Called by Name

A reflection on following the Way of Jesus - originally delivered as a sermon on January 15, 2012, based on John 1:43-51.

What words describe you? Father, son, daughter, mother, brother, sister, teacher, minister, lawyer, athlete, or something else - what labels do you wear?

Perhaps, as importantly, what words or labels are applied to you that you wish didn’t describe you? Tall, short, jock, nerd, chunky, skinny, or others can offer negative connotations and often are words that we might wish didn't define us.

Identity is established in community. When I posted some thoughts related to this topic on Facebook, I got some interesting responses that tend to support this assertion. One person wrote about the things that other people say that define us, good and bad, and another wrote about the people she knew in high school who, at the reunion, defined themselves and each others by the jobs they do or the children they have had.

Community is instrumental in defining who we are, at least in part, because many of the ways in which we are defined are the ways in which others perceive us – identity is often established in relationships.

As we have suggested, perhaps some of the identities we hold for ourselves, are either assigned to us or given to us by others. So, who are you? What parts of your own identity are derived from yourself and what parts are given to you by others? What identity is given by your family relationships; what identity is given by your name itself? I would suggest that some of the most potent forms of identity are given to us, for good or bad, institutionally: driver’s license#, SSN, etc. But additionally, our parents give us a name and names have meaning. In many cultures to have someone’s name is to have a form of power over them.

And in a modern digital age, I think that may be truer than we know. One of the most powerful crimes today is identity theft. And while we know that identity can be stolen by having our SSN or other pertinent numbers, it is also true that identity theft can occur with simply your name.

In 1985, David D. lost his wallet. It did not have his Social Security card in it. But it did have his driver’s license and a credit card. David immediately cancelled the credit card and reported his license lost. But with just this bit of information, a scrupulous man was able to commit 81 counts of identity theft totaling about $165,000. We must all guard our identities and especially our Social Security Number and other information, but in this technological age, there is still power in a name.

There is also power in the titles we use and that others use for us as well. Too often those names and titles become the defining characteristics for us. Have you ever been labeled somehow, then after several years, growing, changing, and reshaping, come to find that others still see you with that label? Too often no matter what changes we undergo and no matter what ways we might be transformed we continue to retain those same old identities. And often, we are stereotyped by our character traits, by our old habits, by our names or by our jobs. Too often we are assigned an identity based on these stereotypes. He’s a party animal, she’s a flirt, he won’t work and can't hold a job, she’s unreliable and so forth. Sometimes lawyers are seen as shady characters and many people mistrust mechanics. Sometimes these identities are accurate, but sometimes they linger, even if we have changed. How often are we marked by a past that we can never overcome? And how often is a label applied based on what has been heard about us before someone has ever met us?

Nathanael stereotypes Jesus in this passage, he applies a label based on what he has heard about Jesus' place of origin. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Based on Jesus’ heritage, Nathanael assigns Jesus an identity, but it is not a good one. Nazareth was somewhat off the beaten track, and is considerd to be more provincial than some of the other cities of Judea. Since Jesus is from there, can he possibly amount to anything? Our identity is defined by many different words, and sometimes we are defined by words that we might wish didn’t define us. Nathanael has defined Jesus before he has ever met him.

Too often we, as the followers of Jesus today, want to define people before we know them. And too often, we want to define Jesus without true understanding of him. Too often we want to define Jesus based on our understandings and not by who he truly was. Nathanael has already defined Jesus, but when he encounters him, he realizes that Jesus is not what he initially thought.

An honest and deep encounter with Jesus will surprise us. If we seek Jesus with our hearts open, if we read scripture with our hearts open, if we go to God in prayer with our hearts open, we will find that Jesus can and does still surprise us and will turn our expectations upside down. There is a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application, “Are you a leader.” Disappointed she answered honestly, “No.” But to her surprise she was accepted with the following letter, “Dear Applicant: a study of the application forms reveals that we will have 1452 new leaders on campus this fall. We are accepting you because we need at least one follower.”

The church needs followers, Jesus needs followers – too often we are certain we know what Jesus would say or do, too often we believe we know exactly who God is, too often, we sit like Nathanael and say, “Can anything good come from ______?” But we take the name of Jesus to be followers – to be surprised by him, just as Nathanael was.

When we are too certain about Jesus, our identity as his followers gets stolen, and we start to follow our own way instead of his Way. We narrow Jesus (and God) to fit our parameters and our understanding. Jesus identity is lost and our identity as his followers is lost. But there are other times our identity gets stolen, because we are not living out our call to share Jesus. Jesus calls us to “follow me” by inviting others to “come and see.” Nathanael comes to follow Jesus because Philip invited him to come and see. We are invited not just to follow Jesus, but to invite others to come and see. So sometimes our identity gets stolen when we are unwilling to share the Lord with others, or when we are unwilling to be open to a Jesus who is larger than we perceive. (See J.B. Phillips' wonderful book, "Your God is Too Small")

We are defined by our relationships – but does our relationship with Jesus define us before others? In what ways? Do we seek to encounter Christ in new and deeper ways, can God still surprise us, or will we sit under our modern fig trees convinced that we have a handle on it all? Do we seek to invite others to come and see Jesus? In short, do we follow Christ and invite others to do the same, or are we defined solely by the worldly words that are applied to us? Is part of your identity and is part of the identity others have for you, Jesus Christ? If not, why not? What can we do to make sure that Jesus defines us? Nathanael believes he has it all figured out, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” but he is surprised by Jesus. He and the other disciples come to be defined by Jesus – we are called to have our identity defined by Jesus as well. And that may mean letting go of some of our own stereotypes, preconceived notions, and narrow theology about Jesus, and about others. We are called by name to follow the Way of Jesus. I pray for those who take his name that we may find ourselves defined not by our preconceptions, but by our Lord.