A Baby’s Name, a Poet & God’s Word
- The setting was Jerusalem, in the temple grounds, specifically on the portico of Solomon’s temple.
- The event was called “The Feast of the Dedication.
- The season was winter.
- The person was—JESUS—and He was walking around, along the porch of the temple.
- The people were present: those who struggled to believe—the Jews.
- The conflict was palpable—Was Jesus the Christ the Messiah?
- The question was asked & answered with clarity.
“If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
(The Gospel According to John 10: 24b-30 NASB)
Jesus answered them,
“I told you, and you do not believe;
the works that I do in My Father’s name,
these testify of Me.
But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.
[then Jesus divides those who BELIEVE in HIM from those who do NOT believe]
My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them,
and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them,
and they will never perish;
and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all;
and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
Twenty-five years ago, I was pregnant, surely a miracle of God, for the doctors had been clear when they said: To become pregnant might not be possible.
Nevertheless, the winter of 1998, I found myself pregnant and due after the New Year.
As with most pregnancies, people began to ask the inevitable question: Do you have a name chosen? Like most expectant parents, we talked through a host of possibilities, and as any schoolteacher will attest, some names conjure past memories of past students. Both categories caused me to hang onto some names, while quickly eliminating others. We did not know the sex of our baby, and so, as an English teacher, I had a favorite poet and wished to include his name—if the baby were a boy. Coupled with my husband’s grandfather’s name, I voiced my thoughts. “The perfect name (if our baby is a boy) is Eli Wadsworth New,” to which my loving husband quickly responded with his opinion. “NO WAY! If we call him that, then all his friends will call him spit-wad.”
Well, as the story goes, our baby born was a girl, and so we’ll never know if my husband’s proclamation proved true. As her birth month approaches, and as our grown daughter now carries her own baby inside her, I find my mind returning to the days when I carried her inside me, when we were searching for her name, and I find myself remembering the poet.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow knew the depth of tragedy.
- Longfellow knew what it meant to struggle, for his life changed so quickly because of a simple fire.
- Longfellow was familiar with anguish, for he knew what it meant to lose someone he loved.
- He felt the pain of the death of a loved one and the anguish that ensued.
- He knew grief, but through Jesus, his Savior, the poet learned how to live-on, how to survive—when everything inside him wanted to curl up and die because of his grief.
As a professing Christian, Longfellow believed the truth about God.
The poet Longfellow wrote—
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep.
The wrong shall prevail with peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Jesus Christ is the embodiment of TRUTH!
The Jews heard him plainly speak as He walked on the temple grounds, along Solomon’s portico that winter day.
JESUS IS GOD!
- THE WORD BECAME FLESH!
- JESUS, THE SON OF GOD IS GOD IN THE FLESH!
JESUS IS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE FATHER!
&
ALMIGHTY GOD CAME TO US, CAME TO DWELL AMONG MEN!
- BABY JESUS IN THE MANGER HAS THE POWER TO SAVE THE SINS OF MANKIND!
- GOD CAME TO US BY PLACING HIMSELF INTO THE VILLAGE GIRL, MARY!
GOD IS NOT DEAD—for we, who believe in HIM, know—HE LIVES IN US!
The Bible tells us so!
Jesus Himself sent His Holy Spirit to dwell among men.
JESUS IS GOD IN THE FLESH!
JESUS said—
“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all;
(The Gospel According to John 10: NASB)
and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
So, we might ask:
How does a baby’s name & a 19th Century American English poet connect to God’s Word?
The answer (as is always the case with all questions) is found within God’s Holy Word, the same Word of God quoted by the poet Longfellow who wrote about his overwhelming grief.
In the Bible, a psalmist wrote to reveal God’s strength found in knowing & believing Him—
“Behold, He who keeps Israel
(The Psalms 121: 4-8 NASB)
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.”