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What's in a name?

July 27, 2008  - Dale

“’Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself though, not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is not hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. O! be some other name: What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…”

What marvellous things are in a name. Names of places carry with them the feelings and character of the place. Names of people are more than labels. They remind us of the person themselves. The name represents who the person is. We like to hear our name used because it is the sound of us.

So it is with our family names. They carry with them the characteristics of our family: its history, reputation, strengths and values. That was the trouble with being a Montague.

Abram was promised that his name would become great. In fact he was given a new name. But  “Father of many” means that many people want to name Abraham as their family name.  And if the promises God made to Abraham are true then it may be quite important to be a descendant of Abraham.

Lots of people who have no physical connection whatever with Abraham regard themselves as part of Abraham’s family so there must be something in it. What’s in it is that the promises made to Abraham had a wider group in mind.

Which suggests that there is more to being a member of Abraham’s family than the name. “What’s an Abraham?” Is it someone with blood and genes that go back to the great Patriarch? Or is an Abraham characterised by something else?

Perhaps just someone who believes the promises of God. In a way, that was all that Abraham had going for him in the beginning. It is also the only thing he was really famous for.  

And that is how God’s blessing has spread to people of all the nations and tribes and languages of the earth. God’s promise of forgiveness and fellowship are made to all peoples – they just have to be believed.

The apostles thought that the only true descendants of Abraham were those who had a faith like Abraham – a faith that believed the promises of God.  Carrying the name wasn’t crucial – having the characteristic of faith is the thing.

What’s in a name, is a good question in this case because the crucial thing embodied in Abraham’s name is his faith.

Dale

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