua‘ (Joshua) in Hebrew, meaning “Yahweh saves” (Neh. 7:7; cf. Matt. 1:21).
he was called Jesus. As in John’s circumcision, the emphasis falls on the name. The name “Jesus” (Gk. Iēsous) is the equivalent of Yeshua‘/Yehoshua‘ (Joshua) in Hebrew, meaning “Yahweh saves” or “the Lord saves.”
The New Testament at times ascribes divinity to Jesus (Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13; 2 Pet 1:1), and therefore His names can also be considered a name of God (Hurtado Lord Jesus Christ; Bauckham, Jesus; Harris, Jesus as God). “Jesus” itself stems from the Greek Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous), which comes from the Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (yeshua'), meaning “salvation.”
Jesus, Matt. 1:21. Jesus Christ, Matt. 1:1; John 1:17; 17:3; Acts 2:38; 4:10; 9:34; 10:36; 16:18; Rom. 1:1, 3, 6; 2:16; 5:15, 17; 6:3; 1 Cor. 1:1, 4; 1 Cor. 2:2; 2 Cor. 1:19; 4:6; 13:5; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 1:8; 2:11; 1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 13:8; 1 John 1:7; 2:1
Jesus Christ our Savior, Tit. 3:6
shalt call his name JESUS—from the Hebrew meaning “Jehovah the Saviour”; in Greek JESUS—to the awakened and anxious sinner sweetest and most fragrant of all names, expressing so melodiously and briefly His whole saving office and work!
Such a child will also obviously be very special. Part of this special role is now specified. He is to be named Jesus (Heb. Yeshua), which means Yahweh is salvation or “the Lord saves” (NIV marg.). His ministry will not first of all involve the physical liberation of Israel from its enemies but the spiritual salvation of God’s people by removing the alienation from God which their sins have created. An echo of Ps 130:8 appears here.
The name Jesus chosen by God for his Son (1:21) was, in that day and for centuries before, a common name with special meaning. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua, meaning “Yahweh is salvation.”
Jewish boys for centuries had been given this name Jesus with the frequency of today’s John or Mike. This reflects, in part, the hope of Jewish parents for God’s salvation from centuries of oppression under a succession of world powers. God’s choice of such a common name, when he could have chosen something unique, also emphasized that Jesus came in a way that identified with “the average Joe.” He came in love to become one of us, that we might be drawn to him and become one of his. Jesus was approachable and touchable. He was one of us. “We do not have a high Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus did everything to build bridges to us.
Yet, while the name Jesus was common, only this child was qualified as the God-Man to save his people from their sins (1:21). Jesus came at the strategically appointed time to seal the eternal salvation of all whom the Father had chosen.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus (Καλεσιες το ὀνομα αὐτου Ἰησουν [Kalesies to onoma autou Iēsoun]). The rabbis named six whose names were given before birth: “Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, Solomon, Josiah, and the name of the Messiah, whom may the Holy One, blessed be His name, bring in our day.” The angel puts it up to Joseph as the putative father to name the child. “Jesus is the same as Joshua, a contraction of Jehoshuah (Num. 13:16; 1 Chron. 7:27), signifying in Hebrew, ‘Jehovah is helper,’ or ‘Help of Jehovah’ ” (Broadus). So Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua (Heb. 4:8). He is another Joshua to lead the true people of God into the Promised Land. The name itself was common enough as Josephus shows. Jehovah is Salvation as seen in Joshua for the Hebrews and in Jesus for all believers. “The meaning of the name, therefore, finds expression in the title Saviour applied to our Lord (Luke 1:47; 2:11; John 4:42)” (Vincent). He will save (σωσει [sōsei]) his people from their sins and so be their Saviour (Σωτηρ [Sōtēr]). He will be prophet, priest, and king, but “Saviour” sums it all up in one word. The explanation is carried out in the promise, “for he is the one who (αὐτος [autos]) will save (σωσει [sōsei] with a play on the name Jesus) his people from their sins.” Paul will later explain that by the covenant people, the children of promise, God means the spiritual Israel, all who believe whether Jews or Gentiles. This wonderful word touches the very heart of the mission and message of the Messiah. Jesus himself will show that the kingdom of heaven includes all those and only those who have the reign of God in their hearts and lives. From their sins (ἀπο των ἁμαρτιων αὐτων [apo tōn hamartiōn autōn]). Both sins of omission and of commission. The substantive (ἁμαρτια [hamartia]) is from the verb (ἁμαρτανειν [hamartanein]) and means missing the mark as with an arrow. How often the best of us fall short and fail to score. Jesus will save us away from (ἀπο [apo]) as well as out of (ἐξ [ex]) our sins. They will be cast into oblivion and he will cover them up out of sight.
Call Him “Jesus”
Yet, how simply the story is told! “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The explanation of the meaning of Jesus’ name is from the Old Testament, though Matthew does not draw attention to the fact. It is from Psalm 130, a psalm in which Israel is encouraged to “put your hope in the LORD” (v. 7). Why? Because, says the psalmist, “He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins” (v. 8). Even in the psalmist’s day it was clear that these words pointed forward to a redeemer and an act of redemption yet to come. But in Matthew, as we begin the New Testament, we learn that the time of that redemption has come and that the one who is to perform the work is none other than God himself in the person of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
What a name this is! Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jeshua or Joshua, and it means quite literally “Jehovah is salvation.” This is the message that was conveyed to Joseph primarily, for he was told that the one who had been conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit was a divine Messiah, the one who had been promised from the very beginning of Israel’s history, and even before that, and that the work of this divine person would be a work of salvation, since “he will save his people from their sins.” The prophesy from Isaiah reinforces this, for in addition to predicting that the Lord’s conception would be supernatural (“the virgin will be with child”), the text also declares that he will be God incarnate, since his name will be Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Isa. 7:14).
This is what captured the sanctified imagination of Charles Wesley when he composed the second stanza of his great Christmas hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Wesley must have had this passage in mind when he moved from the thought of Jesus’ heavenly preexistence to his incarnation, ending with the powerful name Immanuel.
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell.
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King.”
Here is a point where, although we are still at the very beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, we need to look forward to the end. For at the very end, in the very last sentence, the promise of this text returns again. Jesus has been crucified and raised from the dead. He has appeared to his disciples to commission them for the work he still has for them to do. They are to go into all the world and there make disciples of all nations. He tells them how this is to be done. They are to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and they are to teach obedience to everything he has commanded. Then he concludes, “And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
Immanuel! God with us! And to the very end of this age!
At the beginning of the Gospel we find that Jesus is “God with us” by a supernatural conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary. But here at the end he is still with us, and will be with us always.
What a wonderful list of names we have for Jesus! The Bible is full of them. He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the Ancient of Days. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah. He is our Prophet, Priest, and King. He is our Savior, the Only Wise God. He is our Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is the Lord, the Almighty. He is the Door of the sheep, the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. He is the Lamb Slain from before the foundation of the world. He is the Logos, the Light, the Light of the World, the Light of Life, the Tree of Life, the Word of Life, the Bread that came down from heaven, the Spring which, if a person drink of it, he will never thirst again. He is the Way and the Truth and the Life. He is the Resurrection and the Life. He is our Rock, our Bridegroom, our Beloved, and our Redeemer. He is the Head over all things, which is his body, the church.
But above all, he is “God with us,” Immanuel, and he came from heaven to earth to save us from our sins.
1:21 you will call his name A father was responsible for naming his son at the time of his circumcision (eight days after birth). The angel’s words implicitly command that Joseph accept his role as father of the child. In antiquity, names were often thought to be emblematic of the character or calling of the individual.
Jesus From the Hebrew name yeshua', which means “Yahweh saves.”
he will save his people from their sins Announces more than a royal or political Messiah. Jesus saves, even from sin (compare Isa 53:12).
This declaration—which reflects the meaning of Jesus’ name—is programmatic for Matthew’s Gospel. The remainder of the narrative justifies this statement, culminating in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. The salvation of which the angel spoke differed vastly from Jewish expectations of the Messiah; Jesus brought forgiveness of sins, not expulsion of the occupying Roman army or political-religious restoration.
Jesus. It is the Greek form of Joshua (Josh. 1:1). But this in turn is contracted from Jehoshuah (Num. 13:16) and means “Jehovah is salvation.” Sometimes it appears also as Jeshua (Neh. 7:7, etc.). Hence Jesus in the Greek. The name is not infrequent for various persons (1 Sam. 6:14, 18; 2 Kgs. 23:8; Josephus, Ant., VI. 6. 6. etc.). But the great captain who led the people into Canaan is the one usually in mind when this name is used. Another prominent Joshua was the high priest who came with Zerubbabel back to Jerusalem from exile (Ezra 2:2). In a real sense as spiritual King and spiritual priest Jesus was like both of these Joshuas of old. He is become the true Joshua of Israel. For. The reason for this name given to Mary by the angel (Lk. 1:31 f.). The reason is the expansion of the etymology of the name. Cf. Ps. 130:8. The term “Saviour” will be applied to Jesus as a just translation of his work into a Greek word. Joseph is not here told that it is only the spiritual Israel (including both Gentile and Jew) who will be freed from their sins. That is a matter that time will make clear (Rom. 9:6, 25), but Simeon will see that “the child Jesus” will be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Lk. 2:32). It is clear that the Messiah is not to be a political ruler, as the people had come to think under the teaching of the Pharisees. He will have a greater task than that of ridding Palestine of the Romans. He will undertake to rid men of their sins.
Ver. 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Jesus.] For though she was with child, it could not be known any otherwise than by prediction or divine revelation, that she should have a son, whose name should be called Jesus; a name of the same signification with Joshua and Hosea, and may be interpreted a Saviour, Acts 13:23 for the word ישוע Jesus, comes from ישע which signifies to save. And to this agrees the reason of the name given by the Angel, for he shall save his people from their sins. The salvation here ascribed to him, and for which he is every way fit, being God as well as man, and which he is the sole author of, is to be understood, not of a temporal, but of a spiritual and everlasting salvation; such as was prophesied of, Isa. 45:17 and which old Jacob had in his view, when he said, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord, Gen. 49:18 which by the Jewish Targumist is paraphrased thus: “Jacob saidG when he saw Gideon the son of Joash, and Sampson the son of Manoah, that they would rise up to be saviours, not for the salvation of Gideon do I wait, nor for the salvation of Sampson do I look, for their salvation is פורקן דשעחא a temporary salvation; but for thy salvation, O Lord, do I wait and look, for thy salvation is פורקן עלמין an everlasting salvation: or (according to another copy) but for the salvation of Messiah the son of David, who shall save the children of Israel, and bring them out of captivity, for thy salvation my soul waiteth.” By his people whom he is said to save are meant, not all mankind, though they are his by creation and preservation, yet they are not, nor will they be all saved by him spiritually and eternally; nor also the people of the Jews, for though they were his nation, his kinsmen, and so his own people according to the flesh, yet they were not all saved by him; many of them died in their sins, and in the disbelief of him as the Messiah: but by them are meant all the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, who were given to him by his Father, as a peculiar people, and who are made willing in the day of his power upon them, to be saved by him in his own way. And these he saves from their sins, from all their sins, original and actual; from secret and open sins; from sins of heart, lip and life; from sins of omission and commission; from all that is in sin, and follows upon it; from the guilt, punishment, and damning power of it, by his sufferings and death; and from the tyrannical government of it by his spirit and grace; and will at last save them from the being of it, though not in this life, yet hereafter, in the other world, when they shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.
Jesus the Savior
The angel tells Joseph that Mary ‘will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus [Iēsous], for he will save his people from their sins’ (1:21). The latter part of the statement expounds the meaning of Iēsous, the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew yehôšua’ (‘Joshua’), ‘Yahweh is salvation.’ The name God chooses for the child captures the singular purpose of his mission.
‘He will save his people from their sins,’ says the angel; and ‘from their sins,’ not those of others. Cf. Luke 1:77, ‘to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins.’ We are not told that the Son of David, the warrior king, will rescue Israel from her Gentile enemies; nor that the latter-day Joshua will lead a crusade patterned after his forebear’s war against the Canaanites. To be sure, the dawn of God’s rule (Matt. 4:17) assures that the foes of Messiah’s people will be defeated (Luke 1:74). But we already know from Matthew 1:1–17 that Gentiles are to be numbered among his people.
Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s perspective of what is more correctly termed the “virgin conception” (since our Lord’s birth was normal). Joseph and Mary were engaged (betrothed), a relational status only divorce could break. Before they came together in sexual union as husband and wife, “she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (v. 18). Mary had conceived a baby without Joseph’s involvement; the pregnancy was “from the Holy Spirit” because God himself caused Mary to become pregnant through a supernatural conception. By this means the Son of God became a human being. The second person of the Trinity took to himself a human nature in Mary’s womb and was born as the God-man with a human body and soul.
Ignorant of the truth, Joseph assumed the worst. No doubt confused and despondent, he planned to divorce her quietly to avoid shaming her. While he was in this state of mind, an angel of the Lord came in a dream and explained matters to him. The child Mary conceived was “from the Holy Spirit” (v. 20), and Joseph was to name the baby Jesus, which means “Yahweh saves.” The very name of Jesus, then, signifies that “he will save his people from their sins” (v. 21). Matthew indicates that these events fulfilled Isaiah 7:14, which foretells the virgin conception of “Immanuel … God with us” (Matt. 1:22–23). Awakening, Joseph obeyed the angel, took Mary as his wife, abstained from sexual relations until the baby was born, and named him Jesus.
Gabriel says that Jesus will be great because he is Savior.
Such a child will also obviously be very special. Part of this special role is now specified. He is to be named Jesus (Heb. Yeshua), which means Yahweh is salvation or “the Lord saves” (NIV marg.). His ministry will not first of all involve the physical liberation of Israel from its enemies but the spiritual salvation of God’s people by removing the alienation from God which their sins have created. An echo of Ps 130:8 appears here.
shalt call his name JESUS—from the Hebrew meaning “Jehovah the Saviour”; in Greek JESUS—to the awakened and anxious sinner sweetest and most fragrant of all names, expressing so melodiously and briefly His whole saving office and work!
“Silent Night” Still America’s Favorite Christmas Song
Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 2:1–14; John 1:1
Themes: Jesus_Birth, Music
Researchers at Time Magazine searched records in the U.S. Copyright Office for the number of times favorite Christmas songs have been recorded since 1978. The overwhelming choice as America’s favorite Christmas song is “Silent Night.” It has been recorded 733 times; the second most recorded Christmas song is “Joy to the World,” at 391 recordings. Rounding out the top five are “O Holy Night” at 374; “What Child Is This?” at 329; and “Away in a Manger” at 300.
The highest-rated secular song on the list is “White Christmas,” with 283 recordings. We may hear and fear otherwise, but according to our music (and the Bible), Christmas is still about the birth of Jesus.
—Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell
y
We are all so vain that we love to have our names remembered by those who have met us but once. We exaggerate the talents and virtues of those who can do this and we are ready to repay their powers with lifelong devotion. The ability to associate in the mind names and faces is a tremendous asset to a politician and it will prolong the pastorate of any clergyman.
William Lyons Phelps, American educator and literary critic, quoted in Bits & Pieces, June 22, 1995, p. 17.
New Age Names
When the 1960s ended, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district reverted to high rent, and many hippies moved down the coast to Santa Cruz. They had children and got married, too, though in no particular sequence. But they didn’t name their children Melissa or Brett. People in the mountains around Santa Cruz grew accustomed to their children playing Frisbee with little Time Warp or Spring Fever. And eventually Moonbeam, Earth, Love and Precious Promise all ended up in public school.
That’s when the kindergarten teachers first met Fruit Stand. Every fall, according to tradition, parents bravely apply name tags to their children, kiss them good-bye and send them off to school on the bus. So it was for Fruit Stand. The teachers thought the boy’s name was odd, but they tried to make the best of it.
“Would you like to play with the blocks, Fruit Stand?” they offered. And later, “Fruit Stand, how about a snack?” He accepted hesitantly. By the end of the day, his name didn’t seem much odder than Heather’s or Sun Ray’s. At dismissal time, the teachers led the children out to the buses. “Fruit Stand, do you know which one is your bus?” He didn’t answer. That wasn’t strange. He hadn’t answered them all day. Lots of children are shy on the first day of school. It didn’t matter. The teachers had instructed the parents to write the names of their children’s bus stops on the reverse side of their name tags. The teacher simply turned over the tag. There, neatly printed, was the word “Anthony.”
Luanne Oleas in Salinas, Calif., Reader’s Digest
Names for Christ
There are two hundred and fifty-six names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.
Billy Sunday, in a sermon, “Wonderful,” quoted in The Real Billy Sunday
Names of Jesus
Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8)
Lion of Judah (Rev. 5:5)
Anointed One (Ps. 2:2)
Lord of Lords (Rev. 19:16)
Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
Mighty God (Isa. 9:6)
Branch (Zech. 6:12)
Nazarene (Matt. 2:23)
Bright and Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)
Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6)
Christ (Matt. 1:16)
Rabbi (John 1:38)
Daystar ( 2 Pet. 1:19)
Root of David (Rev. 5:5)
Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6)
Root of Jesse (Isa. 11:10)
Gate (John 10:9)
Son of David (Matt. 15:22)
Good Shepherd (John 10:14)
Son of God (Mark 1:1)
Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14)
Son of Man (Matt. 8:20)
I Am (John 8:58)
True Vine (John 15:1)
Immanuel (Isa. 7:14)
Wonderful Counselor (Isa. 9:6)
King of Kings (Rev. 19:16)
Word (John 1:1)
Lamb (Rev. 5:6–13)
Word of God (Rev. 19:13)
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
The Shaw Pocket Bible Handbook, Walter A. Elwell, Editor, (Harold Shaw Publ., Wheaton , IL, 1984), p. 384
Jesus, as an example
D. M. Stearns was preaching in Philadelphia. At the close of the service a stranger came up to him and said, “I don’t like the way you spoke about the cross. I think that instead of emphasizing the death of Christ, it would be far better to preach Jesus, the teacher and example.”
Stearns replied, “If I presented Christ in that way, would you be willing to follow Him?” “I certainly would,” said the stranger without hesitation. “All right then,” said the preacher, “let’s take the first step. He did no sin. Can you claim that for yourself?”
The man looked confused and somewhat surprised. “Why, no,” he said. “I acknowledge that I do sin.”
Stearns replied, “Then your greatest need is to have a Savior, not an example!
Source Unknown
Jesus 339
At the 1994 Winter Olympics, held in Hamar, Norway, the name Dan took on very special meaning.
At his first Olympics in 1984 as an eighteen year old, Dan Jansen finished fourth in the 500 meters, beaten for a bronze medal by only sixteen one hundredths of a second, and he finished sixteenth in the 1,000.
At his second Olympics in Calgary in 1988, on the morning he was to skate the 500 meters, he received a phone call from America. His twenty-seven-year-old sister, Jane, had been fighting leukemia for over a year. She was dying. Dan spoke to her over the phone, but she was too sick to say anything in return. Their brother Mike relayed Jane’s message: She wanted Dan to race for her. Before Dan skated that afternoon, however, he received the news that Jane had died. When he took to the ice, perhaps he tried too hard for his sister. In the 500 meters, he slipped and fell in the first turn. He had never fallen before in a race. Four days later in the 1,000, he fell again, this time, of all places, in the straightaway.
At his third Olympics in 1992, he was expected to win the 500 meters, where he had already set world records. For four years he had been regarded as the best sprinter in the world. But he had trouble in the final turn and he finished fourth. In the 1,000 he tied for twenty-sixth.
At his fourth Olympics in 1994, Dan again was expected to win in the 500 meters, which was his specialty. Again tragedy struck. He didn’t fall, but in the beginning of the final turn he fleetingly lost control of his left skate and put his hand down, slowing him just enough to finish in eighth place. Afterward, he apologized to his home town of Milwaukee.
He had one race left, the 1,000 meter. One more race and then he would retire. At the midway point of the race, the clock showed he was skating at a world-record pace, and the crowd, including his wife and father, cheered. But with 200 meters to go, the hearts of the fans skipped a beat. Dan Jansen slipped. He didn’t fall, but he slipped, touched his hand to the ice, regained control, and kept skating. When Dan crossed the finish line, he looked at the scoreboard and saw WR beside his name—world record. In his last race, Dan Jansen had finally won the gold medal.
Later that day as he stood on the award stand, Dan looked heavenward, acknowledging his late sister, Jane.
Jansen was asked to skate a victory lap. The lights were turned out, and a single spotlight illuminated Dan’s last lap around the Olympic track, with a gold medal around his neck, roses in one arm, and his baby daughter—named Jane—in his other arm.
In the closing ceremony of the 1994 Olympics, Dan Jansen was chosen to carry the U.S. flag.
“Late in the afternoon of February 18, 1994,” said writer Philip Hersh, “after Jansen had won the gold medal that eluded him in seven previous races over four Olympics and a decade, someone put a hand-lettered sign in the snow on the side of the main road from Lillehammer to Hamar. The sign said simply, ‘Dan.’ It spoke volumes about what the world thought about the man whose Olympic futility had finally ended in triumph.”
Sometimes a name, a name alone, says it all. So it is when in praise we simply say, “Jesus.”
Name, Perseverance, Praise
Ps. 138:2; Acts 3:16; 4:12
Date used __________ Place ____________________
JESUS CHRIST
ACCESS THROUGH JESUS’ NAME
JOHN 14:6; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:18–19; EPHESIANS 2:18; 1 JOHN 2:1–2; 1 JOHN 3:21–23
Authority; Christ, authority of; Jesus Christ; Name; Prayer
I was traveling from Boston to Denver, and the departure area for my flight was buzzing with stern-looking men in dark suits talking into their lapels. I asked a flight attendant what was happening. She replied, “Just wait. You’ll see.”
After we settled into our economy-class seats, two of the dark-suited men arrived in first class, followed by former President Gerald Ford. I sat a few rows away! I thought, I’ve never met a president before. I’ll go introduce myself.
But then I wondered, Why would he want to meet me? I didn’t even vote for him!
Then I remembered that during my years in seminary, I had met President Ford’s son, Mike. So I marched toward first class. Before the Secret Service men could stop me, I spoke boldly: “President Ford, I just wanted to meet you. I know your son, Mike.”
We talked briefly, mostly about Mike. Mike’s name gave me “authority” to approach the president.
Citation: Paul Borthwick, “In Jesus’ Name, Amen,” Christian Reader (January/February 2001), pp. 30–31