Third Sunday of Lent - February 28, 2016

Homily for Third Sunday of Lent

February 28, 2016

Name and Identity

 

            In 1842 a Lakota Indian was born, and the boy was given the name Curly. He was a shy boy, aloof from everyone and overly serious. But when he became a man and demonstrated his strength, his father renamed him Crazy Horse. Filled with a new confidence, he led his people into battle against the American government and ended up winning an unexpected victory at the Battle of Little Big Horn. His name was changed, and thus was his identity changed. Curly reminds me of The Three Stooges – but a man named Crazy Horse? That’s a man I would follow into battle.

            The first thing you do when you meet someone is to learn their name. Someone comes up to you to greet you, and they first say, “Hi, I’m John Smith.” Names establish a relationship, and the more intimate the name, the more intimate the relationship. I could never go up to Pope Francis and say, “Hey, what’s up, Frankie?” We use formal names when we have formal relationships. When someone invites you to use their first name, that is an invitation into an intimate relationship.

            So when God reveals His Name to Moses, it is an invitation into a new intimacy. Now He is not just “God” – “God” is a generic name since all of the other Egyptian gods like Ra and Osiris were also called “gods”. No, the One True God has just allowed Moses to call Him by name, “Yahweh” – showing that He wants a true intimacy with His people. No longer is He some unknown deity; now He is personal, a friend of the human race.

            But His name, “Yahweh” – which means “I Am Who Am” – is also His identity. It has huge significance. “I Am” means that Yahweh is the source of all being in the universe – everything that exists owes its existence to God, Who is Being Itself. He is I Am – not I Was or I Will Be – because He is outside of time. He is God of all time, unchanging and immovable.

            So God is inviting Moses – and all of Israel – into a new period of intimacy with Him. No longer do they worship a God they do not understand. Rather, God revealed to them His Name and Who He was. He wanted to be much more than a golden deity on some lofty throne – He wanted to be an intimate friend, an ally, a Father to His people. And to you and I as well.

            So, can you call God your Father? Is He that intimate friend, the one you share your inmost thoughts with? Or is He, for you, the “big man upstairs” who we know exists but is distant and cold? That’s why He reached out in friendship – first to Moses, then through Jesus Christ. When we look at Christ on the Cross, how can we think that God is anything less than desperate for an intimate friendship with us?

            You know, just like God’s Name reveals who He is, so does our names. That is why God often changes people’s name when He leads them on a new path. Abram becomes Abraham, which means “Father of Great Many.” Jacob (meaning “The Usurper”) becomes Israel (“He who wrestles with God”). Simon becomes Peter, the Rock, because it is upon the rock of his faith that his church will be built. Saul – a Hebrew name - becomes Paul, a Latin name meaning “humble”, which signifies Paul’s mission to be a humble preacher to the non-Jews. We adopt a new name at Confirmation to show that we are becoming a new creation in Christ, with a new mission.

            And so, what name do you wish to be known as? I’ve been called many things in my lifetime – some weird nicknames like Gillsbury Joe Boy and J-Perro – and people now call me Father or Padre. But truth be told, the only name I want is to be called a Catholic Christian, to be called a true son of the Heavenly Father.