On the eight day, they were going to name the baby Zechariah after his father. But his mother said: No, he is to be called John. So they went to Zechariah to find out what name he wanted to give him. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote: “His name is John.”
Clement Clark Moore (1823) wrote a poem: A Visit from St Nicholas or “Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.” In it he named 8 reindeers of St Nicholas. They were virtually unknown until Gene Autry in 1949 sang:
“You know Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer, and Vixen,
Comet, and Cupid, and Donder and Blitzen
But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all…
Rudolph the red nosed reindeer is “Santa's 9th Reindeer" depicted as the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. The luminosity of his nose is so great that it lights up the team's path. Rudolph the red nosed reindeer remained the best-selling record of all time until the 1980s next only to White Christmas and Silent night (It was overtaken by Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Xmas is you.”) So why give names to these reindeers? Are they that important?
Whenever you get to meet and know a stranger, you ask: What is your name? Now is that name important to you? Do you know what your name means?
In the Old Testament, the names of individuals are meaningful. For example, Adam is named after the “earth” (Adamah) from which he was created. Elijah in our first reading: “I will send you the prophet Elijah who will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.” Elijah literally means: “My God is the Lord. Yahweh is my God. Now, a change of name indicates a change of status. For example, the patriarch Abram and his wife Sarai are renamed “Abraham” and “Sarah” when they are told they will be the father and mother of many nations. Simon was renamed Peter (Rock) when he was given the Keys of Heaven.
Throughout the Bible, characters are given names at birth that reflect something of significance or describe the course of their lives. For example: Solomon means peace, and the king with that name was the first whose reign was without warfare. Likewise, Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh which means: “causing to forget” as a gesture of forgiveness to his brothers for selling him into slavery.
In today's gospel we hear about John the Baptist. The sole biblical account of his birth comes from the Gospel of Luke. John’s parents, Zechariah — a Jewish priest — and Elizabeth, were without children and both were beyond the age of child-bearing. During Zechariah’s rotation to serve in the Temple in Jerusalem, he was chosen by lot to offer incense at the Golden Altar in the Holy Place. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to him and announced that he and his wife would give birth to a child, and that they should name him John.
However, because Zechariah did not believe the message of Gabriel, he was rendered speechless until the time of John’s birth; at that time, his relatives wanted to name the child after his father, and Zechariah wrote, “His name is John” (which means: God is gracious) after which Zechariah got his voice back. So now I challenge you, what about your name, does it mean anything for you?
I was just curious, if John were probably Filipino his name would be Jan-jan, Jon-jon, or Jun-jun depending on what part of the Philippines he would be. Which brings me to my point: Bakit nga ba paulit-ulit ang mga pangalan ng Pinoy? You have Toto, Lynlyn, Tintin, Weng-weng, Pepe, Jojo, your favorite restaurant’s name is Pinpin, the first national hero is Lapu-lapu and among Pinoy politicians you have Bong-bong Marcos, Nene and Coco Pimentel, the President Noynoy. And don’t forget the cutest of them all - (my name).
I personally think it is a sign of intimacy, of being near and dear to that person that is why we repeat the name. My Father when he is angry at me: He shouts: Hoy Gerardo… but when he needs something from me: Gigi. just like the 3 words you often like to hear: “I love you.” Sinabi na ng minsan gustong ulit ulitin pa… that’s why they came up with the expression: “I love you 3x a day.”
Now do you notice when we double an adjective in Filipino is becomes the superlative. Instead of using the word higit or pinaka- we prefer saying it again: ganda-ganda, galing-galing, husay-husay, love-na-love, pabebe-bebe. With the Pinoy name maybe it’s because repeating it makes us feel it is precious- like, one’s name is sign of a super valuable gift that we all should take care of.
Tomorrow night we will celebrate the name of all names. The Word will be incarnate in a manger this Christmas. And he shall be called: Emmanuel. -God is with us -– and his name will be: Yeshua which means the Lord rescues, the Lord delivers us, God saves us- his name shall be Jesus, the sweetest name of all. Let us not forget to call this name over and over and keep him dear to our hearts not only at Christmas but for the rest of our lives.