Sermon: On Names

 

Sermon. St Michael and All Angels. 23 August 2020

Trinity 11 (Year A)

 

Matthew 16.13-20: Who do you say that I am?

 

In today’s gospel reading, people name people. Well, at least one person names one other person. (We can discuss who names whom.) In the light of this, I’d like today’s reflection to be part of that occasion series: Sermons Which Try Something Different. And here, “Trying Something Different” means: thinking about names. Let us pursue the personal names in today’s gospel.

 

In the Bible, names mean things. You may say: of course. But I would counter that. In some cultures and languages, names are simply sounds thought to be attractive. By no means must a name have a meaning. I have a couple of (native-born British) friends who have named their children (in both cases, though, just one of their children) after sounds they were drawn to, and nothing more. But that is still the minority. Time was: parents bought all manner of “baby naming” books. Nowadays, I think that’s one of many tasks the internet takes care of. But, if, in English, names tend to mean things, how much more so in the Bible, where, as we know, it’s not that unusual for a person’s name to change, as their vocation expands.

 

And so, first to Jesus (of course)!

 

First, there is something we need to say about the J of Jesus. We pronounce the letter J as “dyu”. But neither Latin, nor Greek, nor Aramaic, nor Hebrew have the “dyu” sound. So the J in so many names comes from the Latin J which is a Y! (Sorry about this!)

 

And there’s a bigger complication: to unfold the meaning of the name of Jesus, we need to go back a stage.

 

Remember that according to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, Gd has Gd’s own name. People sometimes say that Gd is beyond all names, but that is not the biblical way of thinking about things. Gd reveals Gd’s personal name to Moses, speaking out of the burning bush. What it is, and how you say it, is complicated to the point of impossibility. But it is associated with the letters we know as:  Y/J-H-W/V-H. (Sorry about this too!)

 

For now, the point is: whenever you read of a biblical name ending in Jah or Yah, or even Jahu or Yahu or occasionally beginning with Yeho or Yeh or Jeho or Jeh, then it is likely that part of the name is the personal name for Gd, Gdself, according to the Bible. Sometimes the marker for this is as little as an initial Y or J, or a concluding “iah”.

 

So, here goes. Jesus in English stands for Iesous in Greek, which stands for Yeshua in Aramaic, which stands for Yehoshua in Hebrew. And Yehoshua is held to mean, with only a little massaging: Gd-using-Gd’s-personal-name… Gd saves, or Gd is salvation. Gd is rescue. Gd heals. The range of meaning is broader even than that. And this seems a good place to start, not only linguistically. Gd heals.

 

We next learn that some say that Jesus is… John the Baptist, reincarnated. The English John relates to the Greek Ioanes, and the Hebrew Yochanan. Note the initial Y/J. This means: Gd-using-Gd’s-personal-name… Gd has been merciful, or is gracious. We think of John the Baptist as being a fiery figure, always warning, threatening, and even condemning. So it is worth remembering that his very name – which was given to him by Gd – tells a different story, tells of Gd’s mercy, grace, compassion.

 

Others say that Jesus is Elijah, returned to this world (remember that Elijah did not have a regular death; he ascended). Elijah relates to the Greek Elias, and the Hebrew Eliyahu. Note that Yahu. This is a name it is unusually easy to translate. It means: Gd-using-Gd’s-personal-name is my Gd. Gd-at-Gd’s-most-intimate-with-us, Gd-as-such, is my Gd. I claim him for myself. Again, strikingly personal and intimate-intricate language for the fiercest Old Testament Prophet of all.

 

Yet others say that Jesus is Jeremiah, reincarnated. In the case of Jeremiah, the initial Je misleads. Note instead the ending. It is in that “iah” that the personal name of Gd is hiding. The Greek is Jeremias; the Hebrew is Yirmayahu. This seems to mean: Gd-using-Gd’s-personal-name, Gd lifts up. And this againis striking. Jeremiah is often thought of – and not wrongly – as the most negative, the most moody, and in that the lowest of the Prophets (in that so little of his message is “up”). So it’s almost as if names can stand as a corrective, a balance, to add to the message and lives of biblical heroes. To get the whole story of a hero in the Bible, pay at least some attention to their name.

 

If we are thinking about heroes, we may well attend to the probable hero of this whole account, the most impetuous or most courageous of the apostles, the one who today gives Jesus the good answer, the one named here as Simon Peter.

 

The Greek for Simon is Simon, which ultimately comes from the Hebrew Shim’on. Linguists are not sure what it means, but according to the Bible’s own account, it has to do with hearing. (“Hear of Israel” is “Shema’ Yisrael”.) Shim’on was one of Jacob’s 12 sons (one of Israel’s 12 sons, one of the patriarchs). So the name was popular. We might even say common.

 

Peter is Petros in Greek. Today’s passage itself gives an account of its meaning. Peter is Petros - is Rocky, from petra, the Greek for rock. While the name behind Simon is popular, or indeed as common as anything, the name Petros is not known as a name before this Petros, this Peter. Even if you go back to the Aramaic, Kepha, it makes no difference; it is not a name. This Peter is the first Peter. Simon Peter, Hearing-One-Rocky-One – Peter is the first one so named in history. Again, it is far from ridiculous to suggest that if you want to  get to the rock, the bedrock of all that Jesus was about, well then, learn to listen. In Gd’s ordering of things, “Rocky” is not a boxer; Rocky is one who sits down and listens.

 

Matthew’s gospel – and Matthew’s gospel alone – gives us one more name for Peter. He is Son of Jonah. In Greek, Barionas; in Aramaic Bar-Yonah. We know Jonah and we associate him strongly with one animal. That is a whale, though in fact the Hebrew just says “a big fish”. And the name Jonah/Yonah is held to mean “dove”.

 

 Which is the most interesting name, of all those whose names we have looked at? I cannot tell you. What I can tell you is that only here in the New Testament is Simon Peter called “Son of Jonah”. And only here in the New Testament is there anything like the idea that Jesus might be Jeremiah.

 

What would make people – or Matthew – want to link Jesus with Jeremiah? Matthew does not tell us (however closely you look). Jeremiah means – as you all know by now – Gd raises up. And you already knew that Jeremiah is the lowest prophet in terms of mood and message.

Jeremiah was dismissive of the Temple, or how it was run.

Jeremiah He was largely dismissive of the idea that the people might be helped by the neighbouring nations.

Jeremiah was among the biblical characters who wished he were dead, who cursed the day of his birth.

So…

 

Again, I cannot tell you why Matthew had learned or had thought that Jesus had to do with Jeremiah. But I will say I take some hope in it.

 

All the time you have been reflecting with me on these biblical names, another name has been involved. I mean your name. You too are part of this story; you are invited to find yourself in this, as in all gospel stories.

 

What does your name mean? It is likely you will know. But then there is this: do you perhaps remember that according to the Yochanan, the John who wrote the book of Revelation, you have a secret name that Gd will give you [Revelation 2.17]. It’s not the name your parents thought was nice, it’s the name that reflects how Christ is personally calling you to your unique and precious vocation.

 

I suggest that if you spend some time in prayer and prayerful reflection, asking what the name would be – what the name is - that identifies your vocation in all its uniqueness, its irreplaceability, that is far from a fruitless exercise. It may even be the making of you.

 

Amen.