Names are important.
In the third chapter of the Book of Exodus we have the story of Moses and the burning bush. Moses is out in the wilderness tending the flock of his father-in-law when suddenly he is confronted by a burning bush. Being curious he goes to check out the bush . . . then suddenly there is a voice that comes out of the bush addressing him. It is God. The two then have a conversation about God wanting Moses to lead the people out of the oppression of Egypt. But the conversation does not end there.
What takes place next is a sort of intimate game of wordplay between God and Moses. Moses is wanting God to tell him the name of the Holy. He wants a name that he can tell others so that they get the impact of the task he is being sent to do. At least that is what one would think. But some biblical scholars believe that it is much more than that. They believe that if Moses knows the name of God, then Moses would know God . . . know all about God.
The foundation of this thought is that a name told others everything there was to know about another. If you knew the name of the other, then you knew everything . . . every intimate detail . . . of who that person was. And that was it. A person didn’t need to know anything else because they knew it all. These scholars believed that if Moses could successfully learn the name of God . . . well, that would be all he needed. He would have all the knowledge of God.
Of course, God plays the game. God gives to Moses a name. God tells Moses that he can call God “Yah Weh”— “I Am Who I Am”. God knew what God was doing. In stating God’s name to be “Yah Weh” or “I Am Who I Am”, God reveals everything and nothing.
I imagine that the look on Moses’ face probably said it all. I imagine the answer threw him for a loop . . . that it wasn’t quite what he was looking for. But he asked and God told him. That was as good as it was going to get. Yet God did exactly what Moses wanted. God gave to Moses a name that explained it all . . . “I Am Who I Am”.
In our scripture reading in the Gospel of Luke this morning, Jesus asks a question from a man demanding Jesus to leave him alone. The writer tells us that the man is possessed by many demons . . . demons that like where they are at, thus they want Jesus to leave them alone. But Jesus asks, “What is your name?” He asks the question because he wants to know who he is dealing with. The name will reveal all. “Legion” was the answer for there were many demons possessing the man.
Knowing this Jesus did his thing. He cast the demons out of the man into a nearby herd of pigs that immediately rushed into a lake and drowned. Though the man was released from his possession not everyone was happy with the result. Those who had been tending the pigs we scared and angry at what they had witnessed . . . mad because they had just seen their livelihood sink to the bottom of a lake . . . scared because they had never seen such a display of power before. They asked Jesus to leave.
And so, Jesus leaves. But before leaving the healed man asks Jesus if he can come with him. Jesus refuses and tells the man to stay and share with others the great thing that God has done for him.
In asking the name of the possessed man Jesus learned what he was dealing with. With that knowledge he knew what he needed to do to heal the man. The name revealed to Jesus everything that he needed to know. Though it is not in Luke’s telling of the story, I always wondered it Jesus did not ask the man what his name was a second time, and the man now free of whatever it was that possessed him answered, “Sam.” In that answer the man would claim who he was. That is the person Jesus leaves behind to tell the story and share the “good news”.
When we encounter Jesus . . . Jesus wants to know who we are. He wants to know our name. It is through this name that Jesus knows us. The question is: which name do we tell him?
This past week we held our transition camp at Montana State University Billings for high school students with disabilities wanting to explore the college experience. At the start of each camp everyone has the opportunity to introduce themselves. Typically, what takes place is that each student states his or her name and then launches into a description of their disability. For example: “Hi! My name is Samantha and I’m autistic.” Or they proclaim a learning disability . . . cerebral palsy . . . anxiety disorder . . . and on down the line. In this way they think that they are telling us who they are, but sadly this is not who they are. It is far from the child of God they were created to be.
That is what the world sees. What they don’t see if the unique and special individual that God created them to be. What they don’t see is that Samantha is a kind, caring, and intelligent individual who loves music and is a wonderfully talented artist. The world sees a disability. The world does not see Samantha who is a child of God. So, of course, the goal of the camp is to help these kids learn to say who they really are and to be that person in the world.
The first step in doing that is to “name” that which they are hiding behind . . . to “name” that which obscures who they really are. In our reading this morning the man was buried under a pile of demons. Way too often this is how the world sees us, but it is not the way that God sees us. God sees us for the unique and special people we have been created to be which too often we hide from the view of the rest of the world. Until we can “name” it we cannot claim it.
When Jesus learned the name of the man, he learned what he was dealing with in order to heal the man. Jesus learned what he needed to do to remove the barrier and reveal the real person . . . the person that God created. Once this was accomplished Jesus was able to free the man to be himself . . . to be the child of God that he was.
Which opened a can of worms. The man realizes that everyone knew him as that “crazy possessed man” and that despite the change they would still see him in that way. That is why he wanted to go with Jesus. It would be a whole new start where no one knew him, and he could be himself. Yet Jesus would not let him come with him. Instead, he told him to stay . . . stay and tell your story. Jesus wanted him to claim who he was as a child of God. To be himself. Jesus tells him to tell his story: “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”
Too often we allow the world and others to define who we are. And, too often, we buy into the game. That is not who we are. That is not who God created us to be. Until we can remove the barriers and claim who God created us to be we are not yet into the full intimacy of our relationship with God and others. We are called to be who God created us to be and nothing less. That is who God loves.
Jesus asks the question: “What is your name?”
What are you going to tell him?
Our answer reveals our faith. But it is not always an easy question to answer. We need to remember that it is a journey and not the answer to Final Jeopardy. As we journey, we continue to uncover and reveal more and more of who we have been created to be as the children of God. We claim a little more of who we are to share with God . . . to share with others . . . and to share with the world.
Names are important.
Claim yours. Amen!
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