The exchange between Jesus and Thomas in the Gospel today calls to mind the importance of Jesus’s name. The importance of names, especially the divine name, is a constant motif throughout Scripture. There are many naming stories: Your name will be Abraham; Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel; His name will be John; You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church. A person’s name is an insight into who they are and a revelation of their mission. God reveals his own name to Moses in the burning bush as a sign of his love for the Hebrews in slavery. That name—I AM—is so holy that the Lord commands it be spoken with respect. His name is a self-revelation, an invitation into intimacy with him.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the angel Gabriel reveals Jesus’ name to Joseph: You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Jesus’ name—Yeshua—means “salvation” or “God saves.” The next verse gives Jesus a different name, pronounced first by the prophet Isaiah: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Taken in tandem, these two names tell us a lot about how God has chosen to rescue us from sin and death. Jesus is the one who saves; he saves us by being with us.
We are not surprised then, when Jesus says to Thomas at the Last Supper, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Salvation—spiritual healing, being rescued from sin, becoming like God, eternal life—sometimes seems like a far-off goal, the distant result of a series of right decisions. That's not right, though. The Lord reminds us that he is our healing and our rescue. He is the one who saves by being with us. Let us not tire, then, of asking this question or ones like it: “Who is the Lord, and where is He bringing me?”