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It's important to get someone's name right. Our names are a significant part of who we are, the way we are known and even the way we know ourselves.

To begin understanding Jesus, we need to know that there are many names for him. Each one gives a new perspective into his very nature.

God is calling your name now, and inviting you to consider again who Jesus is for you.

Listen

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

John 1:29-31

Think

I know some friends who believe being a Christian means never questioning or having doubts – or maybe believing the same things all the time without question. I also know some who believe it means following this cosmic book of rules out of fear of punishment.

Today’s name for Jesus, “the Lamb of God,” may offer us a clue to the truth. Lambs used to be offered as sacrifices to God against their will. However, Jesus willingly sacrificed himself for us out of unconditional love.

In his book, The Crucified God, German theologian Jürgen Moltmann said that through Christ, God suffered “the eternal death of the godless and the godforsaken, so that all the godless and the godforsaken can experience communion with him.” The name, “Lamb of God,” confesses that in the crucifixion and resurrection event, God reaches out across eternity and embraces each and every one of us, even the worst person we could possibly imagine. Who are the people you need to reach out to in your life?

Marc van Bulck

Pray

Eternal God, you first died for the victims, then also for the executioners. Help me to love today even those I don’t think I can love, with your help. In the name of the Lamb of God. Amen.

Go

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:14-17