Claim Me by Name
Our names are important to God. In Isaiah, God told Jacob, “I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.” (Isaiah 45:3) In Exodus, God said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:12) God cherishes names so much that God even knows the number and names of the stars in the sky. (Psalm 147:4) To be called by name is to be known as a particular to God.
God doesn’t just summon us by name. God also claims us by name. When God spoke to Jacob, they explicitly said, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." (Isaiah 43:1) In a single scripture God redeems, calls, and claims through particulars.
In the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus also illustrates the importance of claiming through particulars. Jesus states, “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3) Note that he claims the sheep as “his own.” Jesus also states that when a wolf comes for the sheep, the hired-hand will abandon the responsibility of ownership because he does not care for them. (John 10: 12-13) Jesus does the opposite of the hired hand. He says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. […] I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." (John 10:11, 14) Jesus claims his sheep by name with ownership and responsibility. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus is willing to die for what he claims as his.
It’s also worth noticing that Jesus did not ask for the sheep’s permission to be claimed. He claimed them without negotiation. In fact, he went so far as to say “…no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Furthermore, he said the same of his Father. He said, “no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10: 28-30) This is a bold claim to make without asking for permission from those being claimed.
In this case, being claimed by Jesus provides, protects, and enables greater agency rather than diminishing it. Being one of God’s children precisely means being a free agent. Without agency, God becomes Satan who sought to take away our agency. Satan sought to claim us and similarly promised “that one soul shall not be lost.” (Moses 4:1-3) Yet to be claimed by Satan would diminish agency, while to be claimed by Christ is to protect agency.
The claim of Jesus’s ownership is made universally, unilaterally, and unequivocally. The claim is nonnegotiable, because Jesus does not require anything of us to be worthy of his grace or protection. (1 John 2:2) He atoned for all of us regardless of whether we would accept it or not. (2 Corinthians 5:19) Agency is not found in the negotiation of what is being offered, but rather acceptance or rejection of the offering—which is our agency. The choice is ours. (2 Nephi 2:16, 27) If we accept, we too can reciprocate and call God by name. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
To be called by name is to be worthy of recognition. To be called by name is to be known—even claimed—among the stars in the sky. (Isaiah 40:26) Everyone is worthy of a name that makes them feel loved as a particular within a divine adoption where names are recorded in the archives of heaven. (Luke 10:20) Claiming someone by name is a particular and godly way to love.
I love my name, “Blaire.” It’s been good to me. It’s uncommon, but still accessible. It’s versatile, flexible, and concise. Not only that, I like being called “Blaire.” When someone I love calls me “Blaire,” I feel known. I feel particular. I feel loved. In contrast, to be called by a name that is not mine functions as an erasure of a particular selfhood. I am not “Blake,” “Blain,” or “Clair.” I am Blaire. I imagine someday being claimed as God claimed Jacob. Perhaps someday I’ll hear, “I have summoned you; Blaire, you are mine."
We are commanded to be like God and do godly things. (1 Peter 1:15–16, Titus 2:11–12, Leviticus 19:2) We are commanded to be like Jesus. (1 Peter 2:21, John 13:14-15, Philippians 2:5, 1 John 2:6) We are explicitly told to be imitators of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1) We are told to do their works and works even greater than theirs. (John 14:12) However, despite being told, “ye are gods,” we do not always behave as such. (Psalm 82:6) We will not be gods until we learn how to claim, love, and partake in the particulars with one another without shying from the responsibility of ownership to protect one another’s agency. Perhaps we are too young of gods, and the intimacy of godhood is too much, too risky, too personal. I admit, claiming another as your own comes with significant responsibility. I know I am not ready to claim each member of the body of Christ as mine personally—not with the physical limitations of my current body.
Yet is godly love not the goal we move toward? I think it is. The hope is to someday claim one another by name—to look at each other and say, “I have called you by name. You are mine and I am yours. I protect your agency as you protect mine.” And though we may not be able to claim each member as particulars like God does with the stars in the sky, we can trust that the network we’ve created with one another will leave no one behind. (John 10: 28-30) As the body of Christ, we can collectively name each member as a particular worthy of being claimed by name.
