Who Are You?

John 1:19-28

The question of identity is certainly a familiar one and one that at times can be a daunting or haunting question. Our lives in a sense is marked with the path of discovering who we are in this world both individually and as a human race. I for one am totally enamoured with questions regarding human origin and development. But the Christian response to this question of "Who are you?" is perhaps not the most appealing at first glance. We are "made in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27) and we are made to glorify God. There are numerous layers to this description of identity and of course unique individual elements to this answer as well. However, in this passage of John's Gospel when John the Baptist (not the author of this Gospel) is asked "Who are you?" by the messengers of the Pharisees, his response gave me absolute chills.

By this point, John has been preaching his message of repentance and has been baptizing people in water. Baptism was not new to the Jewish people, for there were some Jews practicing individual baptisms in the Qumran community as well as "proselyte baptism" for those that converted to Judaism. This was not a new or revolutionary exercise but it was still unusual and something that caught the attention of the Pharisees to trigger them to ask, "Who are you?" Which is just another way of asking, by what authority are you doing this and why are you doing this? The Pharisaic inquiry is on his identity and authority, because surely if his message of repentance was legitimate and his baptism were eschatological signs of a new coming age, then the Pharisees wanted to know for certain who this John fellow was. But John points them to Christ. John takes the question of "Who are you?" And directs their attention to the One whose sandals he would not even be worthy of untying. This was a common expression of humble servitude as followers of teachers would typically refrain from touching their masters' feet. How extraordinary of an answer!

John is telling the Jewish people, "I am who I am only because He is who He is. I am the messenger that simply prepares the way of the Lord. I am not Elijah, I am not a prophet and I am not your Messiah. But I am an instrument tied to the One who is to come. I am somebody because of Him! So look at Him! Concern yourselves with who He is and don't focus on me. My work, my message and my life are all pointers to Christ." Amen John. He never answers the question, "Who are you?" He just tells them who he is not, and then directs them to Jesus. May our lives be pointers to Christ.