Lent Day Four
“Say My Name”
John 1:35-42 The Passion Translation
35-36 The very next day John was there again with two of his disciples as Jesus was walking right past them. John, gazing upon him, pointed to Jesus and said, “Look! There’s God’s Lamb!”
37 And as soon as John’s two disciples heard this, they immediately left John and began to follow a short distance behind Jesus.
38 Then Jesus turned around and saw they were following him and asked, “What do you want?” They responded, “Rabbi (which means, Master Teacher), where are you staying?”
39 Jesus answered, “Come and discover for yourselves.” So they went with him and saw where he was staying, and since it was late in the afternoon, they spent the rest of the day with Jesus.
40-41 One of the two disciples who heard John’s words and began to follow Jesus was a man named Andrew. He went and found his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Anointed One!” (Which is translated, the Christ.)
42 Then Andrew brought Simon to meet him. When Jesus gazed upon Andrew’s brother, he prophesied to him, “You are Simon and your father’s name is John. But from now on you will be called Cephas” (which means, Peter the Rock).
My friend was a Christian youth worker in a secondary school. His approach to youth work wasn’t typical. It didn’t involve ice breakers, games and pizza, as wonderful though they are.
Instead, he’d walk along the school corridors, asking the Holy Spirit to guide him. When he sensed a prompt to speak to a student, he’d stop and ask them a simple, yet profound question. “Do you know what your name means?” Interestingly, a significant number would answer “No, but it’s probably bad”. So right there on the spot he’d look up the meaning online and share it with the student. They’d be touched and moved when they learnt what it was.
Mostly no-one had ever taken the time or shown enough interest to ask such a question and especially not in a school corridor.
On what was an ordinary school day, students would seemingly ‘bump’ into my friend and ‘stumble’ upon a revelation that uncovered something about themselves they had never known. It wasn’t a skill or a hidden talent; but a truth powerful enough to impact their sense of purpose.
It was such a clever and such a beautiful question to ask. Their names mean something. Your name means something.
Names are important to God. Here too in this passage we see the power of names to prophesy over, define and shape destiny.
Jesus is called three different names, Lamb of God - the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Rabbi - master teacher. The Anointed One - Messiah. And Simon is given a new name Cephas, which the passage describes as Peter, the Rock.
What about you? Do you know what your name means? Have you ever asked or has anyone ever told you?
Perhaps if you don’t know you might like to take some time to look it up. What do you think God wants to tell you about your name and its significance? Why don’t you ask him to tell you something about it, what might he want to share with you today. Because your name is linked to your story. It’s part of who you are.
Heavenly Father, thank you that you have called us by name and that has significance beyond our understanding. Will you reveal more of your purposes and plans for our lives as we come to you with our questions and go deeper with you. Amen
Jane Kirby
Jane Kirby is editor and founder of truth magazine for women and is behind @rebelheartsrebelgirls on instagram. She speaks at various Christian events and in her local church. Living in Hastings she is married to James and has two grown up sons, Ethan and Noah. She is passionate about people walking in freedom.