A New Name

A New Name

In the stage play Man of La Mancha, Don Quixote meets a prostitute named Aldonza and says to her, “You will be my lady.” She is shocked. “Yes, you are my lady and I give you a new name – Dulcinea.” She laughs in his face. But Don Quixote affirms her to be the person he perceives and believes her to be.

As the play continues, the stage is empty. It is night. Offstage a woman screams. It is Aldonza, being raped in the hay. She appears on stage, disheveled, hysterical, terror flooding her eyes. Quixote speaks, “My lady!” She shouts back, “Don’t call me your lady. I was born in a ditch by a mother who left me there naked and cold and too hungry to cry.” Don Quixote insists, “My lady.” She shouts back, “Don’t call me your lady. I am only a strumpet to use and throw away. I am only Aldonza.” She whirls and runs off into the night as Don Quixote calls after her, “But you are my lady. You are Dulcinea.”

After a while the curtain drops and rises to the scene where Don Quixote is dying. Suddenly to his side comes a woman who appears to be a Spanish queen, dressed in lovely and lavish lace. She kneels and prays. Don Quixote opens his eyes and feebly asks, “Who are you?” She rises and stands tall. She is beautiful. She speaks softly: “Don’t you know who I am? I am your lady. I am Dulcinea.”

Imagine that. Think of the titles you could/should bear. Liar, Gossip, Adulterer, Greedy, Glutton. Those are some of the less offensive ones too!

Jesus Christ comes into our world and turns everything upside down. He strips away that which causes us shame, humiliation, and embarrassment and gives to us noble birth. He takes away our filthy rags and dresses us like royalty!

2 Cor 5:17-18

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

All things! Everything has become new!

Let us listen to what God says about us. Let us hear who God says we are. Let us think as much of ourselves as God thinks of us!

Pastor Craig