Say My Name

Say My Name

Mark 6:14-29

In many ancient cultures, including Judaism, there is a belief that if you can say the name of something, then you can have some degree of control over it. And because the Jews, rightly I believe, claimed that we do no have any control over God, there is a prohibition against saying the name of God. This explains why in the Jewish scriptures there are no vowels written. It was to keep you from accidentally saying the name of God out loud while reading the scriptures.

We know that we don’t have control over God, but there are other things we do want to have control over. If we go to the doctor with an ailment, and he or she says “I don’t know what this is,” we get worried. But if the doctor can say there is a name for this condition or ailment, then we can have some control over what happens next – whether it is treatment to cure it, or patience to wait it out, or making accommodations to live with it, or even preparing for how we will die with it. Knowing the name gives us some control.

It works the other way around, too. If someone knows our name, they have some control over us. When we are little, we know that if our mother calls our name – especially if she calls our middle name – wehad better respond. If another woman calls out someone else’s name, we know it doesn’t concern us and we can keep doing whatever we are doing. But if it is our mother, and she has called our name, and we keep doing what we have been doing, then we quickly learn that there can be consequences.

This lesson applies to the rest of our life, as well. In school, if the teacher calls our name, we had better respond. At work, if the boss calls our name, we had better respond. And throughout the Bible we see that when God calls someone by name, they respond.

Not knowing the name of someone has its consequences, as well. There is a story of a student taking a final exam in a large college class, the kind of class that has perhaps hundreds of students sitting in an auditorium listening to lectures. In classes like this, sometimes the class final is a test with the questions written on the board in front of the class, and every student uses the same blue books in which to write their answers and essays. Most of these tests are timed. It was at one of these tests that time was called, and the students passed in their blue books. That is, all of them, except for this one student who kept writing. After all the books were collected, the professor told the student that he had to turn in his test immediately, but the student kept writing. The professor then said that because he had not turned in his test when asked, he would be given a zero for the test, and the student would fail his class. The student closed his book, went to the professor, and asked a simple question: “Professor, do you know my name?” When the professor said “no,” the student shoved his book in the middle of the stack of collected tests. “Good luck trying to figure out who gets the zero,” the student said as he ran out of the class.

If we know the name, we have some control. If we don’t know the name, we can lose control. And if we get the name wrong, then things can get out of control.

In Mark’s gospel, we find a familiar question in an unfamiliar setting. Instead of Jesus asking his disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” it is the court of Herod that is asking the question about Jesus. And in one of the longest asides we can find in the Bible, we get the background that explains Herod’s answer that Jesus must be John raised from the dead. It is the wrong answer, of course, but as every teacher knows, even the wrong answer can teach us something important. It can show us where we still need to learn and grow. And in this case, it can even help us learn our true name before God.

In our reading, Herod heard in Jesus the same message of condemnation that he had heard in John the baptizer. Instead of hearing the call to repent and turn towards God, all Herod could hear was that what he was doing was wrong before God. For some people, that is their default position.

It was at my first appointment that I used in a sermon a story I had heard in seminary. Briefly, someone asked a seminary professor if God could have forgiven Judas for betraying Jesus. The professor replied that the question missed the point of the good news. Judas only betrayed Jesus once, but we in our sin betray Jesus over and over again. The good news is not that God could forgive Judas, but that through the grace of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

That morning, half the congregation practically ran to the altar to receive communion, because they had heard that they were forgiven. The other half practically ran home to call the district superintendent to complain that I had said – from the pulpit – that they were worse than Judas.

Whenever our focus leads us to resent the Word of God because we have fallen short, our name before God is “Herod.” Whenever we rejoice that God has given us the gracious opportunity to repent, our name before God is “Disciple.”

In our reading, Herod recognized that John had a prophetic message to share with the people, and even though he didn’t like the message, and he certainly didn’t heed the message, up to the time Herod had John killed, Herod protected John the baptizer from arrest and persecution so John could say whatever he wanted to say. Herod had dealt with John as a philosophical exercise in the freedom of speech, instead of hearing in Johna calling to live in holiness.

We are in much the same place in our country. Often, we believe more firmly in the freedom of speech that we do in the God who is revealed in Jesus Christ. We believe in the power of the marketplace of ideas as the way forward towards our fulfillment, rather than in the vision of the kingdom of God as the fulfillment of God’s will. We live as if "license" and "freedom" mean the same thing, that we have the right to say anything we want – which may or may not have anything at all to do with the holy obligation to say what is right and just and true in the eyes of God.

Whenever we are more concerned with protecting religious speech as an exercise in truth-seeking, than in trying to discern what God is saying to us, our name before God is “Herod.” Whenever we hear God speaking through the prophetic word that is fulfilled in the love of Christ, our name before God is “Disciple.”

In our reading, Herod recognized that, despite his title and authority, he needed the approval of influential friends to stay in power. He wanted the people around him to like him. So he threw parties, and provided the best foods, and offered the most sensual entertainment he could offer, because he was more concerned with being liked than with being just or inclusive.

Much of what passes for church growth research in the last 40 years is simply arguments for making worship more popular among the people. We are told that we need contemporary sounds, in contemporary looking venues, where people can expect to be entertained in contemporary ways. We are supposed to downplay the need for sacrifice and emphasize rewards on earth as it is in heaven, even if that means eliminating the cross from the worship space. We are supposed to talk about helpful tips for living, and to teach useful skills for getting ahead, instead of helping persons learn how to depend on God, conform our lives to Jesus, and to have confidence in the Holy Spirit.

Whenever we seek our worth in the popular opinions of others, our name before God is “Herod.” Whenever we know our worth as the redeemed of Jesus Christ, our name before God is “Disciple.”

In our reading, Herod recognized that a promise is a statement that must be grounded in trust if it is to be believed. He wanted his people to know that they could trust that a promise of Herod would be fulfilled, whether it was a threatening promise or a promise of help and hope. So when he made his promise to grant the request of Herodias’ daughter, to even give up to half of his kingdom, however foolish that promise was, he knew that not fulfilling the promise would create a breach of trust, and could lead to his downfall.

If Herod had been really listening to John, he would have known that John had been preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Herod missed this because he believed that admitting you were wrong about something was a sign of weakness. He didn’t know that it takes more strength of character to admit your weaknesses than it does to hide them. He didn’t know that there is more power in being vulnerable than there is in putting on a strong front. He didn’t know that it is more important to trust the Word of God than it is to trust the word of Herod.

Whenever we foolishly believe that the image we create is our truest self, our name before God is “Herod.” Whenever we confess our foolishness, and then orient our lives so that the image of God can be revealed in and through us, our name before God is “Disciple.”

In our reading, Herod recognized in John a man of God, so when he heard about Jesus he made the assumption that Jesus was John raised from the dead. Herod was willing to allow that God could have a voice in this world, but only one voice – one voice among many competing voices. So when Herod becomes aware of Jesus, he makes the assumption that Jesus is nothing more than a continuation of John.

One of the great temptations we face is “making God a continuation of us.” We are tempted to make God into someone who likes what we like, hates what we hate, and wants what we want – and then we name that image “Jesus.” Evangelism then becomes an exercise in making people more like us, instead of connecting people with God so they can join us in our journey to become more like Jesus.

Whenever we try to reduce Jesus to just another religious figure in history that we can interpret to fit our needs, our name before God is “Herod.” Whenever we recognize that God has uniquely entered into our world through his Son Jesus Christ, as the Man of God, our name before God is “Disciple.”

Herod tried to give Jesus a new name, a false name, because it fit with how Herod saw the world. Herod is just another illustration of the truth that Jesus shared, that not all who cry out “Lord, Lord” will enter into the kingdom. Even those who do great things in the name of Jesus will be turned aside if they have tried to make the name of Jesus mean something other than who Jesus truly is.

Before we can say the name of Jesus, we have to know who Jesus is. Is Jesus the one who comes to condemn us, or to save us? Is Jesus simplyone among many religious teachers pointing us towards Truth, or is Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life? Does Jesus have authority over us only when he says something we already like and agree with, or does Jesus have authority over us because he is the Son of God? Do we follow Jesus because of how we interpret his promises, or do we follow him because he is the fulfillment of the promises of God? Is Jesus just our religious preference, or is Jesus our Lord and Savior?

Whenever we name Jesus as anything less than the Son of God, whenever we relate to Jesus as anything less than as our Lord and Savior, whenever we consider Jesus to be just one out of many choices for a role model in this life, our name before God is “Herod.” It is when we confess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, the Son of God, and our only hope of redemption, that we can call ourselves disciples.

Jesus calls each of us by name into his kingdom. All we have to do to respond is to say his name, acknowledging him as our Lord and Savior. This morning, let us sing our confession that Jesus is the name high over all! And if you have not made this confession before, and God is nudging you this morning to make your confession today, please come to the altar railing so you can say his name as a disciple!

#193 “Jesus! The Name High Over All”