In Act 2, scene 2, of William Shakespeare’s famous play Romeo and Juliet, we have one of the most famous scenes in literature. Juliet stands at a balcony window in her home, overlooking a garden where Romeo is in hiding. Romeo hears Juliet speak, although she has no idea he is there.
Juliet laments the fact that she and Romeo, who are deeply in love, are kept apart by a silly feud between Juliet’s family, the Capulets, and Romeo’s family, the Montagues. The two lovers are caught in the middle. So, from her balcony, Juliet waxes aloud, “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?/Deny thy father and refuse thy name;/Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,/And I'll no longer be a Capulet.”
She continues as Romeo listens in: ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague/What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,/Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part/Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!/What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet;/So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,/Retain that dear perfection which he owes/Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,/And for that name which is no part of thee/Take all myself.”
In her balcony speech, Juliet suggests something with which we would probably agree. Romeo is not defined by his name. He would still be her dear Romeo as she so profoundly loves him, even if he were Giovanni, Pietro, or Francesco. Juliet would still be herself—that true part which could not possibly be summed up in a name—even if she were called Antonia, Isabella, or Pelegrina. If Juliet and Romeo could simply forsake their names—those family names that have tragically created a dividing wall between them—they could be together forever, united in their love.
There is truth in Juliet’s musings, and yet there is also hyperbole. Names do mean something, even if they need not define our destiny. We can’t avoid our family surnames. Some of us are given first names that we might treasure. Perhaps we are given specific names in the hope that we will embody something of those names. Some of us have names bestowed upon us that we might wish to forsake for various reasons.
And yet, of all books, the Bible itself may testify most powerfully to the importance of names. Frequently, a name-change signals a life event of great consequence. Abram, “exalted father,” becomes Abraham, “the father of many generations.” The new name says something about who Abraham is to become. Sarai becomes Sarah. Jacob becomes Israel after wrestling all night with an angel of God. Hoshea, son of Nun, becomes Joshua, the one who will lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land. John the Baptist is named John because an angel says it is God’s will. Simon son of Jonah becomes Peter, the rock on which the Church is built. And as we are reminded today in St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is named not by Mary and Joseph, but by an angel sent from God. Back in chapter one, at the annunciation of the angel Gabriel to Mary, Gabriel announces that Mary’s son, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, will be named Jesus.
What’s in a name? we might ask. That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet. It may be the case with Romeo and Juliet, or with Jack and Jane, or Miriam and Fernando. They do not need to be defined by their names. A Guerrero need not be a person of violence. A Beau need not be the most handsome guy in the class. A Jocelyn may not always be the happiest girl in the family. Humans can be so much more than their names, or even so much less. We might decide to change our name for good reason, to signify a new period in life. We might go by our nicknames. We might even use a first initial instead of a full name. So, really, what’s in a given name? For each of us, the answers might vary. But for Jesus, his Name is everything.
Is there any other name on which so much hinges and depends? This Jesus, Jeshua, or Joshua, means something like “Yahweh saves.” Incontrovertibly, with Jesus, what’s in the name is everything. With no other name and with no other person can an identity be so perfectly tied up with the name. Jesus’s Name is his identity.
At his Name, “every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”[1] In his Name, demons are cast out. The blind see, the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed. In his Name the powers of evil tremble with fear.
On this first day of the new calendar year and on this feast of the Holy Name, we are reminded that in Jesus’s Name, all things become new. In his Name, sins are forgiven, death loses it sting. In his Name, what is broken is restored and made whole again. In his Name, we are brought to the font, baptized, and welcomed into the Body of Christ. In his Name, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever.
In his Name, the Gospel has spread to every corner of the earth. For his Name, people have given their lives. In his Name, bread has been broken in every imaginable circumstance and in every time and place. Because of his Name, people in places of deep anguish have found reason to hope. In his Name, the poor have been comforted, prisoners visited, the hungry fed. In his Name, we are gathered here today while much of the world sleeps off last night’s partying. So, what’s in a name? In the case of the One who makes all things new, everything is in that Name.
And yet, can we in good conscience deny the harm and evil that have also been done in that Name? The Name of the One who comes to save, heal, and redeem, has been used to ostracize, exclude, divide, even murder. In the precious Name of the Prince of Peace, crusades have been launched. In the Name of the One who came not to condemn but to save, too many have been unjustly judged and condemned by their fellow brothers and sisters. Too many souls have fallen away from the faith because they have seen the beautiful Name of Jesus used and abused to manipulate others, assert control, and justify all manner of injustices and blasphemous rhetoric. Is it any wonder that some have eschewed the Name? Is it surprising that some shudder to mention it too frequently lest they seem like those who have blasphemed the sacred Name through distortions of the Gospel? So, what’s in a name? With Jesus’s name, it’s everything.
Which is why today’s feast is not to be taken lightly. Today is an opportunity to bow our heads in profound humility before the only Name under heaven given for the salvation of the world. When we bow our heads at the Name of Jesus, as we do so often in worship, we are not performing a perfunctory ritual. It is not a magic incantation or an obsessive habit. When we bow our heads at the Name of Jesus, we are allowing our bodies to tell us how precious and sacred that Name is. We are reminded of the cost in forsaking that Name. We are reminded that in this Name, we are given fullness of life, we are healed, we are saved by God’s grace. We are reminded that even when confronting the greatest of blasphemies, this Name bears something impeccably sacred.
This Name is everything. When it is used in vain, it has power to destroy. When it is used to manipulate, harm, or abuse others, souls are lost. When it is taken for granted, it becomes less of the gift that it is to us and to the world.
Jesus, called by any other name, could not be so sweet. His Name is his very identity. His Name is the one that binds us to one another. His Name is the one that rights all wrongs. His Name is the only one with the power to break cycles of vengeance and retribution. His Name is the only one with the authority to reorder a disordered world.
May this Name be more than a sign for us. May this Name become our identity. May we bow in wonder and awe before this Name that has been carelessly used at times to great destruction, but which is intended by God to draw us all to himself. May this Name forever be the source of our life. May it be the impetus for all we do. May we never take this Name for granted. What’s in this name? Nothing less than everything.
Sermon by Father Kyle Babin
The Feast of the Holy Name
January 1, 2023
[1] Philippians 2:10