What is my name? What does it mean? Many traditions about names exist and they vary greatly. Many cultures name children as a way of inspiring the child to live up to the name. In other cultures, it is just a label. My mother chose the name Philip. I was never told why, but I have long known that it is the Greek spelling, like the New Testament, one “l”. That one “l” has cause problems all my life. All three times I graduated from college, I had to wait for my diploma because of an added “l”. Oh, and according to the Greek it means “lover of horses”. Yeahhh, not so much.
Names are important to me though. As a professor I work hard to pronounce my students’ names correctly. That is not only fair, but it is the right thing to do. It represents who they are to the world and that matters. I have a number of Hispanic students and friends and nothing irks me more than when, even though we live in Texas, people refuse to give those names their proper Spanish pronunciations. The same for my friends around the world, though I do confess to struggling with the names of my friends in India. Fortunately, they used Christian names, English names to make my life much easier.
Jesus asked that question once, of his disciples. One of them, Peter, got it right. I am convinced Peter was guessing, he really didn’t know that Jesus was God incarnate. Well, not when Jesus asked at least. Later, I am quite sure he figured it out. When Peter said Messiah and God, Jesus told him to keep it to himself. I have wondered about that. It could not have been a secret with all Jesus was doing. So why not talk about it? Well, right after that, Jesus talks about what it will mean to follow him, taking up a Cross daily. Jesus wants them to deeply consider what is in a name.
In this case, to be called by the name Christian is a death and resurrection proposition. Now, for most of those who go by the name Christian, actual death is not the issue, though in our current times, there are many in our world that it can be and is a death sentence. So, maybe, it is a name that one must deeply consider. The death is to ourselves, who we think we should be, want to be or who the world tells us we are. Instead, we take up our cross and follow the Incarnate God, living life as he did, getting it right sometimes.
The name is not just a label, it is a way of life. So, what is in a name? Life is in a name, in the name we have given to God Incarnate, Jesus the Christ. And, interestingly enough, that name embraces love in all its forms. I think to get this right, I will keep the lover part of my name and, forgetting those horses, I will love the world the best I can. And the toughest part of calling myself by the name Christian is that I have to embrace not only my enemies but myself. My entire self, good, bad, ugly and indifferent. That is what makes it a narrow way, to embrace Philip from God’s deep and loving point of view. From that point of view my name is Beloved. So is yours!
TMM