Why Is the Name of Jesus So Taboo?

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The Name of Jesus Cuts Through Vague Spirituality

There’s a lady in a booth diagonal to me that I mentally file under the category of earth mother. She looks like the lady who ran this weird bookstore in my hometown. Crystals, spell books, wolf statues, incense, and lots and lots of canvas. I don’t know what she believes at all… but she’s the picture I have in my mind of “spiritual but not religious.” 

There’s a kind of spirituality that asks almost nothing of us. It’s all good. 

Don’t hear me wrong, such a person is usually deeply sincere. They probably have things like prayer, gratitude, meditation, and even a belief about “something more” in the universe. That bookstore I mentioned earlier even had a section with a handful of Christian books and a few Bibles. But they were on the same shelf as any other religious book. It was all the same. 

Vague spirituality has room to expand around nearly anything we already believe. 

But Jesus is much harder to manage. He made some pretty big claims. He called people to repent. He forgave sins. He had moral demands. He even claimed a unique relationship with God and called others into that relationship. I know it’s done, but you’ve got to do a bit of work to turn Jesus into anything you want. 

Have you ever noticed that people can talk about God a little easier in public than they can about Jesus? It’s easier to make God a concept. But Jesus is historical. (That’s not to say that God isn’t real or isn’t historical–it’s just that God Incarnate is more defined). I think that’s one of the reasons why the name of Jesus is taboo. It cuts through vague spirituality and talks in specifics. That’s not as popular these days. 

But if I’m being honest, I don’t think that is really the main reason…

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The Name of Jesus Carries Institutional Baggage

There’s a grizzled old man who is ordering at the counter. You can tell by the way he’s carrying himself that he hates ordering this way. He won’t be paying with a credit card. Cash only. Probably a pocket full of quarters and nickels. He’s got the sleeves off his shirt and looks a bit like Larry the Cable Guy. His arm shows one of those faded tattoos that he got in the military. His cane, his scowl, and his raspy voice betray a guy who gave up on life about fifteen years ago. 

He reminds me of one of the first guys I ever shared the gospel with. It was a decent conversation at first. We were talking about Little League Baseball. Reminiscing about the old ball field. Even though about fifty years stood between us, we’d both played in that bumpy infield. Then the conversation got weird when I mentioned the name of Jesus. 

And it really had little to do with Jesus. Almost immediately, we started talking about the church. I was young and hadn’t had much church hurt at this point, so I don’t think I was able to really hear his heart. But I was still pretty shocked that we were talking about hurt from a couple of decades ago. And it was keeping him from wanting anything to do with Jesus. 

I think that’s really why some might be uncomfortable if they saw my title about my friend Jesus. It puts me in a category. It’s connected with pain. People who claimed to be followers of Jesus but didn’t really model Him. People who hurt instead of help. And so you see the name of Jesus, and it doesn’t connect with verses like “Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” It feels heavy. It feels like a burden. 

I’m not sure I responded well to that guy so many years ago. I probably called him out on his excuse and said it wasn’t valid. I think I told him that Jesus isn’t the church. And he needed to forgive. And to look at Jesus instead of the people who’d hurt him. Not horrible advice. But I realize now that I wasn’t bearing the voice of someone who said, “Come to me” with nail-scarred hands. I was bearing the voice of a defensive young preacher-kid who cared more about a “win” than a person. You know…the kind of guy that hurt him thirty years ago. 

I think many people are like that when it comes to the name of Jesus. It hurts because we hurt them. And when we get called on it, we throw it back on them for not being spiritual enough to see through our sinfulness and see the Savior. Some truth there for sure. But I wish I’d been a better representation of Jesus to that guy. 

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Oscar Wong 

The Name of Jesus Is Connected with a Tribe

I won’t spend much time here because it’s so connected to the other one. But sadly, the name of Jesus has been dragged through the mud with political stuff. For many, if I write something about my friend Jesus, the person over my shoulder probably assumes something about my political affiliation. (They shouldn’t!) 

They might assume how I vote, what news channel I watch, what I think about immigration, guns, vaccines, or whatever issue is blowing up on social media this week. Jesus has become shorthand for an entire cultural package.

That’s not a connection that Jesus invited people to make. We did that.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Jesus has nothing to say about politics or all the issues we’re fighting about. But that’s different than Jesus exclusively belonging to “our” tribe (whoever “our” is at this point).

Sometimes it’s not the name of Jesus that is actually raising the temperature in the room, but rather some political leader or follower who has hijacked the name of Jesus for their causes. And when people hear the name Jesus, they’re actually hearing everything they think is bundled with Him. They’re probably not even thinking of Jesus at all.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Ivan Balvan 

The Name of Jesus Presses for Decision

But at the end of the day, I do think there is something even deeper going on than all of this. And that is that I can tell you all about my friend Steve, and you don’t have to do anything with Steve. You can smile, nod, and go back to eating your pancakes. Steve doesn’t make a claim on your life.

But Jesus does.

And that’s why I think the name of Jesus raises the temperature in the room. He really is the One who divides history and humanity. It really is all about Jesus. And there is something powerful happening with the name of Jesus. It’s not that the syllables themselves are some sort of magical incantation, but rather they invoke the One that the name represents. The One who died and rose again. The One before whom Scripture says every knee will eventually bow. 

And that’s really the reason why the name of Jesus is taboo. 

It’s taboo because all the demons of hell want to silence that name, but they cannot do it. Though, sadly, they might find ready participants in their foolish quest.

Photo Credit: Bulat Silvia