Exodus 20:1-7
Luke 11:1-8
“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Thus you
shall say, The Lord … has sent me to you’. This is My Name forever, and
this My title for all generations.”
Exodus 3:15
Language is everything. Lack of effective communication has led to
more conspiracy theories and misunderstandings than anything else I can think
of. The secret nature of the Masons and
the Scientologists, for instance, means we are left to guess exactly what it is
they actually do or believe, and most of what we read about these organizations
is not favorable. I’m not comparing
Masons to Scientologists, by the way!
That is not the point.
It seems if we do not know what we think
we need to know, we’ll often just make something up based on what few tidbits
of information we may have without going to any real trouble. Before we can hang our hats, a full – and
very often untrue – story has evolved.
Because it satisfies our curiosity, makes any sort of sense, or belittles
and slanders someone we don’t like or something we don’t understand, we leave
it standing. The matter is settled.
But not really. It is what we do not know that more often
causes problems – especially in the Church and in the Holy Scriptures –
regarding the Holy Name. Ancient Hebrew
did not have vowels, so the actual pronunciation of The Lord’s personal Name –
if there is one - is not known. The Name
was not used maybe because other designations such as “the God of our fathers”,
“the God of all creation”, or “the God of our redemption” were – and still
should be – used to understand our very being as contingent upon The Lord’s
very being, the essence of His Nature, the fullness of Himself. That is, if there is no Creator God, there is
no creation. If there is no God of our redemption, there is no redemption. Everything about us stems from Him, and none
of it has to do with a simple “name”.
I am often left wondering what the original
languages reference to in place of simply “God”, if there is some language commonality
by which translators and interpreters have “settled” for the easiest and most
convenient term rather than to acknowledge, understand, and properly convey
this immutable fact: we do not know The Lord’s name as we know “Billy’s” or
“Sally’s” name – AND – it may even be better for us not to know.
We also live in a time in which “Father”
and “Lord” and “King” have been largely dismissed by too many only because of
the uniquely masculine reference. So to
be politically correct, to strive for full inclusion, and in deference to those
who perhaps had an unhappy childhood at the hands of a brutal and sadistic
father, we are encouraged (if not outright required,
as at some seminaries) to simply go “God”.
After all, it is a very general term by which everyone knows and
understands whom we are talking about – AND - without “offending” anyone. Right?
Not so fast.
I submit if “God” has become so “general”
a term we’ve simply settled for, then something has gone wrong and we have
rendered a “name” (which
actually is not a name) - referring
to the Holy One - as common as dirt. It
is little wonder that even in the Church, The Name does not evoke
reverence. “God” has become a word as
common and as misunderstood (and perhaps as misapplied) as “grace” (which has
come to mean “excused”) or “love” (which is better understood as a “good
feeling” about something or someone as long as they suit us).
The “name” we have designated for the
Creator has no impact and virtually no real meaning. It should therefore be no surprise to us that
those who are outside of the Church have no more respect or reverence for the
Holy Name than we of the Church who consider ourselves “children” of the Most
High – and yet are afraid or ashamed to call Him “Father”.
In Hebrew and throughout much of the Tanakh (First Testament), the common
designation for The Name are the Hebrew letters “YHVH” which the English
language had rendered “YHWH” and reduced to “Yahweh” (or Jehovah). This designation comes from Exodus 3 in which The Lord makes Himself
known to Moses. We read “I Am Who I
Am”.
In Judaism, then, “YHVH” is rendered as
“Hashem” (The Name which is ineffable {too magnificent for human comprehension}
and unutterable {not only without a proper known pronunciation – perhaps for
good reason! - but also not to be spoken carelessly or casually}). That is, the Holy Name should be treated with
the utmost respect – even there is “just a name”.
Moses was left with, “The Lord … has sent you; this is
My Name forever, and My title for all generations” (Exodus 3:15). The Lord is “the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of
Jacob” … that is, THE God of the Covenant, The Big Boss, His “title”, but we
are not told His name is simply “God”.
We must also not overlook the essence of
the first few Commandments which deal exclusively with Israel’s and the
Church’s relationship to The Lord, not least of which is the prohibition
against making “wrongful use of the Name of The Lord your God” (Exodus 20:7a). And although it is not generally thought to
be so, it is interesting that the language in the rest of the passage comes as
close to identifying the “unpardonable sin” as anything else: “The
Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses His Name” (Exodus 20:7b). The sin of
“wrongful use” of The Holy Name is not strictly the vulgar word we know too
well, or “OMG”. Using The Holy Name to
justify our own personal actions and self-serving choices that clearly violate
biblical precepts are examples of “wrongful use”. The Bible defines such as “blasphemy”.
So Jesus teaches us to first address the
Holy Father not by any designated “name” (as if The Lord will not know we are
talking to Him) but by a title which offers to us the assurance of His
relationship to us (“our Father”). We
acknowledge His “place above all places” (Heaven), and then we are reminded of
the reverence due The Holy Name by its “hallowed” nature; holy, sacred,
sanctified, honored, divine, ineffable – in other words, above and beyond human
comprehension – but, in a word, “wonderful” ... not common at all.
Jesus teaches
us, encourages us, invites us to come to “our Father” with
and in this Prayer, this remarkable Gift our Savior has entrusted to the Church
– not strictly to be memorized and merely recited as part of the worship
liturgy, but to be “internalized” so as to become as much a part of our being
as disciples of Christ as our lungs and our hearts – that which is intended and
designed to keep us alive!
Old habits die hard, of course, and this
old habit of simply “God” should be seriously reconsidered. I am not going to suggest to you that saying
“God” in our prayers is sinful or disrespectful; rather I am going to submit to
you that any form by which we choose to refer to or address The Almighty must
be with all due respect and reverence.
For I will also submit that it is our very lack of reverence and respect
that is at the core of the contemporary Church’s problems – not lack of advertising
nor lack of proper “family values”.
Let us through our prayers and worship and
devotions rediscover the wonder of The Holy Name, for the essence of Our Father
cannot – must not - be contained in a single word. And for this we may be eternally
thankful. Amen.
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