He Gave The Name (Mark 3:16-17)

 


Friday, 28 November, 2025


Psalm 71

2 Kings 25:8-21

Mark 3:7-19


Observance: Ember Day


He Gave The Name (Mark 3:16-17)


He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder)


Nicknames can be fickle things. Usually they are fairly dull and harmless; perhaps a reduction of syllables, and maybe a “zz” or “za” stuck on the end, depending on your gender. Two places, completely opposite in every other respect, provide the best nicknames: English grammar schools and Australian construction sites. Nicknames from those places tend to be both creative and humorous. On top of this, they are usually pretty accurate, too.


St Mark gives us a list of Jesus’ apostles, and adds in a couple of nicknames. St Peter gets a pun for “rock”, while Saints James and John are “sons of thunder”. We can immediately form an image of what type of men they must have been.


A mark of a friend is a nickname. Jesus is our friend – I wonder what his nickname is for me, and you? What about us sticks out for him the most? What does he admire most about us?


Jesus, you are our king, and you are humble and loving enough to be with us as our friend. Show us what it is about us you love, that we may enter more fully into who you have made us to be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For The Sake Of Ten (Genesis 18:32)

Image
  Monday, February 3, 2025 Psalm 78:16-38 Genesis 18:22-19:11 Luke 2:1-7 Observance: First Anglican Service at Sydney Cove, Conducted by Richard Johnson, Sydney, 1788 For The Sake Of Ten (Genesis 18:32) From this wonderfully pastoral tableau, of the old man and his wife entertaining three divine guests, comes a dark shadow. Approaching from the valley below them comes the cries of iniquity of the cities of the plain: Sodom and Gomorrah. Rising from their feast, the three men turn from blessing Abraham and Sarah to executing divine judgement. And the story just gets darker from here. But Abraham, in his boldness, has this immortal conversation with God, a conversation that uncovers for us whispers of Jesus’ words about people who are “salt” and “light”. God desires that none should perish, but that all should turn from their sins and live. And for the sake of just ten righteous people, the disaster about to befall Sodom and Gomorrah could be turned away...
Read more

Monday, July 25, 2022

  Monday, July 25, 2022 Psalm 62; 63 Hosea 1 Romans 4:1-12 He only is my rock and my salvation: my strong tower, so that I shall not be moved. The prophecies of Hosea are rich with vivid imagery. Look at these names: firstly, “Hosea” means “salvation”. So too do the names Joshua and Jesus. Then Hosea has three children: “God scatters”, “Not pitied”, and “Not my people”. This is because the children are part of the marriage between Hosea and Gomer, which is an image God is showing to the nation. It is to our profit that God has used real-life events to communicate spiritual imagery and divine truths. We find it very easy to understand our relationship with God as being a faithful wife to a loving husband. We can reconcile this message with what Paul has to teach us today in Romans. He makes the very important observation that Abraham was given God's righteousness as a result of his faith before, not after, his circumcision. Again, this is God using real-life events...
Read more

A Foolish Thing (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Image
  Monday, July 1, 2024 Psalms 1; 2 2 Chronicles 16 Titus 1 Observance: Coming of the Light, first missionaries to the Torres Strait (1871) A Foolish Thing (2 Chronicles 16:9) I think we all hope that, as we get older, we also get wiser. The Biblical command is for the young to listen to the old, ideally so that the wisdom of years is passed on to the next generation. But is it possible that we might go the other way; that we might become foolish as we age? King Asa had a turbulent experience in life. He had his ups and downs. His first major decision as king ended up upsetting the northern kingdom and throwing them into rebellion against them. But then he learnt from that mistake, and listened to and trusted in the Lord. This listening and trusting held him in good stead when he was threatened with the enormous invasion of a million men, when the Lord won him a mighty victory against an army that outnumbered his own more than two to one. But n...
Read more