My wife, the farmer’s daughter, tells us not to name anything we’re later gonna eat. Quite right; when a name is bestowed on an animal, human or even an antique car, these things acquire a personality all of their own. Were tropical storms as capricious before they got names? Did your grade-school friends develop feelings once we discovered their names? All world-cultures seem to have important rituals when a name is given. Newborn infants and pets quickly learn to respond when their name is called. Scripture read on the upcoming weekend deals with how we see ourselves and how we are seen when we trade our watery existence for a name that defines us and affirms our deep-down identity.
ISAIAH 62:1-5 is from a collection of oracles (“Third Isaiah”) given to bolster the returned exiles from Babylon who were dolefully starting from Square One. Things hadn’t been going well, yet “the nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; And you shall be called by a NEW NAME that the mouth of the Lord will give.” No longer would the land be desolate, but prosper in an ongoing commitment wedded to YHWH. Someone knows how we feel: hopeful, yet forsaken. The news for today is that God still acts this way, calling us “saints” instead of the “sinners” we once were… “For the Lord delights in you.”
Paul’s First Letter to the CORINTHIANS reminds that diverse congregation that God has named them all together. And even though they’re culturally diverse, so are their spiritual gifts–all to be used for the uplifting of the entire community. Here, not only is each believer endowed/named with a viable role in God’s Kingdom, but Jesus HIMSELF manifests a holy name–the Lord–as cemented by the Holy Spirit. This list of talents completes the work of the Church as it is named the pivot-point of the locale in which it is found.
The Wedding in Cana (JOHN 2:1-11) is a story told both inside and outside the church. Bottom line: the allegory is that those who hang out with Jesus will have their lives revealed as sparkly wine rather than just tap-water. In this “sign”, God names Jesus as the one who will make good things happen. The volume is important: as elsewhere in John, God works in hyperbole; that is, God’s extravagance provides for not only momentary needs, but has enough “left over” to address the ongoing thirst of the nations… Our news-outlets name the thirst–pollution, violence, injustice–but GOD names the agents of relief. “Life in this world, with its painful limitations, has been unpredictably invaded by grace.” (Ernest Hess, FEASTING on the WORD, C 1:265)
As returned Exiles, as thirsty party guests, as a rag-tag collection of disciples in the early church, we’re urged to trust that God’s (still) in charge. Our names have been changed to reflect who we are/have become in God’s land: we have been called “important” and “necessary” in the development of the Righteous Kingdom.
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
My meeting with Biblical lessons heard in congregations on the upcoming weekend may be enjoined every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com
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