What's in a Name?

 

Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town… The whole assembly together was 42,360, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 200 male and female singers. Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720. Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. According to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests’ garments. Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel in their towns. (Ezra 2:1, 64-70  ESV)

 

"What's in a name?" is a famous line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, meaning names are just arbitrary labels and don't define a person's true essence, like a rose still smelling sweet by any other name. However, while names can be just labels, they also carry meaning, heritage, expectations, and can even influence perception, so they can matter significantly, even if not defining intrinsic worth.

 

Some of you may remember that I have written about the change of my last name when my paternal grandfather immigrated to the United States. Originally it was spelled “Immiti.” The story is told that when he came in at Ellis Island, not being able to speak English well and asked for his name, the officials simply spelled it phonetically. Even today that has cause some confusion in mapping our family tree. Suffice it to say I hold that names are important.

 

Our reading today contains a long list of the names of Israelites who returned from exile. We know very little about most of them, but the Bible takes names seriously because they are connected to the God who knows their stories. These are people who remembered that they were exiled, and God brought them back to live as his people once again.

 

Ezra kept a careful record of the people who saw God’s faithfulness while they were under God’s judgment. They knew the story of God’s grace as he sustained them during the ordeal of exile. Every person had a story about God’s amazing faithfulness to tell to the next generation. Our names matter to God! Behind each name is a marvelous story of God’s faithfulness, forgiveness, and presence. Our names matter because we are under the Name that saves and redeems us for a greater purpose: the resurrected Jesus. In the name of Jesus, we have a new life, a sure hope, and a secure future. Everyone under the name of Jesus has their name written in the book of life!