Third Sunday of Lent

This is my name forever;
thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”

There are two names in this text: the God of your fathers, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and YHWH.
The text is confusing. One might ask, “So which name do we use?” or “Which name is right?” But that would be asking to clarify a mystery.
Names are mysterious. How many names do you have? My mother used to call me Kenny-belle. I may be the only person to remember that name since she died. I am known as Kenny to my family, Ken to my friends, Father Ken in the VA hospital, Fr. Kenneth Bartsch, OFM Conv. to the Church, and Kenneth William Bartsch to the government. In high school and college I had a half-dozen nicknames, not all of them flattering. As those friendships ended so did the names.
The point is that names belong to a relationship. Who you are depends on who knows you. There are names that no one can use except those to whom the privilege is given. I knew a woman in college baptized Maureen. We called her Mimi. Her father called her “Might Moe.” When I met her family and heard that name, I knew that I could not call her that. Only one person in the world enjoyed that privilege. The name identified the relationship.
Who are you before God? Who is God to you?
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Because Simon knew Jesus as the Christ he received a new name, Peter, the Rock. Throughout the Old and New Testaments new names signify new relationships to God.
Who are you before God? Who is God to you?

In today’s Old Testament reading, we are given two names for God. The one is familiar. It has history; it recalls our ancient covenant with God. He is the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is an approachable name, a name to be studied in our scriptures. It was ancient when the scribe first put these words to paper.
This name -- “God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob” – is the historical foundation of our knowledge of God.

Jesus worshiped with his Jewish people the same "God of your fathers.” But more than a thousand years after Moses, God might have been named, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and David; Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, Ruth, Esther, Judith” and so forth. He was the God of our ancestors.

Today we would have to add the names of Mary and all the saints – the apostles, martyrs, virgins and confessors of our feast days -- and, I would hope, the names of our parents, teachers, pastors and families.
In other words this is the God who has revealed his name to us as the God of our history.

Finally, there is that name which should not be pronounced. In fact no one actually knows how to pronounce the name since it comes to us in the Hebrew alphabet without vowels. It is simply YHWH; and we call it the Tetragrammaton. When it appears in the Bible the Jews say Adonai and English speaking Christians say Lord. In the past year, our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has asked us not to speak or sing the name and directed that some of our popular hymns should be rewritten

Why don’t we pronounce it? There are certain things we don’t do out of reverence for that mysterious quality of holiness. In some ways the rules are hard to define and sometimes we get carried away with them.
When I was a boy my mother taught me not to walk on graves. We used to visit my grandmother’s grave and she taught us never to walk on the areas directly in front of the headstone. It made for some careful tiptoeing and I notice not many people today worry about this.
Some people tip their hat when they walk past a church, or make the sign of the cross. They might do the same when passing a cemetery. We genuflect or bow when walking before the altar or the tabernacle.  We sign ourselves with holy water upon entering a Catholic church.
Reverence has many names. It might be devotion, piety, awe or fear of the Lord. It is a kind of fear but, unlike negative fear, it must be taught, chosen and cultivated. As Moses patiently explained to his terrified people:
"Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put his fear upon you, lest you should sin." Exodus 20:21
We want to fear the Lord out of reverence for God, to show our love and respect for God and God’s supreme authority.
We do not pronounce that most sacred name, the Tetragrammaton, for the same reason, out of reverence for God; and secondly in reverence for our Jewish forebears who would not speak the Name. As they say, "Familiarity breeds contempt."

A secular society disdains reverence because it believes the human being is the peak and summit of consciousness. They believe there is no authority over men and women. They would have us walk on graves and ignore churches because we are the masters of the universe.
But we know God’s name even if we dare not speak it, and God knows ours. The God of our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David and Jesus; Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, Ruth, Esther, Judith and Mary; the God of apostles, martyrs, virgins and confessors -- is my God and your God -- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.