Why does "Christ is Born" Catch - Just a Yibit?

Why does “Christ is Born” catch in my throat?

(Just a yibit – as Grand#2 would say!)

Christ is Born

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This holiday season has brought a germ of gestating thought to clarification. And so, if you were one of the many people who greeted me with “Christ is Born!” Don’t feel singled out, the greeting was warmly received and these thoughts are warmly offered. I rejoice with all who stand in humble awe at the miracle that precipitates these Christmas revels. But this phrase, along with “Christ is Risen!” at Easter; indeed the casual use of “Christ” as the default reference to Jesus of late, has begun to rub.

These things are trending, and while no one could possibly discourage such leanings in our floundering society there is a bit of tannin in the tea.

The trend is rising to the point that part of me just wants to scream: “Say His name!” And while I resist, It comes to me – that this guttural response arises out of two essential truths. Christ avoids The Name. I certainly don’t mean to imply that people use the title Christ as a purposeful avoidance of The Name – but I have a hunch that there could be some “Screwtape” -ness afoot and we should be wise to it.

The Bible says that there is power in the name of Jesus! Before He was even born there was an emphasis on His name; the angel said to Mary:

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most-High. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and o

f his kingdom there will be no end.”

Luke 1: 31

And to Joseph:

“She shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matt. 1:21

Throughout His earthly ministry He emphasized His own name:

“Whatever you ask for in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

John 14: 13 – 14

And again:

“… these signs will accompany those who believe; in my name they will cast out demons, and they will speak in new tongues…”

Mark 16:17

After His resurrection the disciples continued to emphasize His name:

“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

And again:

“But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Acts 3:6

And not finally! But enough for this conversation:

“… being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Acts 4: 11-12

In CS Lewis’s masterpiece “The Screwtape Letters”, he theorizes about the inner workings of demonic strategy. Screwtape trains underling Wormwood in the ways of the sinister, often avoiding the outright and obvious modes we might suspect, precisely because we might suspect them. The one definite thing that is clear is the that they never speak “the name”. They refer vaguely to “the Enemy”, or even the “the name” while never uttering it. In chapter 19 Screwtape admits he cannot even bring himself to write the name of Jesus without being filled with rage.

It may feel like a southern tent revival cliché but it would seem that there is power in the name of Jesus. Why don’t we speak it at every opportunity? Why am I made to feel that “Jesus” feels childish and “Christ” intellectual and grown up? Are Screwtape’s hordes at work here? 

Jesus is a definite and relational person (mind, will, emotions) with a God given name. Christ is a title; it means “anointed one” or “Chosen One”. The Greek form “Christos” is what translators used to translate the Hebrew “Messiah” which simply means a divinely appointed leader like a king or a savior. The Hebrew people recognize many messiahs, they called King David messiah. It is only when coupled with the name Jesus that it signifies Him as the “promised deliverer”. Let us not cheat ourselves out of the power of the name of Jesus. Let us not accommodate the demonic hordes. Speak The Name.

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There is relationship in names and not titles. The series “Poldark” comes to mind. In it Demelza’s odiously religious father will only ever refer to her as “daughter”. This is subtle, but notice; it is a manifestation of his take on Christianity, his rigidity, his religion. If I only ever called my girls by the title “daughter”, never called them by name – the weirdness would be palpable. We all operate under various stations and duties, but those don’t eclipse our personhood. If my husband only ever called me “wife”, never spoke my name; even if it was with the utmost value and sincerity there would be no way around the marginalizing of my personality, the crucial requirement for relationship.

I don’t question the sincerity of the adherents to what seems to be an algorithm fueled craving for the traditional and intellectual elements of our faith and would never dream of blocking any movement towards God, but the analogy for what I see is to imagine a similar trend for the “institution of marriage”. If one became obsessed with “marriage”: the sacredness of it, the beauty of it, the mundane-ness of it… all of it. Became its biggest fan and advocate; studied it and then sought to participate with it along these terms. They would miss the trees for the forest.

Though the vows be said, rings given, a spouse presented, and a life of commitment dutifully lived out with their eye on the thing rather than the person; they would have missed the fundamental element and purpose so long ago established in a garden. Relationship. The part periodically lost sight of over the millennia due to its functionality… they would have missed the heart of marriage, the relational communion of one person with another on the most intimate level. They would have missed the personhood of the thing for the institution of the things. This is a picture.

And Jesus SAID it was a picture. Said that marriage is a picture of His relationship with His church. Calls us His bride. What does He expect us to glean from this? The institution or the relationship? Certainly the covenant, the self-sacrifice, the permanence. But not ever at the expense of The Beloved; not without the foundation of relational knowing. The same word that is used to describe our knowing of Him and His knowing of us is the same intimate word for “know” used to describe Adam’s “knowing” of his wife. You know he said her name in that moment.

He calls us by name. Dare we call Him by His?

There is power and relationship in the name of Jesus. All of the things are predicated on those two truths. If you are seeking. Seek Him. Not the institutions.

If you are His, Speak the Name of Jesus. As the Angel did, as Mary did, as Joseph did, as Peter and Paul did.

The promised messiah has been born, and His name is Jesus.

He came that we could approach Him as “Abba” (relational). (Romans 8:15 / Galatians 4:6)

May you know Him and be known by Him.

Merry Christmas 2025.