Wearing Roses?

I think most of us, as we get older, tend to forget names.  We remember faces from the past in their droves.  Where we met them, what they said, what we did together, their attitudes, likes and dislikes and so on; but somehow the name just won’t come to mind.  At least, it might with a great deal of effort, but often not at all.  One of my colleagues is presently in the habit of making a very sad journey every weekend.  He pays a visit to his mother, who suffers from dementia and is living in a care home.  He remembers with joy the time when she knew him ‘properly’, and took an interest in everything he does, just like any other mum.  Gradually, as her recognition faded, although she clearly knew him, she couldn’t remember his name.  That didn’t really bother him: a name is just a label, after all.  And Shakespeare expressed this same notion, “What’s in a name?  That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo & Juliet, II:ii.)

Now, though, my friend’s mother just doesn’t know him at all, and it’s this that hurts him deeply.  He has learned a harsh truth about names and recognition.  Much of our clothing has labels: not to tell us that a shirt is a shirt, or a dress a dress, but to convey to us its nature, often the company who made or sold it; a more important label specifies the conditions under which it should be washed. 

The Jews appreciated this concept of names as well.  To them the name itself was an important indicator of the nature of the one named.  If you look in Genesis, for example, you will find that Jacob and his family all had names that told the circumstances of their birth, or their personal characteristics (Gen. 25 & 29.)  And when it comes to the name of God Himself, we find that the word ‘name’ often referred to God’s presence, in a place such as the Temple (I Kings 8-9), or with someone, like the angel who said, “Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. (Gen. 23:21.)  Just as that cartoon policeman might say, “Stop in the name of the Law,” so the angel would speak to the Israelites in the Name of God, and shouldn’t be ignored!

St John the Evangelist took up these ideas when he warned the young churches about false prophets.  He was anxious that the people should discern whether a particular orator was speaking on God’s behalf or not.  He went on to point out that these misleaders were “from the world, and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them” (I John 4:5).

It is just as important for us, in the twenty-first century, to make that same distinction.  It is easy to pay attention to a message that comes to us from many different speakers (or web sites!), but however often we might hear or read it, we should always follow John’s advice to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (I John 4:1).  As one writer put it recently, “the popularity of a message is no indication of its truth – no reason to jump on a bandwagon!”  Perhaps the forthcoming election campaign will prove a time for some to put this into practice in an important and far-reaching way.