John. It’s hard to think of a more ordinary name. But boy, did it cause a stir when Elizabeth said that’s what her newborn son was to be called.
Families often mark their identities by passing certain names along the generations. Parents will name a child to honor an ancestor, or give an aspirational name of someone important. Names matter in families. So it was one more oddity in the whole strange saga of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s late-life adventure in parenthood, when the day came for the baby to be named and circumcised:
“On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’” (Today's passage is here.)
Unwilling to rely on the insistence of a women, they motioned for Zechariah to chime in.
“He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed.”
Amazing – a new name. A break with the past for a new chapter in Israel’s history. “Israel” itself was the new name given to Jacob when he wrestled with the angel. Now, as God started a new story in human history, built on the old but with new themes and characters, he ordained a new name for this child who would “make ready a people prepared for their Lord.” John. Amazing.
And even more amazing, as Zechariah was faithful to what the angel Gabriel had told him the boy was to be called, his muteness was lifted. “Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God.” Apparently all of this caused such a stir, the whole region was talking about how the hand of God was on this child.
I know people who give themselves new names at different junctures in their lives, to mark a new beginning or give voice to a new identity they’re taking on, trying on. There are other ways we might make a practice of naming. We could name the eras in our life. Superficial labels might be “childhood,” “adolescence,” “young adulthood,” “singleness,” “first married,” and so on. If we were to dig a little deeper, we could find names for the periods in our lives that told an emotional story. “Afraid,” “Mad at the world,” “Trusting,” “Sick,” “Delighted.”
What name would you give the time in your life you are now living in? Do you want or foresee a transition to a different mode? What would you name that? John’s name was set down before he was born – we can name ahead too.
In this life we are about discovering our true name, our true identity, what God already sees when God looks at us. So let’s give a name to the next portion of our life and live into the new story God is writing us into.
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