“Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin!” John 2:29 [The Living Bible]

Names are very important. Our name is our handle for the rest of our life. Too bad we don’t get to pick it; we have to trust our parents for that.

I have heard of some very unusual names in the celebrity section. Gwyneth Paltrow and her rock-star husband, Chris Martin of Coldplay, chose to name their daughter, Apple. The British rocker, Bob Geldof, named his daughter Peaches. Those two names have grown on me and I kind of like them.

Call me conservative but I felt sorry for Fifi Trixiebelle, Geldof’s other daughter, and David Bowie’s son Zowie Bowie and Todd Rundgren’s son ReBop. And I always thought actor Jason Lee’s choice of Pilot Inspektor and Michael Hutchins of INXS choice, Tiger Lily Heavenly Hirani, should be outlawed. But maybe their kids’ names will help them make it in the acting world.

I hope your parents took great care in naming you, and your name suits you just fine. But if you cringe every time someone calls you by your unusual name, don’t worry. You can change your name for a price when you reach adulthood.

In Bible times, and in some cultures today, parents do choose names which are supposed to describe their child’s character. Sometimes God even changed people’s names; He changed Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah and Saul to Paul.

After Jesus returned from the wilderness, where He was tempted, John the Baptist saw Him walking by the river. He cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God, who bears the sin of the world!” John was prophesying that Jesus would be like a lamb led to slaughter for the sins of everyone in the world, past, present and future.

Two young men were with John the Baptist that day. They were his disciples, or learners of his. They were very interested in the writings of God. When they heard that Jesus was the Messiah, they left John the Baptist and followed Jesus instead. One of these young men was Andrew. He became a disciple of Jesus. The Bible doesn’t say who the other man was but Bible scholars think it may have been John the disciple, who wrote the book of John in the Bible.

Andrew thought of his brother, Simon, who he knew would be very interested in meeting the Messiah, whom they had waited for all their life. In those days, when they went to the temple to worship, or to the synagogue (their church-school), they were always taught that the Messiah would soon come to deliver them. And now Andrew knew He was here; He was Jesus.

Jesus saw Andrew bringing Simon to his lodging place. Right away Jesus changed Simon’s name. He said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which when translated, is Peter) [John 1:42 NIV]

‘Cephas’ or ‘Peter’ means ‘rock’. Jesus called him that because later Peter would become the leader of the disciples and also of the Christian church.

The next day Jesus began his journey back to his home country in Galilee and these three men accompanied him. As they were walking they met another young man, Philip. He lived in the same town as Simon and Andrew. Jesus called him to also be His disciple. Philip too had learned about the Messiah and was anxiously waiting for Him. He immediately believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Philip was so glad to meet and know Jesus; he wanted to introduce Him to Nathanael, his neighbor. But when Philip left and found his neighbor, Nathanael said, “Can any thing come out of Nazareth?” You see, the Scriptures said that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem so Nathanael had a hard time believing that this Jesus from Nazareth was the Messiah. He didn’t know yet that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

When Philip finally introduced Nathanael, Jesus called him: “An Israelite in whom there is no guile!” Guile means deceit. Nathanael wasn’t deceitful but an honest, sincere man.

Nathanael asked Jesus, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Then Nathanael finally believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Only God could have known all about him before He even saw or heard about him.

I like what Jesus said then:”Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.” [John 1:50 and 51 The Living Bible] All of God’s children will see this too.

If you have chosen to be God’s child you too have a new name. You are now called ‘Christian’; a follower of Christ Jesus.

Going Deeper for Parents:

How do you think Simon felt when Jesus changed his name to ‘Peter’, the rock? I think it must have really encouraged him. He saw that Jesus believed in him; Jesus had great plans for him. In a way, Jesus affirmed him but also much more. Jesus was already preparing Peter as the leader of the Christian church.

As children of God, we bear the name ‘Christian’. As C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, we are little ‘Christs’.

The Bible says: “But God is so rich in mercy: he loved us so much that even though we were spiritually dead and doomed by our sins, he gave us back our lives again when he raised Christ from the dead – only by his undeserved favor have we ever been saved – and lifted us up from the grave into glory along with Jesus, where we sit with him in the heavenly realms – because of what Jesus did.” Ephesians 2:4 to 6. [The Living Bible]

In God’s eyes we already sit in the heavenly realms with Jesus. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work Jesus did. In fact, Jesus said we would do works even greater than His.

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