Bishop of Lake Charles
Homily for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church, Sulphur
“You called me.” I Samuel 3:8
What’s in a name? Parents of newborn children answer that question all the time. Sometimes names are chosen without much thought. At other times, we give names to show a connection in the family, as when a child is named after a grandparent.
I remember once entering a Mid-Eastern country and being asked to fill out a visa form. One of the questions was what was my father’s first name. I thought that was a strange question, so I asked the guide to explain. He said that in the Mid-East first names are passed down within tribes. So my father’s first name would tell the officials to what tribe I belonged.
Also in Jesus’ day names were very important. Names were not casual. A name told you where a person stood in the universe. I do not think that is too much of an exaggeration. God, for example, perfects his universe by giving names to all His creatures. “God called the light ‘day’…. God called the dome ‘the sky’…. God called the dry land ‘the earth’…” (Genesis 1:5, 8, 10). Then, he lets Adam give names to each of the animals because God is giving dominion to Adam over them. “The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals” (Genesis 2:20). While God might give man the authority to name animals, God would reserve everything else to Himself. God alone names the heavenly bodies. “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these… calling them all by name” (Isaiah 40:26). God is first and foremost a God of order, not of chaos. Names mean something, and they mean primarily that everything has a proper place in the order of God’s creation.
Therefore, when we hear the Gospel of today, there is something of a new creation going on. We cannot ignore the names and titles that abound. John the Baptist sees Jesus walking by and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). For Jews lambs dedicated to God served two functions. They were either sacrificed at the Temple or they were eaten at the Passover meal. Either way John the Baptist is telling us that Jesus is to be sacrificed and He is to be eaten.
When John’s disciples follow the Lamb of God, Jesus turns to them and asks, “What are you looking for?” (John 1:38). The disciples answer, “‘Rabbi’ — which translated means Teacher — where are you staying?” (John 1:38). This is unusual. Experts tell us that Rabbi was not used as a form of address in Jesus’ day. The word means “master” or “teacher”, and the disciples are naming Jesus “Rabbi” because they recognize in Him someone who will instruct and teach. The disciples want to stay with Him because they think of Him as a master with whom any student or apprentice would want to remain. Again the name is significant.
I want to digress a little. I want to say something about the Gospel mentioning the time this takes place. All of this took place at “four in the afternoon” (John 1:39). In the original Greek, it reads “the tenth hour.” We translate it “four in the afternoon” because the Romans of Jesus’ day counted daylight hours beginning at 6 a.m. Hence, it was four o’clock, and for the Jews four o’clock marked the beginning of the evening and the start of the next day. This is why, by the way, Catholics celebrate anticipated Masses beginning at 4 p.m. The evening was the beginning of the next day, and if this was Friday, then the next day was the Sabbath. Therefore, the disciples stay with Jesus because it is the Sabbath.
One of the disciples was Andrew, the brother of Simon. When Andrew finds Simon, he announces to him, “’We have found the Messiah’—which is translated Christ” (John 1:41). Messiah is a special name, meaning anointed. In the Bible only three people were anointed to serve: priests, prophets, and kings. Messiah for many Jews came to mean a royal and sometimes priestly figure who would restore and rule God’s people. As Isaiah writes, “The Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce of year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God…” (Isaiah 61). In naming Him Messiah, Andrew recognizes that Jesus is the expected Savior of His people.
Thus far this Gospel has presented names and titles for Jesus. Now, however, a name is given to another person. Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus. Jesus merely looks at him and says without hesitation, “‘You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas’ — which is translated Peter” (John 1:42). How can we miss the importance of this moment? After Jesus is given many glorious names that identify who He is — Lamb of God, Rabbi, Messiah — now Jesus gives a new name to Simon. That name is Peter, a name that means rock.
Jesus has begun a new creation. Each day a name is revealed. We reach a new Sabbath. God gave new names to those who He would possess. Peter takes his place in a new creation. God will give Peter a special role of leadership in His new people, the Church.
As parents take a child into their arms at birth and give that child a name that it will carry for the rest of its life, to possess Jesus’ name, to believe in it, to profess it, is to belong to a family. We call that family the Church. Jesus’ name is no casual thing. It is not simply a word. It rather reveals a truth, a way of life, a place in the universe of God. The name tells us where we stand, in whose family house we belong. To speak the name means to live it, and to live it means to profess it.