"Name Calling"
Naming ourselves, others, and our problems.
Sermon Preached by
The Reverend Dr. Bill Fritz
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Text: Genesis 32:24-31
In our society today, our lives are increasingly being directed by numbers. Again and again, we are identified by a number: We have a credit card number; we have phone number; we have a house number; we have a car license number; we have a PIN number. When we go to the deli counter, we are told to stand in line and take a number. Increasingly, we are being managed by numbers and identified by numbers.
Now, the Bible regards numbers as important, but far more important than numbers are names. You and I have a name, a given name. We also give ourselves informal names. Other people also call us by informal names. The Bible emphasizes that the name is tremendously important. For example, our God is high and removed from all of us, and that is why the ancients, the Hebrew people, emphasized that we respect the name of God. We should never take the name of God lightly: Commandment Number Three reads, “Do not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.”
Now, God gives to all of us a good name, but so often, circumstances in life, and perhaps we ourselves or other people, tend to assign negative names. We see this in today's Bible passage which is about a pivotal moment in Jacob's life. Even before Jacob was born, he was given a good name by God: God called him “Child of Promise.” However, when Jacob was born he was the second of a pair of twins, and he came into the world grasping his older brother, Esau's, heel. The adults looked at this, and they laughed, and they said, “Look at the little grabber! Why, the little cheat, he's trying to get ahead of his older brother!” So, that is the name that Jacob received: “Cheat,” for that is what the name Jacob means. Jacob then grew into that name. In all of his dealings with other people, Jacob manipulated, he deceived, he lied, he stole, he cheated, he always maintained himself on the right side of the law, but nevertheless he pushed the law to the limits! He was known as “the Little Cheat.”
One day, he cheated his brother out of his birthright, and that is akin to taking away the deed to the family estate. Then, Jacob deceived his father. Jacob pretended that he was really the older brother, and he received from his father the blessing that really should have gone to Esau. Now, when Esau heard that he had been tricked out of his father's blessing, he was enraged. He wanted to kill this “Little Cheat.” When he heard that his brother was after him, Jacob left town in a hurry. Jacob travelled far, to his Uncle Laban's country. There, for the first time in his life, Jacob met his match, because if Jacob was “Little Cheat,” Uncle Laban was “Big Cheat.” No matter what Jacob did, no matter how he tried, no matter how he prospered, he found that he always was owing money to the company store, which incidentally Uncle Laban owned.
Now, Jacob was very much in love with Laban's daughter, Rachel, and wanted to marry her. So Jacob approached Laban and asked him for his daughter's hand in marriage. Uncle Laban said, “Yes, you can marry her, but you really have no resources. I tell you what: I'll set up a contract for indentured labor. You work for seven years, and at the end you can have my daughter.”
So, Jacob worked very hard indeed, and things seemed to be going well, and then the day of the wedding came. Uncle Laban came to him with the contract: “Uh, oh, there is some fine print in the contract here. It says here that the oldest daughter must be married first, so you must marry Leah before you marry Rachel.”
So, you see, Jacob had met his match. He was infuriated. Nevertheless, he worked another seven years, and finally he gained the hand of Rachel. In all this time, Jacob's family was growing, and Jacob saw that this was really no place for his family. He yearned to go home. However, if he went home, he would face his brother Esau. Was his brother Esau still angry with him? Did his brother Esau still want revenge? Was Esau lying in wait? The urge to go back home was so strong that Jacob made that move.
As Jacob approached home, the pivotal point in his life took place, for it was here that he truly met God face-to-face and heart-to-heart. You see, Jacob knew about God. Yes, Jacob casually worshipped God, but now, at this pivotal point in his life, Jacob had a fresh encounter with the Lord, his God.
Now, friends, the story of Jacob is God's love story, not only for this man, Jacob, whose name is “Cheat,” but also God's love story for you and for me. God desires goodness; God desires generosity; God desires a positive life for every one of us, his people. However, so often, through the circumstances of life, sometimes through no fault of our own, and sometimes through our own fault, we do tend to assign negative names to ourselves, to other people, and to life's situations. So, friends, I want to ask three questions.
The first is this: What name do you give to yourself? You see, Jacob gave himself a negative name. He knew that he was Number Two, but he yearned to get ahead, and so he did it by trickery, by deception, by manipulation, by cheating. His name truly was Cheat! Friends, what name do you and I give to ourselves?
Allan Loy McGuinness, in his book, The Friendship Factor, tells the story of a man who appears before a judge, and the man says, “Your Honour, I want to change my name.”
The judge asks, “What is your name?”
The man says, “Your Honour, my name is John Stinks.”
“Oh, my dear man,” says the judge, “I can understand why you want to change your name. What do you want to change your name to?”
“I want to change my name to Bill Stinks.”
Allan Loy McGuinness' observation is that sometimes we try to change our image, but try as hard as we might, we don't succeed, and sometimes we even dig a deeper hole for ourselves. I like the story that Oliver Wendell Holmes told about himself. He was the famous American jurist, and he was well known in his community, as indeed he was known throughout the United States of America. One day he was walking home, and a little girl came and walked beside him. They didn't talk to each other, but when Oliver Wendell Holmes turned off to go to his own home, he said to the little girl, “Young miss, when you go home, tell your family that you walked with Oliver Wendell Holmes.”
She looked up at him and she said, “And sir, when you go home, will you please tell your family that you walked with Mary Helen Brown?” What a girl! What a confidence! What an attitude! What confidence she had in her name!
What name do you give to yourself? Sometimes, we ministers sit and counsel people, and we discover that they give themselves a negative name: “I am such a loser! I am such a failure! I am addicted, and I will never be able to get out of my hole of addition! I am sad! I am lonely! I am angry! I am the black sheep of the family!”
You see, sometimes we do give negative names to ourselves. I can give myself a negative name. I like certainty and I like sameness; I don't like change. I don't like it when Joan rearranges the furniture in our home. I don't like it when she changes the pictures on the wall. Right now, our church is in upheaval because there is a renovation going on. I may be irritated by it, I may not like it, but I am looking to the future, I am looking to what this church will be. We have a beautiful sanctuary where we worship God. How wonderful it will be when we have a congregating focus to our church that connects our buildings.
So, you see, I need to give myself a positive name. What name do you give to yourself? Friends, this is why I like to read the Gospels. Isn't it amazing when we read how Jesus always gave to himself a positive name? He called himself “Son of Man.” He enjoyed his humanity. He celebrated his humanity. Jesus also called himself “Son of God.” Jesus enjoyed his relationship with God the heavenly Father, and Jesus always, always trusted God. Let's remember that Jesus gave to himself a positive name, and that we have a God in Heaven who gives to every one of us a positive, helpful and hopeful name.
My second question is this: What name do you give to other people? Jacob, you see, gave negative names to other people. He saw them as pushovers; he saw them as objects of exploitation. Jacob gave negative names to other people. When parents name their child, generally, they give a meaningful, helpful, hopeful name to that child. It may celebrate a family tradition; it may celebrate a family name; it may celebrate a famous name. Parents generally give good names to their children. However, as the child grows, sometimes tension develops between parent and child. Sometimes, I walk through the supermarket and a Mom or Dad is tugging at a child. Sometimes, the parent becomes impatient, and the parent assigns a negative name to the child.
Some time ago, Joan and I received a telephone call from a minister in northern Ontario who had a young man in his congregation who no longer could stay at home. This young man wanted to strike off on his own, and he wanted to come to the city. Would we have room for him? Well, I think at that time, we had eight children around our family table, so one more didn't really matter. We took Rob in. I tried to get work for Rob. He was a young man of just 16, but he was determined he was never going back home and he was never going back to school. As I got to know this young man, I found that he had a deep lack of ease and tremendously low self-esteem. Rob had been with us for about six months when one day he revealed to me that he had an older sister. She was very smart and did very well at school, and so Dad would always compare big sister with Rob.
Big sister would bring home her report card with all A's. Rob would struggle and he would strain, and he would work so hard, and he would bring home his report card with maybe one A, but then it would also have some Cs and Ds, and Rob was so hoping, so aching that his dad would notice the A, but his dad would look at the Ds and Cs, and say, “Why can't you be smart like your sister?” One day, Rob recalled how his Dad was washing his brand new sports car. Rob wanted a ride in that sports car, but didn't dare ask. Instead Rob thought that he would help wash the car.
Now, as Rob was washing the car, inadvertently, the washcloth fell to the ground and Rob did not clean it out properly, so, some slight streaks began to develop. When Rob's dad saw this, he exploded: “You dummy! Can't you do anything right?” You see, from that point on Rob never much wanted to be with his dad; never much wanted to be at home; never much wanted to be at school. Rob left his home, and never, ever did return.
Friend, read the Gospels. As you read them, you find that Jesus gives good names to other people. In Jesus' time, there were a host of people called “the outcasts.” They were the sinners. The amazing thing is that when these people came to Jesus, he never ever called them sinners or outcasts; Jesus, indeed, in the Scriptures, never calls another person a sinner. Jesus assigns good names to other people. You may remember the story of a woman who was handicapped, an outcast, in the sanctuary not even daring to look up at Jesus, and Jesus addressed her, and said. “This is a daughter of Abraham” and the woman stood up tall and strong and proud, because she received her true name.
You may remember vacillating Simon. Simon could never make up his mind: he never made the right decisions, and so often, he put his foot in his mouth! Jesus gave vacillating Simon a new name, “Your name is Peter. You are solid like a rock, and you will not be moved.” Remember doubting Thomas? Jesus looked at doubting Thomas, and he said, “You are a believer!” Jesus assigned good names to other people, and we, as followers of the Christ, are required by him to do likewise.
The third question that I ask is this: What names do you give to life's problems? You see, Jacob was facing a gigantic problem in his life. He wanted to go home, but he didn't know what there was for him at home. Was Esau still there raging with revenge? So Jacob, again, dipped into his bag of tricks. Jacob sent messengers, and he said to his messengers, “Be sure to address Esau as Lord, and when you speak about me, say to Esau that I am his servant.” The messengers went and did that, and then they returned and said to Jacob, “Esau is coming with a band of 400 armed men.” Jacob saw the problem, and he panicked. “Esau's coming to kill me and all of my family?”
Then, Jacob sent three processions of gifts - camels and donkeys and sheep and oxen with gifts and treasures in order to soften Esau. Jacob then divided his family into two camps, and he sent one group in one direction and the other in another direction, because his hope was that if Esau did fall upon the family and kill them, at least one part of the family would make it. Consider how devious Jacob was: he did not go with either group! He stayed within the protection of the river and he did not cross the river. But that night he was quite alone. For the first time in his life, Jacob knew that his bag of tricks was empty. He was utterly helpless in the face of the danger that he believed was coming towards him. What was he going to do?
Well, Pope Benedict says that when we face the truth, we really do face God. Jacob faced the truth, and he faced, for the first time, the Lord, his God. As Jacob faced God, as Jacob wrestled with what to do, notice that God significantly asked Jacob, “What is your name?”
“My name is Jacob - Cheater,” he replied.
God said to Jacob, “Your name no longer will be Jacob, your name now will be Israel, the one who engages with God, the one who goes with God.” Jacob received a new name, a new home, and a new life. The problem that was insurmountable was now made possible because God would go with him. Jacob did not know what was ahead of him, but he knew that God was going with him, and indeed, Jacob was reconciled with his brother Esau.
Friends, so often you and I do face problems and troubles. Often we think that our problems and troubles are insurmountable, but could it be that you and I are facing our problems alone? Could it be that you and I don't realize that God is with us? That God is eager to help, guide and nurture us?
Angelina Jolie is a movie star. Her current movie is Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Brad Pitt. In 1999, she won an Academy Award for her performance in a film called Girl, Interrupted. Angelina Jolie, by her own admission, was a party girl, a girl who lived the good life: She didn't care for anything, she was into drugs; her behaviour was outrageous; she was promiscuous. She says her name was “Aimless.” Then, she was handed a movie script, Beyond Borders. It had to do with refugees. She read that script, and she said “This is pure fiction! Surely people are not living with these kinds of problems!” She was invited to accompany some United Nations' workers to refugee camps in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Sudan and the Congo - and her eyes were opened! She saw a great problem that she had never known about. She realized that hers was a life of privilege; here were people living on the edge of death and disaster.
People said to her, “It is an impossible problem!” But right from that day, Angelina Jolie resolved that she would make a difference: She said she would take one-third of her annual income, and donate it to helping the refugees, and indeed, that is what she is doing. You see, people were calling the problem impossible, but Angelina Jolie said that with her help, and with other people's help, with our help, the impossible can become possible.
Not so long ago, I heard someone say, “Today I could not be raising children. I just could not be bringing up children. Look at all the problems that there are in society today: alcohol problems, drug problems, crime problems, violence is everywhere! No, this is no place for children! Children simply do not have a future!” When I heard that, I reminisced about how two weeks ago we had 12 sets of parents standing in this church, pledging hope and a future for themselves and for their children as they made their dedication to God to bring up their children with God's truths.
Just last Sunday, we had 10 young people and an adult confirmed in this church. What were they standing for? They were standing for the Lord, their God, who gives them a future and a hope. They were making a commitment to a God whose name is Hope: the One who indeed can help!
Friends, what problems are you facing right now? Is there some trouble that you are going through? Is there a problem or trouble within your marriage? Is it within the family? Is it within the work place? Is it within your home? Is it within the neighbourhood? Is it a problem with health? Have you lost a loved one? Are you saying, “It's a mess. There is no hope; there is no future; there is nothing that I can do. It is impossible!”?
Friends, with God all things are possible, and indeed that is what we learn from Jesus. Jesus faced a grave and gigantic problem in his life. He had come to tell of God's love to all of humanity, and he was failing. In fact, humanity had so rejected him that Jesus was consigned as “Public Enemy Number One,” and he was going to his death executed as a criminal. Jesus still had a chance to run away, but he remembered his names: “Son of Man” and “Son of God.” Jesus was faithful to both of those names. In his hour of despair, he admitted “God, take away this cup from me,” but then he prayed, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.”
You see, Jesus, at the 11th hour, trusted God. He did not know the outcome but he knew that God would be with him. God indeed was with him, so that today, at the name of Jesus, the name that is above every name, the Scripture tells us “that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.” Why? It is because Jesus always, always showed himself to be trusting, to be in obedience to the will of God the heavenly Father.
Friends, in this coming week, as you face numbers, as you face problems, as you face other people, think of the one whose name is Jesus. Think of the one who utterly trusted in God. Incidentally, that name, “Jesus,” means “God saves.” That is why it is such a powerful name, and that is why when you and I are somewhat negative in our opinion or in our attitude, we need to call upon that name, which is able to help, which is able to restore, for friends, it is in Jesus' name that you and I have a future and a hope. Amen.
This is a verbatim transcription of the original sermon.