The Biblical Theology of "What's In a Name?"

Today is the Optional Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus. 

To appreciate this feast, you have to know something about how the Bible understands names and naming.  There’s even a commandment that prohibits taking “the Lord’s name in vain.”  The Bible has a whole theology about names – and it’s not the modern one.

First of all, a name bespeaks one’s identity.  Names are not “cute” or “unique.”  They say who somebody is.  They express an essential truth about that person. 

Who somebody is is not self-“discovered” or self-imposed.   You do not pop into the universe of your own making or your own definition.  You are part of something bigger than you.  In the Bible, that’s a family.  It’s why, for example, when Elizabeth wants her boy to be named “John” (the name the angel gave him), those gathered for his circumcision demur: “There is no one among your relatives who has that name” (Lk 1:61).  When his father Zechariah affirms it, the Gospel records that those assembled were seized by “astonishment.”  Your identity is not a self-invention: like it or not, you come from somewhere.  And, in normal human life (i.e., until the last few years) everybody recognized, you normally got your name from your parents.  Nobody sat around saying, “wait till Baby X is eighteen and then he’ll decide!”  And absolutely nobody said a school could rename a child during school hours, much less keep that “identity” from his parents.  To give a name is a sign of relationship and authority: that is normally parental, ultimately God’s, certainly not the Ludlow, Massachusetts school board's.

The account of John the Baptist is also important because his name does not come out of nowhere.  It wasn’t Elizabeth and Zechariah sitting around with their edition of “100 Most Popular Hebrew Names” deciding, “hey, time for some new stuff in the family!”  John’s name and identity came from somewhere even beyond them: the angel Gabriel told Zechariah what the boy’s name will be (Lk 1:13b, as he also did Jesus: 1:31). 

And, in both cases, Zechariah and Mary receive the name given by the archangel.  They don’t consider it just the next friend’s “suggestion.”  They recognize a fundamental truth: someone’s identity ultimately comes from God.  The prophet Jeremiah captures this well when he recognizes God telling him: “before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (1:5).  Your place in God’s plan was established from eternity, long before your father had an inclination or your mother did not have a headache. 

That’s also why, in the Bible, nobody changes his name by himself.  “Abram” doesn’t throw in an extra syllable.  “Sarai” doesn’t tamper with her name.  Simon’s a man of the Sea of Galilee, not the River Hudson: he’s no “Rock” (Peter) on his own.  God’s messenger makes clear the names of Jesus and John the Baptist.

All of this is to say your “identity” is primarily not of your making and that your name has a certain sacredness to it.  It’s why parents are (and should be) suing school boards that tamper in this area.  There’s likely to be a Supreme Court decision in this area this year.

What’s this got to go with our feast?  Well, part of it is the insight Vatican II and Pope John Paul II tried to drum into our heads: Jesus fully reveals man to himself.  A name – and not just Jesus’s name – enters the sacred territory of the person, and therefore deserves serious respect.

In the case of Jesus, that’s abundantly clear because, as Acts 4:12 teaches, “there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we are to be saved.”  Indeed, that’s what the name “Jesus” literally means: “God saves.”  Pretty indicative of His identity.  It’s also the theology of the traditional hymn, “All Hail the Power of Jesus's Name.” ]

And that is why the name of Jesus is neither an interjection, an expletive, and especially not a curse word.  Anybody with a habit of using the Holy Name in those ways should resolve in this new year to break that habit.  Fr. Charles Pavlick suggests a good remedy: if we have been prone to doing that and the urge comes, turn it into a prayer instead, either for your target and/or yourself.  Jesus’ Name is too holy for anything else.  Especially when we understand the rich theology of name found in the Bible.