Did you know, that in many cultures, someone’s name can represent the identification of a person, but it can also have a particular meaning attached to it? This is true for various names in the Bible, as well. For example, the name: Nabal, means “fool” in Hebrew. 1 Samuel 25:25 reads: “For as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him.”

Surely, we can all agree that there is significance to a person’s name! But did you also know that there is significance to the person who holds the name!?

You see, we are not merely and solely our names, that is not the heart of my message. Rather, I want to express that just as a name can represent and/or identify something about who we are, it does not fully define our identity or our purpose.

The only One who can identify you fully is the Creator of the universe. The One who knows you the most intimately, regardless of reputation or circumstances. He has formed you fearfully and wonderfully, from within your mother’s womb; but most distinctively, He has called you His.

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my
mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My
frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my
unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalm 139:13-16

“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Isaiah 43:1

You are also called:
A child of God (John 1:12)
Chosen (Eph. 1:4) (1 Thess. 1:4)
A heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17, Gal. 4:7)
A friend of Jesus (John 15:15)
Justified and Redeemed (Rom. 3:24)
A new creation (2 Cor. 3:14)

Amongst many other names.

You see, these names represent marks of identification, because they show Who we belong to, but they are also marks of intimacy, because they indicate a relationship with God, in ways others do not know and in which others cannot take.  

Allow me to illustrate the value of this intimacy, through the story of a woman called Mary Magdalene. But first, let’s establish who she was. Luke 8:1-2 tells us that Jesus had been traveling with a group of people, which included a woman named Mary. It tells us that Mary had been healed from evil spirits, “… and the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons…” Furthermore, in a different area of Scripture, Mark 16:9, it tells us that it was Jesus who had healed Mary.

So with Mary identified and her relationship to Jesus established, take a moment to look at John 20:11-16, in order to discover a few different things about Mary and about Jesus!

First, we see that Jesus made a woman the first witness of His resurrection. This was remarkable because, the law of that day would not recognize the testimony of a woman, because they were commonly regarded as an “unreliable witnesses”, but not to Jesus. Because Jesus determines who is valuable and worthy.

Second, we find that Mary’s troubled past did not disqualify or exclude her from sharing the good news of Jesus’s resurrection. For Jesus also determines who is able and equipped.

Lastly, although, scholars have proposed reasons as to why Mary did not recognize Jesus’s voice, at first, we will not highlight that today. But, what I would love to highlight is the fact that Jesus called Mary by name. You see, He did not reveal Himself by telling her who He was, but instead He told her who she was, when He called her by name “Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (John 20:16).

Mary’s connection to the Lord was undeniable. Indicated by her heart, her attention and her body “turning” to her beloved Teacher and Master, when she heard His voice calling her by name. John 10:27 tells us: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And Mary’s response, surely, revealed her devotion to Who she belonged to.

So, I’d like to remind you, today, that the characteristics, reputation or points of identification, that you may have acquired in the world, do not fully represent who you are, in the Lord. Yes, you have a given name, but you also have a given identity, by the One who created you.

Therefore, stop remembering what God has forgotten. Instead, remember the identity He has given you: chosen, redeemed, worthy, able, equipped and set apart for good works- regardless of past works. So when and if you hear the faintness sound of a voice, calling you by name- may you “turn” to It and recognize that it is the One who is called Lord, Savior, Father and Redeemer, amongst many other names.

Because, after all, if God knows us by name, shouldn’t we know Him by His?