David Bahn – Reflections

John 1:35-42

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

It’s one thing to have a nickname; it’s quite another to have a nickname that is cool. I have known of some not-so-very-complementary nicknames. But “Rocky” or “Rock Man” has to be at the top of the list of way cool nicknames. This is the name Jesus gave to Simon. In Hebrew/Aramaic it was Cephas. In Greek it is Peter. Both mean Rock. When Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God” in Matthew 16, Jesus even uses a play on words (again complementary to Peter). “You are Peter (Πέτρος), and on this rock (πέτρᾳ) I will build my church.

It all begins here when Jesus gives Simon his nickname. On an entirely different occasion – and under not-very-commendable circumstances – a group of demons call into question the identity of some pretenders. The seven sons of Sceva make an ill-advised attempt to cast out demon. Luke records this in Acts 19:13-16

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Jesus speaks of an even worse situation that would happen to such pretenders in Matthew 7:21-23

 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

John’s gospel early on assures us: But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). So the question is not only whether you have a nickname, it is also who gives it to you? In baptism we are connected to the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. By faith we live out this identity. Don’t let anyone else name you, and don’t settle for any nickname less than “child of God.”