Musings on the Daily Lectionary

Juliet asks, "What's in a name?" in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Today's gospel reading is about a name. After the child who will become John the Baptist is born, those who attend his circumcision assume he will be given a family name. But his mother, Elizabeth, insists that he is to be named John. Zechariah, the boy's father, confirms this, writing it on a tablet. Struck mute by Gabriel for failing to believe the promise of a son, Zechariah's voice now returns as he fulfills Gabriel's command, "You will name him John."

Ancient people tended to think that names had meaning, significance, and power. John's name means "Yahweh has shown favor," and it marks John as one given by God. By following the angel Gabriel's command, Zechariah confirms that this child will be the one God sends him to be, one who will "turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God."

While we may agonize of what to name our children, I think many of us are a bit put off by the notion of naming a child in order to direct her future. We want our children to be able to become whatever they want, and the father who insists his son go into the family business is a stock bad guy in many a TV or movie script. We like to think of ourselves as free and autonomous, and so the naming of John the Baptist is not a practice we'd like to emulate.

Yet one of the basic tenets of Christian faith is that we belong to God, that we are the Lord's. My own Presbyterian tradition has long articulated a strong doctrine of vocation. The term refers not to an occupation but to a calling. We say that God has made or fitted us for certain things and not for others. And we seem to know this intuitively when we ask, "What am I supposed to do with my life?"

When Jesus is born, his name has already been given to Mary and Joseph by an angel. Jesus has a clear calling given him by God, and presumably his parents worked diligently to help Jesus grow into that calling.

When we are baptized, we receive a new name, that of Christian, child of God. In a sense, we share in Jesus' name. But I wonder how often we stop and think what that means, what's in that name.

Click here to learn more about the Daily Lectionary.