A New Name

Gospel: Luke 1: 57-66, 80

Everyone in the family and in town were shocked when Elizabeth and Zechariah chose the name John for their new son.  This was not a family name! This breaks with tradition!  Yes, that is exactly the point.  When God does something new a new identity is given.  At baptism and confirmation we take a new name to reflect our new identity as a follower of the Lord Jesus, to reflect in an outward way the change that has taken place within us.  We are a new creation.

So we do not adhere to anything in the tradition and our past that is sinful.  We have set it aside to live a new life in Christ.  Each of us, and the Church herself, is always in need of reform, renewal, and conversion.  We are always called to reflect on our life and to reform and change that which needs reform and change.  We are not to cling to anything in a way that replaces God or equates that thing with God.  

John the Baptist was given a new name to reflect a new chapter in salvation history, but also a new identity for himself personally.  We too are called to a new name, a new identity in the Lord Jesus that reflects our attachment to God alone.  John lived in the desert dependent entirely on God.  We too live in this desert of the world relying on God, living a life of mercy offered to all freely as it had been given to us.