What's in a Name?

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

Ibid.4

William Shakespeare

Names are important. Throughout Scripture, if we were to go back to the original language, we would see that names had meanings.For instance: Adam - translated from its original Hebrew means literally “The Man.” David - the King that was a man after God’s own heart - his name means “favorite” or “beloved”. In the New Testament - Peter means Rock, But here’s one that might surprise you. Judas means “Praise Yahweh.” Kind of interesting, isn’t it.

And when something truly extraordinary happens - God has given people new names. Think of Jacob - the twin brother of Esau. His name at birth meant - “Heel Grabber” But after spending a night wrestling with God - he was given a new Name - “Israel.” As a personal name, this can be defined as either “Strives with God” or “God Heals.” Names are important!

Today, we see Jesus asking the Disciples who people say that he is. Did they know his name? Did they have any idea who he really was? Maybe we should ask ourselves this same question. Do we really know who Jesus is?

In his book, Radical, David Platt wrote these words: “We American Christians have a way of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus that we are more comfortable with. A nice middle-class American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings comfort and prosperity to us as we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream.”1

That is certainly not the Jesus we meet in today’s Gospel. Today, we meet a Jesus who is willing to ask hard questions - Who do you say I am?. We know that “John the Baptist and Elijah” were not correct answers. But when Peter declares, “You are the Messiah.” we are told that Jesus sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone about him. Was Messiah the wrong answer, too?

What is this exchange all about?

I have to wonder if, in some ways, Jesus was seeing a change in the disciples. They had been with him now for almost three years. Imagine for a moment - all that they had been witness to in that time. Healings of all kinds - giving sight to the blind and opening the ears of the deaf. Feeding masses of people with little or nothing. He raised a dead girl back to life. He walked on water. And he taught and taught and taught everywhere they went. It would only be human to begin to feel like “boy! This guy is pretty special! And he chose me to travel with him. I must be special, too.”

You see it whenever a group of people are suddenly in the presence of a celebrity - whether its a local person that has done something truly important or unusual - or someone who holds a national stage. Somehow, we think that if we can get close enough, if we can rub shoulders with this important person, I too, will be seen as important. I even saw it earlier this week when I was at the Theological Conference. Our Keynote speaker was a wellknown professor, author and speaker from Luther Seminary. Matt Skinner came to do a deep dive into the book of Mark with us. And the teaching was ok. Not great, but ok. It was kind of dry, and did not do much to make me feel connected to the topic. But - ask attenders how they felt about the speaker, and you would hear repeatedly, “I feel like I am on the ‘Working Preacher’ podcast.”

For those of you that aren’t familiar with it, Working Preacher is a publication of Luther Seminary. They offer weekly fodder for those of us who do preach regularly. Skinner, along with Joy Moore - President of Luther, and Karoline Lewis, Professor of New Testament at Luther. The weekly resource has been a helpful tool for many a preacher, providing not only the weekly podcast, but also years of commentaries written by a broad variety of teachers and preachers. So, it is a good resource. But -these people - my fellow preachers - were walking around acting like Skinner was a celebrity. You could see people making their way to sit at his table for meals, or to be near him during breaks. You know what I mean. As if the wisdom and “celebrity” might rub off on them if they could get close enough.

It was crazy! but it made me think about today’s passage and wonder. Is that what we are dealing with? Were the disciples beginning to ride a little too high on Jesus popularity? We have been told that the Disciples and those who were following Jesus were expecting a Leader. The prophets and all of Torah told them to expect a Savior. They wanted a King. Someone who would lead them into victory over the Romans. With all its ups and downs, this passage “reminds us that the church is not about personalities and celebrity but about promoting the name of Christ Jesus alone.2 After making this clear, Jesus goes on to share the first of his three discourses telling them about what really lies ahead for the Messiah.

Suffering. Rejection. Torture. Death.

That is what lies ahead for the Son of Man. And suddenly. Everything is about to change. Mark 8:27–33 serves as the turning point in the Markan Gospel.

Just then, Peter steps up again. He takes Jesus aside. And then - Peter actually begins to rebuke Jesus for saying these things. “You can’t say these things, Jesus. The boys and I won’t let it happen. You are going to scare the women.”

We don’t know what Peter actually said - But that took some courage - or a whole lot of foolishness! To rebuke Jesus. To his face. No wonder Jesus’ response is so shocking! “Get behind me. Satan!” Inside this response we might hear: Don’t tempt me with alternate endings to my ministry. Satan already tried to do that. This. This is what I have come for. You really don’t understand - but you will. You will.

Then Jesus tells Peter “you are thinking about things of the world. You need to be thinking about things of God. Things that are Divine.” Take up your cross, Peter. Take up your cross and follow me. Soon it will all make sense.

Take up your cross. What are we supposed to do with that? A.W. Tozer said it this way. The man with a cross no longer controls his (own) destiny; he lost control when he picked up his cross. That cross immediately became to him an all-absorbing interest, an overwhelming interference. No matter what he may desire to do, there is but one thing he can do; that is, move on toward the place of crucifixion. 4

Move on toward the place of crucifixion. In other words - move towards death. Death - so that we might have life with Christ.

Darrell L. Bock put it like this: To pick up a cross means walking against the grain of cultural values, so that our own expectations and needs take a back seat to God’s call.5

It’s not getting any easier, is it?

What if we heard this teaching - and rather than sitting there wondering what happened. Or maybe what happens next. Did Jesus really mean that thing about “taking up MY cross? “ My cross? WE don’t crucify people anymore. So maybe if we just put a little cross around our neck - that would be enough. Or maybe we put a cross in our home to remind us of what Jesus called us to do. But did he really mean to “take up our cross and follow him?” This time, Jesus wasn’t talking in parables. He was not teaching through story. It is not a metaphor. Jesus was giving us a direction. He was telling us what each one of us must do if we want to

So the question becomes personal. Will you pick up your cross? Are you willing to humble yourself. To deny yourself. To put the cross of Christ first. As Charles Spurgeon preached, “You cannot be Christ’s servant if you are not willing to follow him, cross and all. What do you crave? A crown? Then it must be a crown of thorns if you are to be like him. Do you want to be lifted up? So you shall, but it will be upon a cross.”

What’s in a name? If the name is Jesus...If the name is Messiah. . . If the name is Christ the Lord. Then I think we need to listen. We are not talking about that comfortable, American Middle Class Jesus we heard about earlier. By no means, We are about to enter into a journey toward the cross. And each one of us must decide. Will you take up your cross? Will you follow Jesus? Because - everything is about to change.

1.Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Mark, ed. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2014), 171–172.

2. Michael LeFebvre

3. Craig A. Evans 4. A.W. Tozer

5. Darrell L. Bock

6. Charles Spurgeon, Precepts and Promises, Volume 50, sermon #2874 - John 12:26