What’s In A Name

Greg’s Blog Post: Nameless

Below is Greg’s blog post in its entirety. Clicking on the word Nameless above will take you to Greg’s blog post.

Last Sunday I led a meditation from Genesis 32 on the story of Jacob wrestling with a man, who turns out to be God. One part of the story that I did not have time to reflect on, but which I believe profoundly describes our spiritual journey in Christ, is what happens after Jacob receives his new name, Israel.
Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” Genesis 32:29-30
When Jacob begs to know this stranger’s name, he gets no answer, but is asked a question in return. Like Jacob, we are redirected to consider our own motivations for wanting to know a name. We don’t know if Jacob gave a reason for his request, but even if he did, he seems to have not been told a name.
What does this signify about the nature our our spiritual journey? This figure who appears as a man, entering into the earthiness of Jacob’s restless night, and yet is God, is clearly Immanuel, God with us. God has always been the with-us God even before the extent of the solidarity of divine love was revealed in Jesus. Though not compelled to do so by anything other than his own free love, God “suffers” with Jacob in his wrestling. The God who enters into our struggles is Jacob’s partner in his travail. Jacob needs someone to wrestle with, and God is willing to be that one for him.
But we still wonder, why is Jacob not told a name? The question put to Jacob is, why do you want to know? Stop here for a moment. This deserves an answer. We must explore the motivations we have for naming God. Is it not an indication that we uncomfortable with the unknown, unnamed, and uncomprehended?
Can we not connect this to the story of Adam naming all the animals? To name, or even to know a name, is to get a grasp on a thing. It is to give a thing its place among all things. Jacob assumes that this man, though he seems to be more than an ordinary man, is still just another person among the multitude of all others, able to be identified and known as such. “Let me name you and fit you into the way I understand and make sense of everything,” we say.
Maybe because this one remains unnamed and is fundamentally unknowable, is why Jacob realizes that he has been face to face with God. God is ultimately unnamed. When Moses asks God for a name, we know the response: I am who I am (Exodus 3:12-15). A proper name is not given, but rather a statement signifying the transcendence and “otherness” of God.
God remains unnamed because we cannot make God an object to consider, describe, know, and comprehend with our minds. We come to God through the love in our heart according to the willingness of our spirit, rather than through the understanding of the mind. We may relate to God by love and thus “know” God, but this is very different from naming God.
We recognize that we have been in the presence of God when we find ourselves before the unnamable. We feel exceedingly small in this overwhelming moment. We are given dominion over creation, but the One we cannot even name puts us in our rightful place. God names us, but we do not return the favor.

This Made Me Think About Names

I love this post by Greg. My mind has never gone there after reading this passage dozens of times. But now that it has, I am going to examine a stone that this has unturned. Perhaps clean the mud off of it and see if I can figure out what it is. If it is a new type of stone then perhaps I will name it!
I think that Greg summed it up when he states that:

“we come to God through the love in our heart according the the willingness of our spirit, rather than through the understanding of the mind. We may relate to God by love and thus “know” God, but this is very different from naming God.”

A thought popped in my head, the stone that was unturned: We name things because they are significant to us. An ancient understanding of our world that says everything has a spirit i.e, rocks, trees, deer, neighbors, snakes etc, is called Animism. This Ancient way of seeing our world would drive us to name all that is significant. We might not name a snake that slithered across our path but we would name a mountain or a river. I thought about it and there is not a river, creek, mountain, mesa, forest that does not have a name. We name our countries, states, towns, sub-divisions, streets etc. We name buildings, parks, fountains, statues, art etc. Anything that is significant, we have given a name. We name our children not because they are yet significant to the world but rather because they are significant to us.
When God tasked Adam with naming all living creatures, (and I now realize the analogous meaning here) this perhaps relates to us naming our children. Adam named them for they were his to have dominion over. Adam had no mate yet, therefore no offspring, the animals were his to love and care for. To name them is to declare that they matter. God could have told Adam their names but he allowed Adam to participate in their creation in this way. Forever connecting them as to be cared for as a father his children, in Adam’s heart.
When Jacob asks “the man” his name, he is perhaps recognizing his significance, that he must already have a name. He recognizes that the man is God because God is not named. But because what just happened was so significant, he named the place that it happened in. Jacob recognizes that this was not just another restless night. This that happened was significant for all of humanity. On this night, God came to earth as a man and allowed man to struggle with Him.
God and man wrestled together. Not because each had things to work out with the other. But as Greg said: “Jacob needs someone to wrestle with, and God is willing to be that one for him.” Jacob moved away years ago. He was a different person now. He matured as a man. Developed spiritual convictions. Had a family and a business and employees to care for. Who he is now is very different from who he was when he left home. Now he was unavoidably coming face to face with who he was and the people he wronged. He gets the blessing he asks for. God gives him a new name. God says you are no longer that immature, conniving trickster you once were. You are no longer Jacob. You are Israel. You have wrestled with who you were and you have overcome. This is hugely significant! Many of us come face to face with who we really are and our fight or flight response kicks in and we choose flight. We run from who we were are the trouble we caused others. We blame them for what we chose to do. We blame our circumstances. We rely on our old tricks to get us out of trouble. But to choose not to run. To choose to fight, to see that our brother is not our enemy, but we are the enemy. To fight the temptation to allow ourselves to get away with our old tricks and own our past and take what we’ve got coming and ask the forgiveness of others and ask God for mercy is perhaps one of the most significant things any of us can ever do. When we are choosing to change all of who we once were that needs changing, then perhaps we should consider changing our name as well.