Who are you?

14Jan
This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’

-John 1:19-22


What do you say about yourself? That’s a powerful question to be asked. And a loaded one, when asked by a delegation of powerful and stern figures like the priests and Levites and Pharisees questioning John the Baptist. There seem to be many ways to answer wrongly, and few responses they might accept. 


Who are you? How to answer such a stark-yet-expansive query? With which aspects of your life would you lead? What could you declare with pride, and what would you mumble out with burning cheeks or a catch in your throat? What do you wish you could say? Maybe it’s not too late to be that person, the one you would present with a light and grateful heart.  


Interestingly, John the Baptist arrives at an answer by first saying who he is not. He is not the Messiah, not Elijah, not a prophet. This resonates with me. I think sometimes we can learn the most about ourselves by being able to rule out who and what we are not. We try on a job, a partner, a persona, and find that they simply don’t fit. And that learning experience helps us to recognize and identify our true nature. Only then can we align with our deepest call, and, in the words of author and Quaker leader Parker Palmer, “let who you are shine forth in your life.”  


We know John’s eventual response to his inquisitors, quoting Isaiah: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.” Wow. Such a self-emptying response, to frame oneself as a voice in the wilderness; and yet, such a potent one. What it also reminds me is that finding my own answer to the question “Who are you?” requires me to pare down to the bedrock where humility and simplicity lie — and also to listen: as much to the booming voice of the prophet as to the still, small whispers of the spirit. Again, Parker Palmer: “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” And when we do so, we may glimpse the person God intended us to be. 


Musical Reflection - You Say - Lauren Daigle


O Lord, you have searched me and known me!


You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

  you discern my thoughts from afar.


You search out my path and my lying down

  and are acquainted with all my ways.


Even before a word is on my tongue,

  behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.


You hem me in, behind and before,

  and lay your hand upon me.


Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

  it is high; I cannot attain it.


Search me, O God, and know my heart!

  Try me and know my thoughts!


And see if there be any grievous way in me,

  and lead me in the way everlasting! Amen.


-Psalm 139:1-6 and 23-24 

Wisdom

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