What is in your name?

Luke 1:57-66

The time came for Elizabeth to have her baby. She gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very kind to her. They shared her joy. 59 On the eighth day, they came to have the child circumcised. They were going to name him Zechariah, like his father. 60 But his mother spoke up. "No!" she said. "He must be called John." 61 They said to her, "No one among your relatives has that name." 62 Then they motioned to his father. They wanted to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for something to write on. Then he wrote, "His name is John." Everyone was amazed. 64 Right away Zechariah could speak again. His first words gave praise to God. 65 The neighbors were all filled with fear and wonder. All through Judea's hill country, people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it. And because the Lord was with John, they asked, "What is this child going to be?" The child grew up, and his spirit became strong. He lived in the desert until he appeared openly to Israel.

Food for thought!

"Among those born of women no one is greater than John" (Luke 7:28). These words which our Lord said about John the Baptist explain why we remember him on Christmas Eve. And not only is John the man of interest to us, also John the name is.
Today's gospel story focuses on the naming ceremony. Why does the gospel show such an interest in the naming of the child? What’s in a name? In the Bible, just as in many cultures, names function just the same way as business names do, that is, they aim to convey what the bearer of the name stands for.

The name John means “God is gracious.” God himself gave John that name and it was revealed to his father Zachary in a vision (Luke 1:13). That this name was given to the child already before his birth shows that God has a purpose and plan not only to this child but to all of us. Yes, God had and still has a purpose for each one of us.

The words of Isaiah apply equally to John, to you and to me, to all of us: “The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he NAMED me. … he formed me in the womb to be his servant (Isaiah 49:1, 5). In John we see that God already has a purpose for His children before they come into this world, and so the challenge of life is for each one of us to discover this purpose and to be faithful to its demands.
The purpose for which God created you may require that you walk to a different drum beat than other people. For John it required that he live in the desert far from normal human contact and civilisation. God’s purpose for his life dictated every details of how he would dress and eat, since he had to dress in rough animal skin and eat the vegetarian food of locusts and wild honey. He adopted a lifestyle that would enhance his calling in life. He did not go for any unnecessary trappings that would weigh him down or contradict his life.
To discern what God is calling us to be we need to cultivate some sort of desert in our lives where we can listen to God. We need to make Samuel’s words to the Lord, “Speak, your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3;10) part of our daily prayer.

And, to be faithful to the call of God, we need the courage and discipline to stay on track all the time, all life. John is great today not only because God called him to a special vocation but because he walked faithfully on a special road. In the gospel reading, the neighbours were saying of John, "No one of your relatives has that name." Each one of us has to travel a unique road that God traced for him or her.

The neighbourhood in which John was born did not help him to realise his divine calling. In fact they wanted to prevent John from receiving his God-given name and identity. They wanted to give him his father’s name “Zachary.” They wanted John to be another Zachary. They objected to his being named John because “None of your relatives has this name” (Luke 1:61).

Yes, many times other people don't want us and don't let us live our God given vocation; they force us to embrace and live according to what THEY want. This is especially true of parents, who many times force their children into alien lifestyles, alleging "none of your relatives has this name or job or life." Such parents impose on their children their own past; they want their children to be their extension! Sad. We do well to avoid such toxic assumptions because God’s dream for us far exceeds anything that has been in our family background. Our life’s work is to wake up and make God’s glorious dream for each one of us a reality.

As we get ready to celebrate Christmas, let us ask ourselves: what on earth am I here for? If you do not know your God-given name, the name which represents all that God sent you into the world to be and to accomplish, then it is time to find out by listening in prayer. This is because our greatness as children of God, like the greatness of John, consists in discovering what God has created us to be and living out the demands of that call without compromise.