Who Gets to Name You?

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.

–Isaiah 43:1

I’ve recently been re-watching a favorite show of mine, the AMC drama series Mad Men, which was one of the most critically acclaimed television shows in recent years. Set in the world of advertising in New York City in the 1960’s, the series follows the exploits of the employees of the fictional agency Sterling Cooper at a time of rapid social and cultural change. The principal characters seek to balance their personal lives and succeed in the cutthroat world of advertising, while conveying the perfect image at all times.

Don Draper, the principal character, is a hard drinking, womanizing, creative genius with a secret, so it’s kind of appropriate that he ends up as an ad man, trying to sell an image of himself as well as his client’s products. The other characters fare no better in the authenticity department, with everyone seemingly trying to be something they’re not. Along the way, they seem to swim in alcohol, cigarettes, and sexual harassment.

In one episode, the creative staff is sitting around discussing the real-life ad campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, which has become one of the most legendary campaigns in advertising history. The self-deprecating approach was novel and shocking, since it basically involved doing something that advertising doesn’t usually do—tell the truth. The car was small, strange looking, and foreign. So instead of trying to divert attention from those realities or sell it as something it wasn’t, the agency embraced it for what it was, saying “think small” and “ugly is only skin deep” in its ads. It paid off, and people still remember those to this day.

Advertising has a reputation for creating fictions, selling an image of something that isn’t real. And our consumeristic world often demands that we subsume our identities into brand loyalties and curated images on social media while being good producers and consumers. It’s easy in this kind of world to lose touch with our authentic identities, as people made in the divine image. It can become easy to let others define who we are.

One of my favorite biblical characters is the patriarch Jacob, whose story we’ve been hearing in worship over the past several weeks. Jacob was a man who had always been defined by others, defined by his worst traits. And he often lived up to that identity. His very name meant “usurper” or “the one who grasps,” because he was born grasping the heel of his twin brother Esau. He cheats his brother out of the birthright, steals the blessing from his father, and runs away. But eventually, the world and his family lineage catch up to him. On the run, uncertain of what will come next, Jacob dreams. And in that dream, God comes to him in a wilderness place and gives him something far more valuable that a birthright or an inheritance. Jacob receives hope. The promise of a future. And eventually, a new name—Israel. The one who strives with God. And Jacob’s new name and identity will become the name of God’s people.

So whatever someone else may have named you or called you, whatever identities other people have tried to push you to embrace, whatever box the world tries to put you in or sell you as the only way to be successful, know this: before anything else, your name is beloved. Child of God. You are made in the image of the Creator of all things, and you always have a place in God’s house.