FaithScripture Reflections

Elizabeth and Zechariah remind us that God knows us by name

Kerry WeberDecember 22, 2023

iStock/MivPiv

A Reflection for Saturday of the Third Week of Advent 

Find today’s readings here.

All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
"What, then, will this child be?
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him. 

Anyone who has ever named a child knows that the process can be fraught. Oftentimes lists are made, and family trees or baby name books are consulted. Both parents must eventually agree on the name and then agree on whether or not to tell that name to friends and family before the child is born. More often than not, I have found that parents resist declaring a child’s name before birth to avoid unwanted input and opinions from others. However, once the baby is born and the name is declared, others usually embrace that name. This was not the case for Elizabeth and Zechariah, however. 

It is hard to imagine how frustrating and stressful it must have been for Elizabeth to be eight days postpartum and to have people protesting her child’s name, appealing to her husband Zechariah by holding up signs for him to read. But Elizabeth and Zechariah put up a united front. Their confidence surely came from the fact that their decision was not random nor rooted in a family tradition but was God’s will. Their voices finally united, they spoke “blessing God.” It was then that others realized that John was special, even if they didn’t yet understand why. “What, then, will this child be?” they asked, “For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”

Elizabeth and Zechariah’s confidence surely came from the fact that their decision was not random nor rooted in a family tradition but was God’s will.

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The power of a name is immense, so much so that some names, like John and Jesus, are chosen by God. Other names are given to mark a change of heart and a greater commitment to following Christ. For most of us, God will not declare our name or ask us to change it. But God does know our name and keeps it near. In “Amoris Laetitia,” Pope Francis reminds us that naming a child is not just a task to be checked off a list, but a privilege and even something akin to prayer. “For God allows parents to choose the name by which he himself will call their child for all eternity,” he writes.

Of course, naming a child is just the start of a parent’s responsibilities. 

“The gift of a new child, entrusted by the Lord to a father and a mother, begins with acceptance, continues with lifelong protection and has as its final goal the joy of eternal life, writes Pope Francis in “Amoris Laetitia.” “By serenely contemplating the ultimate fulfillment of each human person, parents will be even more aware of the precious gift entrusted to them.”

All parents, and indeed our whole community, should look with wonder at each new life. We too should ask, “What then will this child be?” and then work as one to help each child reach their full potential.