I grew up in a big church community—well, big in my country! I have been going to Sabbath School since I can remember remembering things. One of the things I remember is learning that names have power.
In the Bible, names have power. Some characters were presented to me as living up to their names, others not so much. Some characters have their names changed by God, and others did not. Some just decided that their names had such bad connotations then why even try to make others believe you were not what that name means? Just live up to exactly that!
Then I came across names such as Jabez, which means, “I bore him in pain.” We can read about him in 1 Chronicle 4:9 and 10. He prays to God not to live in pain, and God grants his request. All of this is two verses. God does not change his name, but he does make Jabez’s life the opposite of what his name represents.
Names have only the power we give them.
In Luke 5 we read about the first interaction between Jesus and his (future) disciples. As usual, Jesus is being pressed in on by a multitude of people who want to hear him speak the Word of God. At this point Jesus asks Peter to lend him his boat so that he can speak to the peoples from a ways off shore. When Jesus finishes his speech, he turns to Peter and tells him to “row out farther, into the deep water, and drop your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4 CEB). Peter answers, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and caught nothing. But because you say so, I’ll drop the nets” (5:5). Although Peter was away from his boat fixing the nets, something must have caught his attention because almost without hesitation (almost), he decided to go to deeper waters and toss the nets. But he didn’t do it by himself.
The story continues in verse 6. “So they dropped the nets, and their catch was so huge that their nets were splitting. They signaled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They filled both boats so full that they were about to sink.”
Jesus’s words also motived Peter’s companions to go with him, and they caught a great number of fish.
What puzzles me in this story is how “when Simon Peter saw the catch, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Leave me, Lord, for I’m a sinner!’” (5:8)
Did you catch the difference in the name Peter uses to address Jesus in both instances? First he addresses him as “Master” and now as “Lord.” Does that make a difference? Would he have changed the way he addressed Jesus if he and his friends hadn’t caught any fish? How is a Master different than a Lord?
According to Google, Master is a man who has people working for him, especially servants or slaves and Lord is someone or something having power, authority, or influence (yes the Lord can be a Master, but not the other way around).
At first Peter simply takes orders from Jesus, but then he acknowledges him as someone who has influence on him. This happens in such a powerful way that “as soon as they brought the boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus” (5:11).
The Bible has several names for Jesus: “He will be named Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), Master, Lord, Son of Man, and the list goes on.
Independent of the one we use to call upon Him, I pray it is meaningful enough that we, too, choose to abandon all things and follow Him.
Sara Pinto da Silva is the International Enrollment Counselor at La Sierra University. Sara enjoys the beach, all kinds of non-spicy but flavorful food, music (lots of it) and dogs, cats and other pets. She likes to travel, but only once in while 🙂