Jesus: The Name Above All Names
Shaheen Parshad unpacks what’s in a name, and why Jesus’ name is above all names…
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Let’s start with a bit of imagination. You have a daughter, whom you named ‘Marijuana’, and are out on a trek with her when you fall into a deep ditch. ‘Marijuana, help!’ you cry. You are rescued indeed, but end up with years in prison for ‘possessing marijuana’.
A name, as we all know, is the most important part of a human being’s personality. The way a child is named speaks a lot about his or her destiny. History has its fair share of people with the most remarkable as well as the weirdest names.
It’s not just people, but also almost everything that God has ever created, has a name on this Earth. Genesis gives us the details of all things, including heaven, earth, and rivers, that God created and named.
Genesis 2:19-20 further says, “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.” (KJV).
When the one who created these and all of us, gave us names, can it be possible for HIM to not have a NAME?
Most certainly not!
The question that Agur ponders in Proverbs 30: 4, “What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name, if thou canst tell?” (KJV), has rankled many minds since ages. When God called him to lead Israel out of the captivity of Egypt, Moses asked HIM:
“Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?”
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”
“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3: 14 (KJV)
Even as the Bible gives clear answers as to the NAME and identity of God and HIS Son, people the world over would rather resort to the ones given by them to God than these.
And while we chant the names of God to attain salvation, the Bible makes it very clear, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
This fact came to the fore during an Interfaith Seminar on ‘Naama Japa’ – The Recitation of the Name of God held at Amritsar, Punjab, India, under the auspices of Baring Institute of Religious Studies, Batala, Diocese of Amritsar (DoA), Church of North India (CNI).
The chanting of the Name of God is not new to the Amritsar, the city of the Golden Temple, the prime hub of faith of Sikhs worldwide.
All of Amritsar knows the power of a Name.
Before dawn, the Golden Temple wakes with one word — Naam (Name). In the lanes of Amritsar, an old Christian widow wakes with another — Yeshu (Jesus). One city, two recitations, but the same human secret: when we are drowning, we don't cry out a philosophy. We cry out a Name.
The Interfaith Seminar on Naama Japa was convened under the patronage of The Right Reverend Manoj Charan, Bishop, Diocese of Amritsar, CNI.
Why would a Christian diocese host a seminar on Japa?
Because of Acts 4:12. Because we believe it so completely that we are not afraid to listen to others recite.
1. The Name We Are Taught To Hallow
Rev Dr Inderjit Singh Bhogal, former President, Methodist Church, UK, did not begin with technique. He began with Jesus.
“Before Jesus taught us to ask for anything — bread, forgiveness, deliverance — He taught us to hallow God’s Name when we pray,” he said.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.
The first petition of the Lord's Prayer is not a request. It is a reverence. To hallow is to set apart, to refuse to use lightly, to treat as holy.
Punjab understands this. The Sikh covers his head before he says Waheguru (Wonderful Lord). The Christian bows her head before she whispers ‘Yeshu’ (Jesus). The Name is not a tool in our hands. It is a throne we bow before.
And then Dr. Bhogal took us to the earthquake at the heart of Acts 4:12. That hallowed, unapproachable Name — the Name we were taught to hallow — has now been given. Given to mankind. Given under Heaven. The Father has placed His own Name into a Son, and placed that Son into our mouths as salvation.
Our ‘japa’ (recitation), therefore, is not us trying to climb up to heaven. It is heaven coming down to be called.
That is where the Jesus Prayer was born — “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” One Name, hallowed, until it becomes our very breath.
2. The Name That Cannot Be Seen — Until It Was
Dr. Joginder Singh, Professor, Guru Teg Bahadur Central University, Bathinda, gave us the Sikh heart with piercing honesty.
The Naam (Name), he said, cannot be seen. It is Sarvavyapi, Antaryami — All-Pervading, Indwelling all, Formless, beyond sight. You can hear it, you can abide in it, it can transform you, but you cannot fix your eyes upon it.
The room nodded. That is what the sages have always said. The Name is invisible.
And that is exactly where the Gospel makes the Christian heart stop beating for a moment.
For the Bible dares to say the opposite.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory. (John 1:14)
The Son is the image of the invisible God... the exact representation of his being. (Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3)
What Sikh spirituality guards so beautifully as mystery — that the Name is formless and unseen — Christianity proclaims as miracle — that the Unseen Name took a form. That the Naam took a face. That the ‘Shabad’ (Word) became Yeshu (Jesus).
In Amritsar, where we have always whispered that the Name cannot be seen, the Christian now whispers with tears: It has been seen. On a dusty road in Galilee. On a cross outside Jerusalem. In the scarred hands of a Risen Man.
This is why Acts 4:12 is not arrogance. It is wonder. We are not saying, “Our recitation is better than yours.” We are saying, “The Formless One you seek has come seeking you — with a face you can love, with a Name you can call when you are dying.”
How can there be another Name that saves, when only One Name has ever shown us what God truly looks like?
3. The Name That Saves Because It Came First
Rev. Dr. Pulak Samantaroy, Principal, Baring Institute of Theology, closed the circle without closing the question. He showed us the two deep longings of the Indian soul.
Indian thought says: repeat the Name until the self dissolves. Christ says: abide in My Name until the self is finally found and forgiven.
Both require bowing. But only One Name bowed first.
The Name in Acts 4:12 does not save because we recited it loud enough, long enough, purely enough. It saves because He who bears it recited us first. He called us by name before we ever called Him. He came down. He died speaking our names. He rose with our names on His lips.
Many names can make you calm. Many names can make you religious. Only One Name left heaven to find you, and then bled to keep you.
What completes our humanity?
Not many names. One Name. The Name that was hallowed in prayer, hidden from sight, and then — impossibly, mercifully — given. Seen. Touched. Crucified. Risen.
In a world full of names, we use to save ourselves — success, religion, goodness, spirituality — Acts 4:12 stands like a final, tender mercy:
Stop reciting yourself. Only One Name remains when everything else fails.
And His Name is Jesus.
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