Hallowed be your name
A name was extremely significant in Hebrew thought. Names weren’t chosen by parents because they thought the initials would look good on their luggage. Neither did they choose a name because it reminded them of their Uncle Albert or Aunt Victoria. When they chose a child’s name they hoped it would embody the personality, characteristic, or character they wanted to see developed in the child.
We see in the New Testament when someone’s life or outlook changed, in times of crisis, often his name was changed to match. When Jesus first met up with Peter he was called Simon, and was a shifty and undependable person. But Jesus changed his name to Peter, which means “rock”. It took a while, following his renaming, for Peter to live up to the new name, but eventually the shifting sand was changed into rock.
We read in Psalm 9:10, “And those who know your name put their trust in you”. The psalmist was saying that those who knew God’s character and power would put their trust in him, not that those who could pronounce his name would put their trust in him.
When we pray, “hallowed be your name”, we’re talking about the character and person of God. To hallow means “to set apart, to make special, to sanctify”. When we pray, “hallowed be your name”, we’re praying that God will be set apart in our prayers in such a way that it will be clear that we reverence him; we’re praying that God will be God to us.
This is the third post in a series offering a reflection based on each of the clauses of the Lord’s Prayer
