Epiphany 2, (Tom Honey)

16th January 2011

John 1:29-42

I have always enjoyed my name. Honey has very positive
meanings and connotations. It’s wholesome, sweet, fragrant and
natural. More healthy than sugar, more natural than
saccharine. There’s a note of the English countryside there.
Honey is also an endearment like sweetheart or darling, only
somehow less intense; it’s also for friends. It’s good for slogans
as well. Honey makes the world go round. Or

At school however, being called Honey was a bit of a liability
for a rather timid boy. My headmaster called me up to the
front of the class when I was being rather slow in a maths
lesson. Come up here little Pooh Bear, he said Isn’t it funny
how bears like honey, and you are a bear of very little brain.
For years after that I was known as Pooh at school. And
indeed the comparison is not inappropriate. I am rather like
Pooh Bear.

How do you relate to your name? Does it have a close
connection to your identity, your personality, or is it just a
handle you carry around with you for convenience? Do you use
your partner’s name? Have you grown into it, what does it
mean to you, or did you prefer the one you were born with? If
your name is your identity, does this imply that women are
more flexible. more willing to change, while men are more
likely to be set in their ways?

Some names connect straight back to your forebears. Johnson,
or Fitzgerald or MacDonald. As you get older do you have more
of a sense of connection with the past. Inherited
characteristics from a parent or grandparent. There are times
when I recognise gestures or expressions in myself that I’ve
seen in my father. There are Honey genes that go along with
my name. So my identity is not something unique to me, or
that I have developed totally from my own experience. Other
names have a national or racial significance. In India your
name will be an indicator of caste and social status.

And I’ve only mentioned surnames. What about first names? Is
Helen very beautiful, Rose like a flower, Ivy a bit clinging and
Holly rather prickly? Apparently the Pope has been complaining
about children being given modern invented names like Chanel
or Brooklyn, rather than good old fashioned saints’ names. And
what about film stars creating their own names? You can
understand Norma becoming Marilyn; but I must say I think
Keanu was a mistake; and Rock Hudson, what was he trying to
say?

That brings us round to the gospel for today, which is full of
names. Simon, son of John, you shall be called Cephas, which
being translated is Peter, the rock. Simon has come to Jesus
with an identity composed of his own unique Simon
characteristics, and what he has inherited from his father
John. But Jesus has recognised a potentiality in Simon for
stability, strength, endurance. You are the rock on which I will
build my church. Jesus has called out of Simon, something that
was there but not yet fulfilled -his Peter qualities, but he
remains Simon, son of John as well.

If you think about yourself, can you say that Jesus has givenyou a new identity.
You may not think about your faith in such
intensely personal terms. But I find it helpful to hear the
words of Jesus in the gospels as if they were addressed to
you. So put it like this: has your Christian identity drawn any
new qualities from you? Is there a part of you that has come
to fulfillment because of your meeting with Jesus here or
elsewhere? An unexpected aspect of your life or personality
that has come to the surface or been released by your
involvement with a Christian community.

When the two friends first follow Jesus, he says to them
“What are you looking for?” Maybe he is asking you the same
question, What are you looking for? What will begin to bring
out your true self? What is missing from your life?

The simple men who were called from their work to follow
Jesus were transformed by that relationship. They were
changed by the encounter with God. I wonder if that can still
happen today. How have you been changed? And can you
symbolise that change with a name. Just as baptised children
used to be given an extra name to mark their new connectionwith God.

Jesus himself has many names. His given name Jesus meant
saviour. In this passage John the Baptist calls him the Lamb of
God, a name that has been used in our worship almost ever
since, though it is not a title that Jesus ever used of himself.

Then John the Baptist again, calls Jesus the Son of God, an
expression which Jesus very rarely used of himself. He much
preferred the enigmatic title Son of Man; it occurs eighty

seven times in the gospels, and seems to be saying I am a
mortal, a human being like you, a representative of the humanrace.
Then Andrew and his companion call Jesus Rabbi or
teacher, implying no more than a respected member of the
community with a particular role. Then Andrew and his friend
spend the day with Jesus. Afterwards he meets his brother
Simon and says that he has found the Messiah, or Christ.

These days we tend to use Christ as if it were Jesus’ surname,
but it actually means one who is anointed. A symbolic act, the
pouring of oil on a king or someone who has been chosen for a
high office. Anointing is almost forgotten in our time, but for
Andrew and Peter the Messiah was the long awaited king who
would lead Israel back to a golden age. Again it’s not a title
that Jesus often uses of himself. I guess he didn’t want to be
associated with the political role that was expected of the
Messiah.

So the first disciples were rather confused. Who was Jesus for
them? They didn’t know what to call him. Their expectations of
a king were not fulfilled. But they had met someone who had
changed them. He was a man like them, from their district
with an ordinary background. They may have known his
parents. They could relate to him. But then again, there was
something special about him. When he spoke of God there was
a kind of intimacy, and when they were with him God felt real
to them; meeting Jesus had changed them. It was as if their
true selves had emerged.

So the question is: Who is Jesus for us, for you? It’s probably
best not to get bogged down in theological debates about his
identity. What is the relationship? I’ve heard people say that

they fell in love with him. That’s not a helpful idea for me.
Maybe a teacher, a rabbi, whose subject is not Maths or
Geography but life. Telling you stories, facing you with difficult
questions, encouraging you to a deeper understanding.

Maybe a friend who is always there for you, helping you to be
the best you can be. Someone who has changed you, given you
a new name and new possibilities.

The meeting of Andrew and Jesus, which we read about today
gives us the opportunity to ask questions about identity. Who
am I? Who is he? The answers are not settled but evolving. We
could be working on them for the rest of our lives.