Sermon - January 16, 2011

2nd Sunday after Epiphany – Year A
John 1:29-42

What’s in a Name?


We had a wonderful time visiting Kat in Mexico. It was impressive to see her and the other ELCA Missionaries at work across Cuernavaca – teaching in schools, working at women’s shelters, and repairing wheelchairs. Kat’s greatest fear about our visit was that we would look like tourist. She finally gave up. “There is no way that three light skinned, non-Spanish speakers are going to be mistaken for anything but tourist.”

One of many clear indicators that we weren’t local was my inability to catch the names. I lack the ear to hear subtleties in language. Add to that a rather confusing practice for that part of Mexico. “Everyone,” Kat tried to explain to us, “has four names. There is a first name for use in the family; a first name for use in public. There is an established family name, which does not change, except in some cases when you are speaking of that person in relation to someone else.”

I gave up. It was too much for my brain to absorb. Even though I knew and understood how important each of these names was, I just could not take it all in.

You should already know where this introduction is leading us. Today’s Gospel lesson is a confusing, twisted mix of names. There are no less than five names (or titles) used for the same person. One of the five is translated into another language, making the final count six. And then there are the names associated with a second character – a name change in fact. Here, once more, we have a second translation of that name. But that translation may not be enough. In order for us to understand the significance of this re-naming, yet another translation may be necessary.

Let’s start off with a little exercise. We tried this a few months ago and I got a few positive comments – not enough negative comments to cause me permanently give up on the idea. I want to start with your name. I ask you to turn to someone sitting near you and discuss your name. Does it have some significance? Is it a family name? Is it a name you like? And, are there other names by which you are known? Find someone – I will call you back in just a few moments…..

I was able to share that my name is “Christopher,” which actually means “bearer of Christ.” I was born on a Sunday morning, and my mother always said my birth was a miracle. When she went to the gynecologist she was told that there might be a baby, but that there definitely was a tumor. The doctor wanted to remove everything. She said “No. If God had given her this child she was going to do her part to bring it to life.” She might have heard the meaning of the name “Christopher,” but she really just liked the name “Chris.”

Of course, the one with all the names in the Gospel lesson is Jesus. John calls him “the Lamb of God.” In recounting how it is that he has come to associate this name with Jesus, John testifies of Jesus that he is “the Son of God.” John’s intention in sharing this with his disciples is that they would recognize Jesus as the one of whom John had been preaching. Seems that they do. They immediately refer to him as “Rabbi,” and testify to others that they have found “Messiah (which is translated Anointed.)”

Lamb of God; Son of God; Rabbi; Messiah – why so many differing ways of referring to the same guy? More importantly, what does each of these titles tell us about this guy?

I am going to give you another opportunity to talk to one another. This time, I want to you review these names for Jesus. You may have some previous experience (a Sunday School Class or a sermon or an article from a magazine), or it may just be how the names strike you now. The names are right there on the back of your bulletin – turn to someone and share what you hear or understand these names to mean. I will call you all back together in a minute or so……

One of the things which distinguish the Gospel of John from the other Gospel accounts is that John starts with an affirmation of who Jesus is. John’s great prologue identifies Jesus as the Word of God; it is from this Word that all things come into being. Similarly, here, John is free to identify Jesus as the “Son of God,” and sort of expects us to read the rest of the story with this information securely tucked into our hearts and heads. It is in Matthew’s account that the pronouncement, “Truly this man was God’s Son” comes after Jesus’ death. This pronouncement is even more striking in that it is spoken by one of the Roman soldiers, a pagan.

I am wondering how many of you spent your time talking about that first name attributed to Jesus. I am referring to “the Lamb of God.” And I am thinking primarily about those conversation groups that included parents and small children. Talk of lambs could get into all sorts of cute, cuddly images. And certainly the reference here is to one who is spotless and pure. The “Lamb” was the animal used for the Passover observance. On that eventful night in which God visited the oppressive Egyptians with death, he had instructed the Israelites to take the blood from a spotless lamb and sprinkle it on their doorposts. Every year, on Passover, a spotless lamb becomes the center piece of the religious observance. They are soft and cute and cuddly critters – their innocence is contrasted with the harsh realities of hatred and cruelty; of death and destruction.

John announces that Jesus is God’s “Lamb.” As the head of the household selects that one lamb from his flock which will become the symbol of God’s salvation, so also God has selected Jesus. He will become the one whose blood is sprinkled and whose body is broken.

This name, this title, this way of referring to Jesus is very important. We cannot allow dull ears or a lack of cultural understanding to limit our ability to grasp what John is telling us. Jesus becomes for us the one who takes onto himself the burden and the weight of all that is evil in the world. Rather than leave us to face death on our own, God has selected and set forth a lamb who will endure that from which God wishes to spare us.

Any talk of cute little animals should give way to an acknowledgment of what a beautiful thing it is that God is doing. Any mention of soft furry critters is busted open with the acknowledgment of the secure and warm place prepared for us in our Father’s Kingdom. This is not child’s play, but it does comfort and assure us. We are confronted with the realities of life while being assured that God is going to buffer all of it.

We don’t fully understand how God does it. There are leaps, tremendous leaps of faith, in which we speak of an assurance in our hearts even as we acknowledge failings in our logic. We are students of the Rabbi. We come to see how these things will play out in our world and in our lives.

Peter embodies our attempts to follow. Like us, he stumbles. And yet he is the one who keeps coming back, trying to understand, trying to get it right, hoping that he will be in the right place at the right time. The name given this man was “Simon.” His mother (unnamed) and his father (John) had given him this name. The name by which he was known was “Simon, son of John.” This is the name by which Jesus called him. When Simon had come, Jesus gives him the name “Cephas.” “Cephas” is translated for us. It translates as “Peter.” But I worry that “Peter” may also need a translation. “Peter” is the word for “Rock.” Jesus looks at Simon, son of John, and renames him “Rock.” Just a bit of a footnote – in Matthew’s Gospel, the announcement of this name comes at the time when Peter confesses Jesus to be Messiah. Thus the never ending debate as to whether it is the person “Peter” upon which the Church is built, or the confession of Simon. Roman Catholic tradition holds up one option; Lutheran Orthodoxy another – the result is the same. Jesus is designated as God’s Lamb; this lamb entrusts his message and his promise to weak and frail human beings. Peter is the first “rock” to be lain; the rest of us are stones added to the fortress of God’s Church on earth.

One more name change should be addressed. It is our tradition to observe baptismal anniversaries once a month. We do this in order to remind us all that it is through God’s grace that we have been welcomed into the family and granted salvation. We also do it as a way of reminding us of the new name which has been given us. We are re-named “child of God.” That is the name spoken to us when the water is poured and with the oil we are anointed. “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”

I am going to send you home with the instructions to discuss what this name means. What it means in your life; what it means for our life together; and most importantly what it means for the life we share in the world. It is the name which defines how it is that we will relate to others.

Amen.