Matthew Chapter 1
21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
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.
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.
The word save may mean deliver from troubles and afflictions of various kinds, but the addition here shows that what is in mind is the salvation that reckons with the plight in which people involve themselves by their evil deeds.
People may be used of the populace generally, but it is often used more specifically of the people of God, and this in the sense of ancient Israel or of Christians. Matthew does not use the word “sin”49 very often (7 times), but the expression here shows that he regarded it as an important concept. Jesus came to deal with sins, and his name gives expression to a very significant truth. Barclay aptly says, “Jesus was not so much The Man born to be King, as He was The Man born to be Saviour.” We should not miss the point that the note of grace is struck so early in this Gospel.