“OUR NAME AS CHRISTIAN”

Solemnity of St. John the Baptist
Lk 1:57-66, 80

I met numbers of people with the nickname called “Jun” or “Jun-jun.” The name “Jun-jun” means junior. They usually named after their fathers. In my family, my parents, my brother and sisters, and my neighbors call me “Jun-jun”. My friends in our village call me “Gil-jun”. My name is Gil. This name is taken from my father’s name Herminigildo. Some people may say I am a junior but I am not really a junior. My father did not name me after him.

Name is very important for us. It’s our identity as a person. It a nice feeling to hear when people call us with our names. Some people want their names to be known and famous. We are grateful when someone knows our name. We are calling with each other with our names.

We don’t want others to make fun with our names. We don’t want it to be destroyed, to be labeled with a “bad” name. Our name is our identity or we may say our dignity. We protect our names. Some of us love our names.

In our Gospel story, Zechariah did not name his son after him. Both Elizabeth and Zechariah said, “He will be called John.” They named him after God’s choice. It was God who gave this name. They were happy with that name and praised God for giving that name.

In the bible, giving the name is giving the role or mission. Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, Simon became Peter, Saul became Paul. God gave them a new names and He chose a person for a special role. The name John means “God’s graciousness.” John’s name was about God’s graciousness. He brought about God’s graciousness to the people. And John fulfilled that.

We are not named “John” but we have our own names. We are named “Christians.” This name is very meaningful for us. With this name we have given a special role, our mission, that is, to live up to that name as Christian.

We call ourselves as “Christians.” We identify ourselves as “Christians.” God calls us now by that name. God asks us now to recognize ourselves, to identify our role or mission and to live up to our name as “Christians.”