Easter Week Three

Are you good with names? There are some people who are just great at names — they hear someone’s name for the first time and seem to latch on immediately. They won’t have an awkward encounter the next time they see that person. But others of us, well, aren’t so good. We hear someone’s name and seem to immediately forget it. A couple weeks later, we see them again and are stuck with the ever-so-awkward crutch of, “Hey…you!”

Jesus was good at names. He was very good. Throughout the Scriptures, he calls people by name, whether proverbially or sometimes quite literally. Names matter to Jesus, because calling someone by name is personal, intimate, and real. When Jesus calls someone by name — and when we do, too! — he sees them and truly encounters them.

In our world of quick media, infinite scrolling, and para-social relationships, we don’t tend to hear our names truly spoken very often. And perhaps with humility, we can admit that we don’t call others by name very much either. But what would it look like if we spent this week renewing an intentionality about encountering the people in our lives? What if we refused to have surface-level, transactional relationships this week and instead practiced radical hospitality? What if we called each other by name, really seeing each other and extending an invitation to abundant life?

“The sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. . . . The sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”

John 10:2–3