Dayenu — Seventy-Seven Ways Jesus Has Been Enough
A hymn of gratitude tracing the names and works of Jesus through all of Scripture
In the latest season of The Chosen there is a beautiful scene during a Passover seder. The women who care for Jesus are gathered……
His mother Mary (Mary, the mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene (delivered from seven demons), Eden (Peter’s wife), Joanna (from Herod’s household), Mary and Martha of Bethany (the sisters who welcomed Him into their home), and Tamar (the friend who helped lower the paralytic through the roof, as portrayed in The Chosen). One after another they tell of what He has done for them, each story ending with the sense that it would have been enough if He had done only that. Their love for Him fills the room, shining through the way they remember.
The scene lingers. Gratitude has not always come easily, yet here was a picture of women whose eyes were open to His goodness. Their stories stirred a prayer to notice more quickly, to recognize His care without hesitation, to live with a heart ready to give thanks.
In the Passover tradition this is called Dayenu, meaning “it would have been enough.” Each line is a way of saying, If the Lord had done only this one thing, it would have been enough to praise Him forever. Thinking on that inspired me to remember the names of Jesus — there are many, many more than can be counted, but I began to think of seventy-seven of them and to see how much He has done throughout history. This list is offered with the hope that it might stir the same kind of gratitude and prayer in the heart of every reader.
If He had done only one of these things… Dayenu.
Alpha and Omega — If You had set Your love on us before the foundation of the world… Dayenu.
Ancient of Days — If You had planned our redemption before the first sunrise… Dayenu.
The Word — If You had spoken light into the darkness… Dayenu.
Creator — If You had stretched out the heavens and set the stars in place… Dayenu.
Light of the World — If You had shone over the waters… Dayenu.
Living Water — If You had gathered the seas and formed the dry land… Dayenu.
Bread of Life — If You had filled the earth with every good plant for food… Dayenu.
Author of Life — If You had formed Adam from the dust and breathed into him… Dayenu.
Wonderful Counselor — If You had said, “It is not good for man to be alone,” and given him a helper… Dayenu.
The Lord — If You had walked with them in the garden… Dayenu.
Redeemer — If You had promised the Seed who would crush the serpent’s head… Dayenu.
Covering — If You had clothed Adam and Eve with garments You made… Dayenu.
Righteous Judge — If You had preserved Noah and his family in the ark… Dayenu.
Covenant-Keeper — If You had set Your bow in the clouds as a sign of mercy… Dayenu.
God of Abraham — If You had called Abram to leave his country and follow You… Dayenu.
God Who Sees — If You had heard Hagar’s cry in the wilderness… Dayenu.
Promise-Keeper — If You had given Sarah a son in her old age… Dayenu.
Provider — If You had spared Isaac and given the ram in his place… Dayenu.
God of Jacob — If You had been with him and shown him the ladder to heaven… Dayenu.
Deliverer — If You had been with Joseph in prison and lifted him to save many lives… Dayenu.
I AM — If You had called Moses from the burning bush… Dayenu.
Passover Lamb — If You had spared Israel by the blood on the doorposts… Dayenu.
Pillar of Cloud and Fire — If You had led them safely through the wilderness… Dayenu.
Lawgiver — If You had spoken Your commandments at Sinai… Dayenu.
Rock of Salvation — If You had brought water from the rock to quench their thirst… Dayenu.
Healer — If You had healed them from the venom of serpents with a bronze serpent lifted high… Dayenu.
Captain of the Lord’s Hosts — If You had led Joshua into the promised land… Dayenu.
Kinsman-Redeemer — If You had provided Ruth a home and lineage… Dayenu.
Shepherd of Israel — If You had raised David to lead Your people… Dayenu.
Anointed One (Messiah) — If You had promised a Son to sit on David’s throne forever… Dayenu.
Wisdom of God — If You had spoken through Solomon’s proverbs… Dayenu.
Fourth Man in the Fire — If You had stood with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… Dayenu.
Son of Man — If You had shown Daniel the vision of the everlasting kingdom… Dayenu.
Branch — If You had promised the shoot from Jesse’s stump… Dayenu.
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — If You had given Isaiah the vision of the child who would be born… Dayenu.
Man of Sorrows — If You had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… Dayenu.
Righteous Branch — If You had promised Jeremiah a King who would reign wisely… Dayenu.
Faithful Witness — If You had given Ezekiel the vision of Your glory… Dayenu.
Desire of Nations — If You had stirred Haggai to speak of the coming glory… Dayenu.
Sun of Righteousness — If You had promised Malachi a day when healing would rise… Dayenu.
Immanuel — If You had come to be God with us… Dayenu.
Lamb of God — If You had taken away the sin of the world… Dayenu.
Rabbi — If You had taught with authority unlike any other… Dayenu.
Friend of Sinners — If You had eaten with tax collectors and the broken… Dayenu.
Good Shepherd — If You had laid down Your life for the sheep… Dayenu.
The Way — If You had opened the path back to the Father… Dayenu.
The Truth — If You had revealed the Father’s heart… Dayenu.
The Life — If You had raised the dead to show Your power… Dayenu.
True Vine — If You had made us abide in You to bear fruit… Dayenu.
Servant — If You had washed the disciples’ feet… Dayenu.
Mediator — If You had prayed for us in Gethsemane… Dayenu.
Man Betrayed — If You had endured the kiss of treachery… Dayenu.
Silent Lamb — If You had opened not Your mouth before Your accusers… Dayenu.
Sinless One — If You had borne the curse on the cross… Dayenu.
Forsaken One — If You had cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”… Dayenu.
Pierced One — If You had been wounded for our transgressions… Dayenu.
It Is Finished — If You had declared the debt paid in full… Dayenu.
Buried King — If You had lain in the tomb three days… Dayenu.
Resurrection and the Life — If You had risen on the third day… Dayenu.
Victorious One — If You had trampled death underfoot… Dayenu.
Breath of God — If You had breathed peace on the disciples… Dayenu.
Restorer — If You had reinstated Peter with love… Dayenu.
Ascended Lord — If You had been lifted up to the Father’s right hand… Dayenu.
Promise of the Father — If You had poured out the Holy Spirit at Pentecost… Dayenu.
Head of the Church — If You had joined Jew and Gentile into one body… Dayenu.
Intercessor — If You had prayed for us before the Father’s throne… Dayenu.
Advocate — If You had defended us against the accuser… Dayenu.
Author and Perfecter of Our Faith — If You had sustained us in every trial… Dayenu.
High Priest Forever — If You had entered the Most Holy Place once for all… Dayenu.
Living Stone — If You had made us into a spiritual house… Dayenu.
Bridegroom — If You had prepared a place for us… Dayenu.
Faithful and True — If You had promised to come again… Dayenu.
Lion of the Tribe of Judah — If You had prevailed to open the scroll… Dayenu.
Judge of the Living and the Dead — If You had set all things right… Dayenu.
King of Kings — If You had reigned in righteousness forever… Dayenu.
Light of the New Jerusalem — If You had been our everlasting lamp… Dayenu.
All in All — If You had been our everything for all eternity… Dayenu.
Closing Reflection
Every line of this list is enough to worship Him forever. Yet He did not stop with one act, one gift, or one revelation of His heart. He gave us all of Himself.
The story of Scripture — from Eden to the New Jerusalem — is a story of Jesus revealing His glory and love in countless ways. Each name tells us something about His character, each moment shows us His mercy, and each act points to the fullness we will know in His presence.
If He had done only one of these… Dayenu.
But He has done them all.
I had first seen this in “The Chosen” and thought it was beautiful! Thank you for renewing it to us Gentiles. It made me want to use milestones in my own life, like the women did with Jesus in season 5. So satiating, makes me thankful for more-than-enough!