The sermon today at Fellowship Bible Church made me think of an old Goo Goo Dolls song, Name. Normally, sermons and the Goo Goo Dolls don’t go together, but for me they did.

The verses from Luke 8:40-56 centered around a man named Jairus whose daughter was very sick and a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. The pastor pointed out that the woman didn’t have a name. She was simply known for her ailment.

She was ceremonially unclean. That meant she could never worship in the temple. That meant anyone she touched would also be unclean. She was alone, unwanted, and untouchable. She was an outcast.

But she was also desparate. She wouldn’t let anything stop her from getting to this Jesus that she had heard could make blind men see and lame men walk and dead men live. Nothing mattered more to her than getting to Jesus. That’s real faith.

As for the fact that she had no name, Scriptures tell us that she did after she met Jesus. We may not know the name she was given at birth, but we know the name Jesus gave her. “Daughter, your faith has made you well.”

Daughter. No longer outcast. No longer unwanted. No longer unclean.

Jesus purposely chose the outcasts and nobodies of the day to be His followers and ambassadors and He still does today. He chooses the ones with the sordid past. He picks the ones with a history. He woos the ones that no one else wants to touch. He chooses you and me.

Not only that, but He gives us a new name. No longer are you Screw-up or Failure or Trash or Hopeless. You are Son. You are Daughter. You are known now for Who you belong to and Who loves you more than anyone else could ever love you.

Maybe the next time you hear that Goo Goo Dolls song, you will hear it differently. The next time you hear the names people call you, you will remember the one and only name that matters. The one God calls you that trumps every other name.

BELOVED.