Who We Are

With the end of the Christmas season and the passing of Epiphany, we move from the birth of Jesus to the first appearance of Jesus as an adult in the Gospel narrative (Lk. 3:15-17, 21-22) for next Sunday, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord.  It is a story about identity, about who John is, about who Jesus is, and ultimately about who we are.

The story begins with identity confusion.  I think it is perhaps the greatest of all spiritual dangers.  The people are confused as to who John might be, wondering if he might be the Messiah.  Amidst the confusion, though, John himself is clear:  “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”   

It is easy to let our identities be determined by those around us.  That is the challenge of adolescence in our culture, to find out who one is, and it brings with it many temptations to let others determine that, particularly parents and peers.  Negotiating a path between the two is no small accomplishment.  And the temptation recurs throughout life in one way or another, often seductively.  One of its manifestations comes in the form of avoiding conflict, being who someone else thinks we should be in order to keep the peace. 

John seems to have figured this out.  When those around him projected on him an alluring identity, that he might be the Messiah, he did not fall into the trap.  John, someone Jesus described as the greatest among people, knows who he is.  Those around him may not.  But he does.  That is all that matters.

It is something John has in common with his cousin Jesus.  Luke makes exactly this point in an interesting way.

Luke tells the story of the Baptism just a little bit differently than the way Matthew does.  In both Matthew and Luke there is a voice from heaven proclaiming the identity of Jesus as Jesus comes up from the water.  In Matthew, the voice says, “This is my Son.”  It speaks to the crowd.  In Luke, the voice says, “You are my Son.”  It speaks only to Jesus. 

What matters, at least at this point in the story, is not what anyone else may think about who Jesus is.  That comes later.  What matters here at the point at which Jesus’ public ministry is inaugurated is who Jesus thinks he is.  What matters is not whether or not anyone else at all hears the voice from heaven.  The text does not suggest that anyone did.  What matters is that Jesus hears it.  “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”  The most important thing here is that Jesus knows who he is, no one else. And that is what carries him through to the end of the story.

It was the same with John.  And it is the same with us.  The thing that matters most, and maybe the only thing that really matters at all, is that we know who we are.  It is really nobody else’s business.  It is something nobody can take away.  It is, in the end, all there is. 

The point of our baptisms, I think, is precisely the same as the Baptism of Jesus.  That is why, no doubt, this is one of the preferred days for baptisms in the church year.  It is to teach us our fundamental identity, or to remind us of it, that we too are God’s children, God’s beloved.  “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”  And in that we receive “an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.”  (BCP, p. 308)

Nothing can change that.  Nothing can change who we are.  Nothing can change who we are born to be.  It is possible, of course, to forget it.  But even that does not change it.

Peace,

+Stacy