Sermon 3/16/03
By What Name? - Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Mark 8:31-38
(view lectionary notes for this text)
For as long as I can remember, I've known why I was named Elizabeth. I knew that I was named after the character Beth in Little Women, one of my mother's favorite books, and eventually one of my favorites as well. I knew that Elizabeth is also the middle name of both of my maternal aunts, and that my middle name, like my mother's is Ann. I've always known about my name. Most of you know me as Beth. But there was a time, in elementary school and junior high, when I preferred to go by 'Liz', much to the dismay of my parents. My mother told me, that, after all, she named me Elizabeth to be called Beth, not Liz! In seventh grade when I got my RFA jacket with my name stitched into it, a dilemma arose. What name would I have sewn into it? I wanted Liz, Mom wanted Beth. In the end, we agreed simply to use my full name, Elizabeth, something we both could stand. So much importance in a name, in what we are called, in what we are meant to be called. By what name are you known?
Our reading from Genesis today shares a story of the importance of naming. In this passage, God makes a covenant with Abram and Sarai - a covenant that makes them the parents of "a multitude of nations", a covenant the binds them together with God, in God's care, a covenant that makes the relationship with God and God's people permanent and lasting. As a symbol of this covenant, God does something special - he gives Abram and Sarai new names - Abraham and Sarah. Abraham and Sarah have a new path marked out for them - even in their old age, a child, Isaac, is on the way, a new nation is being born. These new names symbolize the promise God has made with them - the meaning of Abraham is "ancestor of a multitude." Abraham's identity and his relationship with God is wrapped up in his very name - who he is is matched by the name he is called by God. He and Sarah have new names to mark this new time in their lives, to mark that they are now changed - they aren't the same people now that they have had this encounter with God.
Our gospel lesson, too, deals with our identity, though in a less explicit way than our Old Testament lesson. Right before today's passage in the gospel of Mark, Peter has identified Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, for the first time. Jesus had been asking Peter: who do the people say that I am? In other words, how do they name me - what do they call me - what do I mean to the people? Peter tells them their many responses: some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others, one of the prophets. They all misname Jesus, misidentify who he is and what he is about. But Peter, for once, gets the answer right - You are the Messiah, he tells Jesus. Peter's answer show that he knows who Jesus is. But just as soon as Peter makes this identification, we find ourselves in today's scene - where Peter rebukes Jesus for his telling of the suffering, death, and resurrection that is to take place. Even though Peter got Jesus' name of Messiah right, he doesn't yet seem to understand what that name means. The title messiah is not simply a word - it is a title that indicates the path that Jesus must follow.
But Peter does not understand all this, or at least he does not want to understand all this. He rebukes Jesus for speaking about the terrible things Jesus is describing: suffering, rejection, death. Even promise of resurrection is not enough for Peter to accept what Jesus says. Peter doesn't see that the very name messiah implies something about Jesus' ministry and mission. For Jesus, the name and title of messiah comes with responsibility. It comes with a call from God to suffering, death, and resurrection. They are all necessary, all part of the deal, all part of the way God expresses grace to us through becoming one of us in Christ. Jesus is known to us by the name messiah because of what we believe about his death and resurrection, because of what we believe he taught us in living among us.
When Peter cannot see the meaning of Jesus' name, Christ in turn rebukes him, naming him Satan. "Get behind me Satan," Jesus commands. Peter is another figure in the scriptures who has been renamed. In fact, we was renamed by Jesus - once known as Simon, Jesus calls him Peter - and the name Peter carries with it an understanding of responsibility. Peter means rock, and Jesus encouraged Peter to be the Rock, for the church that would grow after Jesus' time on earth was done. Peter has a new name and a new responsibility because of what he knows about Jesus, and who he has become as a disciple of Jesus. But here, in this hour, Jesus must call Peter, name Peter, Satan - not because Peter is possessed, not because Peter is not in control of himself or what he is saying. Jesus calls Peter Satan because Peter by his words has not only rejected Christ and Christ's role, but also he has rejected his own name and the role that he is to play. Peter cannot be the rock without also sharing in that suffering that Christ describes. With the name comes a responsibility. With his discipleship comes responsibility.
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
For us, like for Peter, and also for Jesus himself, with our names come meanings for who we are to be, what we are to be, how we are to live. With our names, we have responsibilities. In our lives, our new names, our new titles, signify changes for who we will be and how we will act. When people get married and make commitments to each other, they sometimes change their names to signify a new life together. When a person achieves an educational goal, such as becoming a doctor (or pastor!), a new title signifies not just what they have learned, but a new role with which they will serve, a new responsibility they have agreed to carry out. When a family names a child, in naming the child they are taking on responsibility for that child, to help that child grow into that name, so to speak. With our names, we have responsibilities.
Jesus has names to give us, if we will bear the responsibilities that come with them. We call ourselves Christians - what responsibilities come with this name? We call ourselves disciples. What does that title mean? Jesus tells us: those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it." Jesus outlines for us the costs of discipleship, the responsibilities that come with the name we choose to bear. By what name are you known? Are you known as Christian? Are you called a disciple?
For Peter, the weight of responsibility of his name sometimes seemed too much to bear. Was he ready to accept all that came with his name? Could he be the rock of the new church? Could he carry out Jesus' work once Jesus was no longer present on earth? Sometimes Peter faltered under these pressures, a feeling I think we can all relate to. But God, thank God, does not leave us hopeless like this. Like with a family who has named a child, the Namer bears as much responsibility as the one being named. God did not call Jesus to the path of death and resurrection and then abandon Jesus - God named Christ the Beloved, and acted with love toward him. Jesus did not call Peter the Rock and then abandon him - Jesus equipped Peter for his ministry. And so God does not name us as disciples, children, precious ones, and then abandon us.
In our call to worship this morning, we read words from the book of Isaiah - my mother's favorite scripture passage. The benefit of being the mother of the pastor is that you get to hear your favorite scripture a lot! In these verses, God calls us and names us. "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." God names us as God's own, precious children. We are redeemed, we are God's. With our name comes responsibility, but with our name, too, comes a promise from God to be with us, to be our God, to walk with us. Like the covenant God made with Abraham when he received his new name, God makes a covenant with us when we receive the name of disciple to support us, even as we take up our cross and follow Christ's path.
Our life in Christ gives us the special opportunity to be renamed as Peter was. We are called out by Christ for special work in the world, to share the good news that God is here, living with us, and loving with us. By what name are you known? Mother? Father? Friend? Aunt? Brother? Daughter? By what name are you known? Teacher? Student? Healer? By what name are you known? Disciple? Christian? Child of God?
Let us pray: God, our Creator, our Namer, our Redeemer, You call us out, you give us new names, you call us to be disciples, and you call us to carry the cross that Christ carried. You equip us, you gift us, you love us, you grace us with your presence always. For the covenant you make with us, for our responsibilities and your promises, we ask for your courage and strength to be with us, and we give you thanks for the blessings with which you have shaped us. In the name of the one called Christ we pray, Amen.