He knows my name!

Last night in our worship service at Tuesday@theB we finished a study of John chapter 6. I had intended on connecting Peter's statement at the end of the chapter with other elements in the previous chapters of John's story about Jesus. However, while I was studying I got stuck on Peter's comment, because John focuses on the conversation in a manner quite different than the other Gospel writers. After the feeding of the crowds with only a few loaves of bread and a few fish, the other writers have Peter's profound statement of faith, "You are the Christ of God" (Luke) or "You are the Messiah, the son of God" (Matthew). But in John's account, when the crowds are leaving Jesus, he turns to his 12 disciples and asks, "Are you going to leave me too?" Peter responds, "To whom shall we go? You have the words of life!"

My plan was to show how this statement traces back through the Gospel. I was going to point out where Jesus was referred to as the Word and where Peter heard Jesus say that his very words gave eternal life. As I was looking through the earlier passages I stopped on this first encounter Peter had with Jesus. It was there that Jesus called Peter by his given name, Simon, and then gave him a new name, Peter, or Rock. From the other Gospel accounts we know that Peter was no rock, put was in fact rather impetuous and loud and usually had his foot in his mouth.

Names are important in scripture. In Peter's case we know that he eventually became what Jesus named him to be, but that it took time. In fact, as we read the stories of Peter we can see when the disciple gets it right because Jesus or the writer calls him "Peter". However, when the well intentioned disciple blunders, he is called Simon or Simon Peter.

I have heard and read many interpretations and explanations of the meaning of the new name Jesus gave to Simon. But I don't think I have ever heard or seen a similar study of the name Simon. So I did what any good scholar would do; I googled it. What I found gave me even more insight into what John was telling us in the first six chapters of his narrative, especially as it relates to Peter - and to us. The name Simon means "to hear" or "to be heard". Peter had been looking for, as the song begs, "Something to believe in." When his little brother Andrew came to introduce him to Jesus, Peter came right away because he needed to hear the word of life offered by Jesus. Like many who are bold and brash, Peter was a natural leader who had no direction, and, as a result, was flailing around trying to prove himself. When he met Jesus, a man who knew his names - who the disciple was and who Jesus wanted him to become -Peter's life was given direction and purpose. He lived up to the challenge of becoming the stock that Jesus called him to be.

The lesson for us? Jesus knows our names. Jesus knows who we are now - the good and the bad. Jesus knows the names we call ourselves and those we are called by others. But Jesus also has a new name for us, a name to which he calls us to become. He guides and leads us to be all he is creating us to be. He gently whispers the new name in our ear, and if we choose to listen to his voice and follow his gentle calls we too can become more than we are. We can, one step at a time, grow into the name Jesus knows us by and calls us to become.

Do you hear him? What is the name he has given to you? What are the words of full, complete, eternal life that he offers to you in your new name? Take a step towards his voice. He doesn't expect you to become the new you immediately, but, like Peter, by taking one step at a time towards his loving, beckoning voice you will slowly grow into who you have always longed to be.