While people around the world were recovering from their New Year's Eve celebrations, those of us who managed to straggle into church this past Sunday got to celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. It's a feast that many overlook--unless it happens to fall on a Sunday, as it did this year. It got me to thinking about the significance of names and naming.
Most parents take the naming of their children very seriously. It's a big responsibility, and we want to find the perfect name for each child. We want it to sound right, to look right, and to say the right things about our child. Boys names need to seem solid and masculine, but not boring; girls names should be feminine and pretty but still be able to be taken seriously if the girl grows up to be a heart surgeon or a Supreme Court justice.
In our family, we took two totally different paths when we named our daughters. Our first child we named "Annabel" primarily because of the history and meaning of the name; I discovered that the name Annabel derived from a medieval name, Amabel, which was in turn derived from the Latin adjective "amabilis," meaning loveable and delightful. As a medievalist, I was absolutely tickles by the idea that my daughter's name was a result of a scribal error. That clinched it for me. On the other hand, we named our younger daughter after a dear friend, a woman we admire for her intellect, her kindness, and her great sense of humor. The elder Kathleen has no children of her own but is a remarkable godmother and friend, and we like to think that the younger Kathleen shows some of her personality traits.
Mary and Joseph did not get to pore over a list of most popular baby names. They did not get to name their firstborn child after a relative or a friend, or worry about what how his name would look on a driver's license or a business card. They name him Jesus because that's what the angel told them his name would be. I wonder how many parents in the 21st century would be okay with having to forfeit the right and the privilege of naming their own child? We tend to see our children as our own, rather than thinking of them as gifts given to us by God. It might surprise or even worry many of us to think that God already has an identity in mind for them, a destiny and a purpose that are more important than our own hopes, plans, and dreams.
Somehow the idea that Mary and Joseph didn't get to choose the name for their child, and that Christians now consider "Jesus" the name that is above all names, speaks to me of our human tendency to put ourselves in charge, even in areas where we actually have no control. We tend to focus on achieving our worth through our own efforts and accomplishments. The more we stand out from the crowd, the more we can claim our skills and talents as unique or at least exceptional, the more value we believe ourselves to have. We all want to be special, but we think we have to do something to earn that designation.
Scripture paints an entirely different picture. Scripture tells us that our value is given to us, not achieved by us. It places more emphasis on what we have in common with others than on what sets us apart. Our worth as human beings derives from what God did in creating and redeeming us, not through anything we do. It is in our ordinariness, in the things over which we have no control, that we are closest to God and to one another. That certainly helps put all our worries, all our decisions, all our aspirations, in perspective.
