What’s in a Name? (5)

But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.” (Luke 1:13)

Do people gravitate towards certain professions because of their names? It sounds farfetched. Yet time and again we hear stories of people whose monikers match their jobs. A recent New York Daily News article reports several examples. In New York City, a Dr. Ma takes care of children as a pediatrician and a Dr. Hertz is a pain manager. Brad Goldman owns a jewelry shop on the 47th street and Ju-Ying Song is a music teacher. Guess what Zoe Hamburger does for a living? Yup, he handles public relations for McDonald’s.

Perhaps it is a subconscious thing that prompts some people to choose their jobs that are related to their names. After all, your name is something you see and hear on a daily basis. However, in the Bible, there are examples of how God gave his people directions in life through their names. For example, God told Zechariah to name his son John, even though it was an unconventional name for his family.

The story is recorded in Luke’s gospel chapter 1. During the time of Herod the Great who ruled Galilee and the surrounding regions in 37-4 B.C., there was an old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, who was a priest family. They lived a difficult life. Their country was under the harsh rule of the Roman Empire. Personally they felt disgraced because God had not given them any children. But they lived a life of faith. They were upright in the sight of God, obeying the word of God blamelessly. One year, Zechariah was chosen by lot as “the priest of the year” to go into the temple and burn incense. It was once in a life time opportunity as they were many priests who never had the honor.

As he was carrying out the duty, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, startling Zechariah. He was gripped with fear, perhaps because he was offering his personal prayer about a son when he was supposed to pray for his nation and people as their representative. But God had good news for him. The angel Gabriel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:13-17)

God had chosen Zechariah and Elizabeth to be the parents of John the Baptist! The words of the angel surprised Zechariah. He had been praying for a son all his married life, but when God told him his prayer would be answered, he couldn’t believe it. His wife was past menopause and he himself was an old man. Would this be possible biologically? The angel rebuked him for his unbelief, by reminding him that God always follows through his promise. He also told him, “And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words.” God trained Zechariah for nine months for his unbelief.

After Elizabeth gave birth to a son, her neighbors and relatives came to share her joy. On the eighty day, they came to circumcise the child and, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, perhaps Zechariah Jr. or some other family name. But Elizabeth spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.” They replied, “But there is no one among your relatives who has that name.” So they turned to the father of the child. Zechariah asked for a tablet and to everyone’s surprise wrote, “His name is John.” Immediately his tongue was loosed and he began to speak, praising God.

So they called the child John which means “God is gracious.” He grew up, not as a spoiled brat of an old couple, but as a man with a God-given name that constantly reminded him of his mission and purpose in life. His life was short; he was only in his 30’s when he was beheaded by Herod. But he left a permanent mark in God’s history by boldly speaking the truth to those with power as well as ordinary people. He fulfilled the purpose in his life to be a forerunner of Christ by preparing the way for the Lord. Jesus praised him: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist, …” (Matthew 11:11)

What if Zechariah and Elizabeth named their son some other name instead of the God-given name? They could have named him Judas , a popular name at that time (there appear five Judas’s in the New Testament including Judas Iscariot, the betrayer). Or they could have called him Solomon who had more than 1,000 wives. Or they could have named him “Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz,” the longest name in the Bible to give him a unique identity. They had many names to choose from. But none of them would have been the same as John. This name was special because it was given by God and God gave a special meaning to the name. I believe that whenever the name John was called, it reminded all three of them, Zechariah (“God remembers”), Elizabeth (“God is bountiful”) and John that God was gracious to his family and God wanted him to live a life of mission.