-“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word, would smell as sweet.”
–Juliet, “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
-All of the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names, they never let poor Rudolph, join in any reindeer games…
–“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Johnny Marks, 1939
-“…She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus (Greek form of Joshua, which means ‘the Lord saves‘), because he will save his people from their sins.”
–Matthew 1:21
-“No one is really gonna be free until nerd persecution ends.”
–Gilbert, “Revenge of the Nerds”
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
Horse pucky.
Try that platitude out on my 7, 10, 13, 20, 30, 50 year-old selves. They’ll say the same thing (well, perhaps in stronger language). Because words…they’ll hurt you alright. Sometimes leave scars…
Especially the names.
It began in second grade, when Curtis O. called me “ugly.” Then my fourth-grade class turned my name, Shelby Fortin, into this little ditty…
“Shel-by…FARTIN’ around the mountain when she comes…”
Diabolically clever, n’est-ce pas?
In middle school, this acne-suffering, bifocal-wearing, viola-toting girl could add to her list “geek,” “dweeb,” and the aforementioned…
NERD!!!!
Most recently, I was labeled a “Christian nationalist extremist.” Sheesh. I mean, c’mon, I finally made peace with “Jesus freak!”
Where and when does it all end?
I’m fast approaching 60, so the answer is…probably never. I’m quite sure, when the time comes, there’ll be a surfeit of trash talk in assisted living (“Pick it up, Pokey! I’d like to have dinner in this century!).
Whether we like it or not, names are personal. They have meaning. And oftentimes, they stick. Yet, as influential as names can be in the present day, they had an even greater significance in Biblical times…
“…names were never given merely by chance. Names were linked to a person’s character or often to a specific circumstance at their birth…Ancients also held that names gave insight into a person’s identity and were believed to be intertwined with a person’s destiny.” (for12global.com)
I mean, woah. You could potentially be blessed…or screwed…from birth…
Eve (life, mother of all living), Moses (drawn out), Daniel (God is my judge), Jacob (the supplanter), Nabal (fool).
Sometimes a name was changed…
“Don’t call me Naomi (pleasant),” she told them, “Call me Mara (bitter), because the Almighty has made my life bitter…” (Ruth 1:20)
*Spoiler alert: She takes the name of Naomi back in the end.*
As she breathed her last–for she was dying–she named her son Ben-Oni (“son of my trouble”). But his father named him Benjamin (“son of my right hand”). (Genesis 35:18)
But the most amazing name changes came from God…
Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel, Simon to Peter, Saul to Paul.
A new name. A new identity. A new purpose. A new life.
Sound familiar?
See, in all this talk of names, there is only one to which we truly need to attend…
(Philippians 2: 9-11) Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
JESUS.
(Acts 4:12) Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
No other name.
No other way.