The sweetest name I know

Many mistakenly assume that Jesus is the Lord’s first name, and that Christ is His last name. Last names were not common during Jesus’ day; consequently, Jesus did not go by a family name. This point is proven in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (1:1-17) wherein only the first names of His predecessors are used. “Christ” is not a name; it is a title. The English word, “Christ,” comes from the Greek word, “Christos.” Paul testified that, “Jesus was the Christ.”

People in Jesus’ time did not have last names. Instead, they were identified in other ways. Some were identified by their fathers. For example: Levi the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14), James the son of Zebedee (Mark 3:17), James the son of Alphaeus (Mark 3:18), and Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus (Mark 10:46). Then there were “James and John, the sons of Zebedee” (Luke 5:10).

Mary Magdalene is sometimes called Mary of Magdala—a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. There was Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin who secured Pilate’s permission to take Jesus down from the cross. Joseph also donated his new rock tomb for Jesus’ burial. Arimathea, according to the Gospel of Luke, was a city in Judea. Jesus Himself, being from the town of Nazareth in the province of Galilee, was called, “Jesus of Nazareth.” We also know that “Saul of Tarsus” (Acts 9:11), after his conversion on the road to Damascus, became “Paul the Apostle.”

Others distinguished themselves through the use of nicknames. Two of Jesus’ disciples were named “Simon”—one carried the nickname Peter (John 1:42) and the other was called “Simon the Zealot” (Matthew 10:4). Sometimes, either the wife’s name or the husband’s name was added to the person’s first name. For example, “Mary the wife of Cleophas”(John 19:25) and “Joseph the husband of Mary” (Matthew 1:16).

The angel told Mary that her son would “be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Isaiah prophesied that He would be called “Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Others called Him the “Son of David” (Matthew 15:22). When the two demoniacs of the Gerasenes, who walked among the burial tombs, encountered the Messiah for the first time, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, ‘Jesus, You Son of God’?” (Matt 8: 29).

When arraigned before the Jewish Sanhedrin, Paul testified of Jesus, saying: “God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Paul intoned in Philippians 2: 9-11: “At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”

I conclude with this refrain from a familiar Methodist hymn entitled, “He Keeps Me Singing.” Its refrain goes like this: “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, the sweetest name I know. He fills my every longing and keeps me singing as I go.” This is so true…for the Bible tells me so!

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