Names

Mark 3.14-19

Interesting text, no? What have we got? A list of names. But if you know much about the Bible you know that names are significant. Adam means ‘man’, Abraham means ‘father of a multitude’ and the names of each of the sons of Israel reflect something significant about their births. Then, of course, there’s Maher-shalal-hashbaz. I thought that at this point I’d pick on my sons and the significance of their first names, but instead I’ll pick on myself. Do you know what my name means? The ‘H.’ is for Hyman. I was told that that’s Yiddish for the name Victor. Leon is Latin for lion. Ben means son of and Ezra means help, thus ‘son of help’. So, when you lay it all out, according to my name, I am a lion-hearted conqueror who helps people. Now, let’s see if I can live up to that.

More significantly, God explains His name. In Exodus 33 Moses says, ‘Show me Your glory’. God responds by saying, ‘I’ll tell you my name.’ And then, in chapter 34 we find this: ‘Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”’ Here, God proclaims His name and in so doing He describes His character. A name is not merely a label. Ideally, a name is the reflection of who that person really is. But, in our case, sin interferes and twists that all up.

In our text we have a list of names. I’m not going to examine all of them. Instead, we’re just going to look at Simon, James and John. I’ve chosen these three because Jesus altered their names. Simon, He renamed Peter. To James and John He gave the added name, ‘Sons of Thunder’. Now remember that a name is more than a label. A name is supposed to say something about the person within. And so the right question to ask now is this: Why did Jesus alter their names?

Let’s start with Simon. His name comes from the name for one of the tribes of Israel, Simeon. In fact, he’s actually called by that variation in a couple of places in the New Testament. The original Simeon got his name because God heard what was going on in Jacob’s household. Simeon sounds like the Hebrew for ‘heard’. Apparently, Jesus figured that the idea of ‘God has heard’ didn’t reflect who this man really is. So, He changed it. From then on, he was Peter. As most of you know, Peter means ‘rock’. Let me remind you of what was going on when Jesus changed his name. Jesus had just posed what has to be the most important question anyone can answer. ‘Who am I?’ And Simon got it right. ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And so, Jesus responded by saying, ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build My church.’ Do you see what Jesus is saying? Simon’s character is like a rock: stable, solid, a sure foundation. Jesus is telling Simon, ‘This is the real you. You are a rock.’ It’s at this point that we need to stop and think a minute. Simon Peter a rock? Stable, solid, a sure foundation? Right after Jesus commended Peter for His right answer to that question He had to rebuke him. Jesus talked about going to the cross and Peter would have none of it. ‘No cross for You, Jesus!’ To which Jesus replied using yet another name. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ Now, we can understand someone making a mistake. But with Peter it wasn’t just one mistake. How many times did he get it wrong? The standard preacher’s joke about Peter was that he had foot in mouth disease; always saying the wrong thing. And then, of course, there was that fateful night when Peter denied Jesus. Not once. Not twice. Three times. Peter, a rock? Did Jesus goof?

Then there’s James and John. Jesus added to their names. Sons of Thunder. I remember a preacher describing these two. Picture two guys, outfitted in their leather jackets and hobnail boots, straddling their loud motorcycles, Harleys of course. And across the back of the jackets is emblazoned, ‘SONS OF THUNDER’ with the picture of a lightning bolt running through the words. You get the picture? Why would Jesus give them this name? Well, do you remember the time that Jesus was passing through a Samaritan village and the people rebuffed Him? Do you remember what James and John said? ‘Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ Evidently, their motto was, ‘Why say something nice when you can throw a lightning bolt instead?’ Sons of thunder.

Now, let’s fast forward. Jesus has ascended to the Father. And what are Peter, and the Sons of Thunder up to? Well, James dies early on as a martyr. But Peter and John stick around for a while. And if you were to watch Peter, do you know what you’d see? A rock. Peter was stable, solid, sure. He is the leader of the Twelve. At Pentecost, it’s Peter who preaches. Even before Pentecost, Peter is asserting his leadership. And who speaks for the Twelve before the Sanhedrin? Remember that’s when Peter was quite adamant. ‘We must obey God rather than men.’ And then he went ahead and boldly preached to Gospel to these who were ready to condemn him and the others. Simon has become Peter, a rock, a solid foundation for the Church.

Then there’s John. Do you see any thunder from this Apostle? Any threats of calling down fire from heaven? John no longer speaks that way. Now, all you hear from him is the word ‘love’. ‘For God so loved the world…’ or ‘Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,…’ In his case, Jesus gave a name that described a twisted character. John really did act like a son of thunder. But then Jesus changed him. Now, John has a new name. We think of him as the Apostle of love.

Jesus took these men and He changed them. But please note that He didn’t impose an alien character on them. He drew out the real Simon, purified and freed from his sin, and gave him the right name, rock. The same is true of John. My point here is that the change that Jesus made wasn’t that he turned these men into something they were not. No, instead He removed the junk so that they could become who they really were. If you think about it, this fits with the whole idea of redemption.

Now a question. How did Jesus do this? How did He draw out and purify the real person underneath the garbage of their sin? For one thing, Jesus used the mistakes that they made. Again, it’s quite obvious with Peter. Remember when he walked on the water and then almost drowned? Then there were the foolish comments about rigging up a tent on the mount of transfiguration. And let’s not forget his bold assertion that he would never fall away but remain faithful to Jesus to the end. What happened in these situations? Simon’s true nature came through. And by that I mean that his strong character showed itself. But it was all twisted up. Each time, Simon was trying to do something good, but he was tripped up by his sin. Part of Jesus’ method for change was to let Simon assert himself and then point out where he got it wrong. The goal wasn’t to dump on Simon. Seeing that you’ve gotten it wrong, and that more than just once, can make a person more teachable. It can make a person say, ‘Obviously I’m getting this wrong. Maybe I should listen more.’ Frankly, coming to this conclusion is a matter of the hidden work of the Spirit. What do you think Simon was thinking as he got back into the boat, wet, still coughing up water and shamed after his little experience of walking on the water? What was the Spirit showing him about his real self?

Jesus didn’t only use mistakes. He also allowed those three to see more of Himself. ‘Peter, James and John.’ How often do you hear those three names together? It was these three who were with Jesus when He was transfigured. It was these three who were with Jesus when He raised that little girl from death. It was these three who were right there with Jesus in Gethsemane. Jesus didn’t only use their mistakes as a mirror for them to see themselves, He also let them see Himself so that they could see the right way, so that they could see good character qualities, expressed well. Again, the hidden work of the Spirit was necessary to highlight the contrast between themselves and Jesus. And it was the Spirit who encouraged them to keep at it, all those mistakes notwithstanding. All of this is about names as a true reflection of a purified character that was once hidden and buried beneath mounds of sin. And so, as a result, we get a Peter who really a rock and a John who extended his love to those around him instead of a lightning bolt. Jesus changed them.

Now, I went through all of that to get to a verse in Revelation. You might even say that this verse is my real text. Listen ‘To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’ Jesus’ promise to you is that He will give you a new name. We’re not just talking about a new label. No, a new name that reflects the real you. Just as Jesus gave Simon a new name to reflect who he really is under all that sin, He will do the same to all His saints. Jesus is in the process of uncovering the real you. When He is finished purifying you, He will give you a name to match. Maybe it will be something like Peter because you stand fast when others scatter in fear. Or something like Solomon because you are a peacemaker, or Israel because you wrestle with God in prayer. Or maybe it will be Maher-shalal-hashbaz – though I doubt it.

Whatever the new name, Jesus is now, by His Spirit, doing to you what He did to Peter and James and John. I could say that He is saving you or to be a little more sophisticated I could use the language of redemption. But I really think that the best way to say is this. Jesus is in the process of making you into someone who is beautiful. I don’t mean the superficial idea of beauty that we hear about today. That’s just the passing beauty of the body. I’m talking about the abiding beauty of the person. Jesus is making you beautiful so that those glorious qualities that God built into you might shine. He is redeeming what He created. He is doing in you what He did in Peter, James and John.

But remember how He did it. He will use your mistakes, redeem your mistakes. One thing that I still struggle with is all of the mistakes that I have made. From time to time I will remember some situation or other where I acted so foolishly. My first reaction is to beat myself up. But the idea that Jesus will use even my mistakes helps me. Those things were still foolish, but He will bring good out of them in a way that only He can. So, how do you deal with the memory of your mistakes?

Then there’s the other part of His plan: seeing more of Him, seeing what beautiful really looks like. This is another reason why I love the Gospels. But if you think about it, the beauty of Jesus is revealed throughout the Bible.

So, when you are reminded of the ugliness of your sins, don’t beat yourself up, don’t try to minimize them with excuses. Turn to Jesus. Pray that He might help you to see in Him the kind of beauty that you will one day have. And then rejoice. Jesus is at work, by the Spirit, taking ugly sinners like us and changing us into beautiful people. And one day we’ll get the names to prove it.