The Name

“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare once wrote.

There is much in a name, especially when it is a name of God.

Today’s readings give us the three most sacred and most wondrous names of God: uniquely revealing and intimately powerful.

The first reading (Numbers 6:22-27) at the beginning of this new year is perhaps the most famous of Old Testament blessings:

The LORD said to Moses:
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly
And give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.”

The name of God to be invoked upon the Israelites is the name translated in English bibles as “the LORD”. This is in keeping with ancient Jewish tradition, for the actual name of God revealed to Moses was understood as being too sacred even to pronounce. This name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush:

God replied, "I am who am."
Then he added,
"This is what you shall tell the Israelites:
I AM sent me to you."

There are truly infinite levels of meaning to this name: God exists, God is pure existence, God causes existence, and so forth.

Thus Aaron and his descendents are to bless the people with God’s specially revealed name: a name that gives a glimpse into his eternal existence itself – an intimate sharing of a cosmic secret.

The second reading (Galatians 4:4-7) gives us an even more intimate name of God:

God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, “Abba, Father!”

“Abba” is the name that our Lord Jesus Christ himself used when praying. It is actually a more intimate form of the word “Father” – much like what small children call their father: Daddy, Papa, and so forth.

This is, of course, even more mind-blowing: by the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of Christ we lowly human beings are empowered to call the Infinite and Eternal Lord of the Universe “Daddy.”

And in the Gospel (Luke 2:16-21), our Lord is formally given the name of Jesus at his circumcision. The name itself means “The LORD saves” (using the special name of God mentioned above).

The name of Jesus has even greater power, of course, because of who Jesus is – the Son of God made flesh - and what Jesus has done – as most wonderfully described in Philippians 2:

Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

As we move forward in this new year, may we take time to reflect on the wonder and the power and the love to be found in these special names of God.