"He named them Boanerges, which is the Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3: 17)
Today's gospel contains something we do not often talk about - something which Chesterton says the Lord often kept carefully hidden: His mirth, his sense of fun. Some medieval theologians used to say that Jesus never laughed because it was impossible to surprise Him, but I wonder if this is a mistake about why we laugh. After all, if we laugh while we tickle our children's tummies, it is not because we are surprised. If we cannot keep a smile off our face, it is not because we did not know the old joke a friend just told. Surely we smile and laugh for pleasure as much as surprise, and if we know two things about Jesus, the first is that he did not stint on His pleasures when they were available (that was why His disciples feasted with the bridegroom!). The second is that He was also a perfect aesthete and spent many nights in prayer, fasting and keeping sleepless vigils like an Old Testament prophet when the occasion arose. But I digress. Today's gospel, as I say, is full of His mirth, as St Mark records not only the names of the Apostles but also the nicknames he gave to Simon and to James and John. And the difference between these names says something beautiful to me about how Jesus regards us.
James and John he nicknames the Sons of Thunder. He gave them this name when they suggested calling down fire and brimstone on a village where Jesus had been poorly received. Jesus' response was instantly to poke fun at what seems like an allusion to Elijah battling the impious prophets of Baal. They had not yet learned Jesus' new commandment. Still, it is a significant moment. Jesus, who often reproaches his disciples - could you not watch one hour with me? - now gently teases. James and John's problem is simple: they do not know how ridiculous they are being. They lack self knowledge. They thought they were cutting fine figures as assistants to the Messiah. They were in fact well behind the game plan. Were they indignant, I wonder, when they heard the name? Did they mind Jesus poking fun?
What nickname does Jesus have to poke fun at me? What weakness in me would that nickname signify? What fault lies just outside my awareness and needs to be brought into my knowledge?When God allows us to endure some humiliation, is He not then offering us a chance to learn that, as young people say these days, we are not all that? Jesus, teach me your nickname for me, and help me to know myself, that I might fall ever more in love with you.
Yet on this latter point, the nickname alone does not suffice. On the other side of the coin of His mirth is Jesus' earnestness. Peter's name is not a joke, although given his record later on Simon might often have wondered if it was. From a personal point of view, Simon's nickname Peter - the Rock - was actually what in COLW language we call 'God's dream' for Simon the Fisherman. And, in so far as Simon Peter here represents any ordinary disciple of Jesus (which in other ways he was not!), it seems to me that this name - God's dream name for us - is not so much about bringing us to knowledge of who we currently are. Rather it is about bringing us to knowledge of who He calls us to be.
How then do we live up to this dream name that Jesus has for us? Surely, we live up to it by returning love for love received, as we read in Chapter 5 of the Book of Life on vocation. Whatever our own special vocation is, the general Christian vocation is always shaped by the reciprocation of love for the eternal love God has shown to us - the love that He serves us daily, as He served wine at Cana.
So, Jesus, teach me not only your nickname for me, so that I might know myself better; teach me also your dream name for me, so that I might become what you intend me to become. And Mary, teach me to say yes to the nickname and the dream name that Jesus has for me every moment of my life.
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