Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
The Rev. Candice B. Frazer
Petunia, one of our basset hounds, has more nicknames than any dog we have ever had. As a puppy, all she did was tinkle and toot—so we called her “P-Toot”. We’ve read that dogs learn their names faster if they end in a “y” sound, so Steve calls her Tuni. She is the smallest dog we own and the smallest basset we’ve ever known, so I call her “Little Bits” or “Bits” for short. As a puppy, she played way too rough—all teeth and claws—going after her brother and littermate, Archibald, in a vicious manner. So, we called her “Tunzilla”. Now she is no longer vicious but still has that wild side, and so she has been re-nicknamed “Cocaine Basset.”
The thing I’ve noticed about Petunia’s many names is that they are in large part a reflection of her personality. They are specific to her. She has revealed those names to us. When she was a puppy, we picked out a name for her as a form of our ownership of her. Her nicknames now are not about ownership, they are descriptive of who she is becoming and how she lives in the world. There are moments when she is demure and snuggly and just wants to cuddle with someone. In those moments she becomes “Sweet Petunia.”
Jesus asks his disciples who people say the Son of Man is. They reply with a litany of names—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah. Jesus asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” It is Peter who replies, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” In this moment, Peter experiences revelation. Not because he knows Jesus and how he acts in the world. But because God has given him that revelation to know the divine essence, to know that Jesus is the Messiah. He will wrestle with this revelation through the resurrection, but that does not lessen the value of this particular revelation in this moment. It is a revelation given to Peter because he has done the work—so to speak. He has shown up, followed Jesus, listened to his preaching, witnessed his miracles, shared in the labors of the field. Peter receives this revelation because he has said yes to Jesus. He has turned away from the distractions of the world and set his eyes on the divine.
Jesus is the Messiah. We refer to him as Jesus Christ but that is not because he was born to Mr. and Mrs. Christ of Bethlehem. Christ is not Jesus’ last name; Christ means the “anointed one” or “Messiah.” That revelation is made known to Peter through God’s grace and it is a claim on the salvific nature of Jesus. In this moment of revelation, there is more happening than simply the recognition of Jesus as divine. By naming Jesus as the Messiah, Peter is now able to understand a deeper truth about himself. He is able to know his own true name.
Jesus does not name Simon as Peter until Peter has been able to name Jesus as Messiah. Peter’s new name is a reflection of his identity in Christ—he will be the rock, Petra, upon which the church is built. But his job will not be one of brick and mortar, it will be of binding and loosing. It will mean the courage of his convictions, the willingness to sacrifice self for truth, the evangelism of the one true God. It is a name revealed by God because it is about the work and purpose God has called Peter too. And Peter can only understand that work and purpose when he has an intimate relationship with God. When he is able to recognize the Messiah.
Peter has many names in scripture: Simon, Simon son of Jonah, Simon Peter, Peter, Cephas. But he might also have been known as fisherman, follower, impetuous, disloyal, a denier. When we read the story of Peter in scripture, his perception is less flattering than he might appreciate. In this moment, in the moment of Revelation—Jesus as God, Peter is given to understand his true name. He is the rock upon which Christ will build his church. He is a mortal with divine purpose. Though he will never be God, he will exercise authority in divine matters, binding and loosing upon earth that which is in heaven. His name is not derived from any human perception of him. His true name is known only by God.
God knows our true name. People have a tendency to “call it like they see it” without knowing the real truth of a person. We base their knowledge of others off our perceptions of them. Those perceptions rarely speak to the truth of who we are or the wholeness by which God knows us. Others see only in part, God sees who we truly are—in completeness. God knows our purpose.
Others may call us by many names, but they do not know our true name. For most of us, our true names are hidden, buried deep beneath the outer layers of protection we wear to keep ourselves from being hurt or becoming vulnerable. Jesus calls us by our true name. He knows who we are, who we really are, even when we do not know ourselves.
I wonder if we don’t hide our true name not only from the world but from ourselves as well. Like Petunia, people know who we are by the persona we share with them. But God knows us fully and when we cultivate a relationship with him, then we can hear our true name when he calls us—understanding our purpose, not simply our perception of ourselves.
God doesn’t perceive us as sinners in need of redemption. He knows us to be his children. Our perception as sinners is a name we give ourselves. And in so doing, we have lost the awareness of who we truly are. When we can embrace Jesus as Messiah, and understand our worth in God—not our worth in ourselves—then we can begin to learn our true name because it is only then that we are able to name the truth about God. We may still struggle with who we are, but in returning back to Jesus and claiming his Messiahship in our own lives we will be reminded and strengthened to know our true name and live into our true purpose—the building up of God’s kingdom.