"He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, 'His name is John.'” Luke 1:63
When I was born I think it caused a bit of a stir. I’d be a new grandson on my father’s side. They had to figure out a name that would satisfy both sides of the family. My mother had a brother, Frank, who was killed in a car accident when she was young and my father‘s father was named Edgar Franklin. So, I guess Frank or Franklin seemed to fit the bill. As to the middle name, well, your guess is as good as mine. The rest is history.
I remember before our daughters were born, my wife and I going back-and-forth over what would be the best names. She would think of a name, and I would think of a name. Relatives and friends were always ready with ideas and suggestions. The names had to sound good with the last name and middle name. It had to mean something to us. It had to be something the kids could live with.
Many people pick names from popular TV shows or movies, cereal boxes or a social statement that they want to make. And the poor children have to live with that for the rest of their lives. I met a mom who named her daughter after something she heard in the delivery room. She named her Anesthesia.
Can you imagine what it be like to have God name your child? When the angel told Zachariah and Elizabeth they would have a child, He said the child’s name would be John. When the baby was born people asked Zachariah what his name was and he said his name is John. That must’ve been the shocker of the day. Everybody was going around saying where did that name come from?
In the book of Luke God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth with a message for Mary. He told her she would have a son and she would name him Jesus. Jesus, OK. That sounds like a fine name. I bet she was glad that she did not have to come up with the best name for the Son of God.
Like Mary, parents want their children’s name to be special but I can’t help wondering if Mary ever thought that her baby’s name, Jesus, would for thousands of years and forever, be a name above all names.