Whats in a Name?

I have the privilege of speaking at an upcoming winter retreat for Faith Community Church in Crofton in a couple of weeks. It is kind of weird but from the moment I was asked the passage that I have felt was right for the weekend was the passage in Matthew 16:13-20 where Jesus asks Peter who people say Jesus was. Jesus is not looking for the names that they called him, but more what they were saying about him. Were people calling Him the Son of God or a prophet, or simply just a carpenter? Jesus moves from the general to the specific really quickly in this passage and asks Peter who he says Jesus is.

What name does Peter have for Jesus? What description does Peter choose? These questions led me to consider how the answer Peter gave Jesus was a strange one. Peter doesnt respond by saying Jesus' name back to him, he uses words that describe what Jesus has done and who he is through demonstration and not description.

Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God..." He doesnt even mention Jesus' name - just His character. I wonder how many of us have become defined by our character as opposed to our given names, and how many of us have the character worthy of such a description. Or I wonder how many of us have given up the truth of our birth names with all of their meanings and have accepted the names that peers have given us, or that society has given us. How many of us have given up our names and accepted names like 'loser', 'dummy', 'idiot'. How many of us have accepted those names and have become defined by the names that we have been called? How many of us have been called stubborn and therefore remained inflexible? How many of us have been labeled as losers and believed that we will never amount to anything, and therefore we have given up and stopped trying?

I think God wants to change some names at this retreat. What about your name? Does it need changed too?