What's in a Name?

Overheard: "What's your name?" "Sheila." "Oh, 'Sheila'. That's a pretty name."

And I'm thinking, "What's pretty about it? What is the particular conglomeration of vowels, consonants, sounds, rhythms, whatever makes 'Sheila' or any other name a 'pretty name'?"

Last Sunday in church we sang songs about the name of Jesus, including the Gaithers' There's Just Something About that Name. Hillsong has done a well-known song, What a Beautiful Name, about how beautiful the name of Jesus is. And, again, I ask, "What? What is it about the construction of the name, Jesus, that is beautiful?"

The problem, of course, is that we're not getting it. We're applying a 21st century, first world cultural perspective to a biblical convention. And, in so doing, we're missing the point.

Scripture is full of the concept of "the name." The first to come to mind might be, "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain" (Exo 20:7), which we're pretty sure means, "Don't use the word 'God' in a flippant manner." Or maybe it's Jesus's prayer. (We always do it in King James, don't we?) "Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name" (Matt 6:9). Or Paul's, "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Php 2:10). Oh, one of our favorites. "Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do" (John 13:14). We interpret that to mean "If I end my prayer with 'in Jesus's name, Amen' ... there, I said it, now He has to do it." Missing the point.

In the Old Testament there was a well-used naming convention for humans and for God alike. They would name their children based on events (e.g., Gen 4:15; Exo 2:10; 1 Sam 1:20). Jesus, Scripture tells us, was named because of what He would be (Matt 1:21). But God did it all the time. When Moses asked His name, He answered, "I AM," (YHWH), a reference to His self-existence (something absolutely exclusive to God). When He told Abraham His name it was El Shaddai, literally "God, the double breasted," which we translate as "God Almighty" because as a mother can provide all that is required to her child, God can provide all that is needed for us. He was "The God who Sees" (Gen 16:13-14) to Hagar all alone, "The Lord Will Provide" to Abraham sacrificing Isaac (Gen 22:14), "The Lord who Heals" to Israel in the desert (Exo 15:26), and "The Lord our Shepherd" to David (Psa 23:1). And so many more.

In 1 Samuel Abigail saves her husband, Nabal, who snubbed David by providing for David's needs. In her dialog with David she asked him to ignore her husband. "Let not my lord regard this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he" (1 Sam 25:25). (Nabal means "dolt".) That is the convention. The name encompasses the person. The "name" didn't refer merely to the letters strung together by which you addressed the person; it included their nature, their character, their being. And we use this concept ourselves in modern language. "He besmirched my good name" doesn't mean, "Mervin? Your name is Mervin? (Giggle)." It means that your reputation has been sullied. That's the approach. The name is who you are, not merely the identifying tag applied to you.

Now, take that idea -- the name encompasses the character -- and reinsert it back into some of the stuff we've already seen. When Jesus said, "If you ask in My name," He wasn't saying, "Say 'Jesus'." He was saying, "If you ask for that which is in alignment with who I am and what I intend by My authority." That's quite different than our trite version. When Jesus prayed, "Hallowed be Thy name," He was saying, "May all that You are be regarded as holy." Much bigger than, "Don't say 'god' irreverently." And when every knee bows "at the name of Jesus," it won't be because of the particular sound of those letter stuck together. It will be due to all that He is. Much bigger.

"The Beautiful Name of Jesus" kind of song plays nicely into our romantic, "Sheila, what a pretty name" kind of thinking, but it doesn't begin to connect with the intent of Scripture with the use of "the name." That Jesus's name is indeed beautiful is not because it's a pretty little identification tag, but because of who He is. And that should definitely not be taken in vain. There's a lot more in a name than the noun by which you are addressed. What's in your name? How well does your name reflect Christ? How well do you know the "name of Jesus"?