What is your identity?
One of the characters in the story Alice in Won derland asked Alice a question, “Who are you?” I’ve been asked that question many times in various situations and places. Sometimes it is a good question. Since retirement, I have sometimes visited other churches to hear some of my good friends preach. Various people will come up to me with an introduction of themselves and then they want me to reciprocate with my own introduction. However, sometimes the question is more spiteful and derogatory. It usually goes like this, “Just who do you think you are?” What I love is here in the south, when I tell someone my name, they ask me if I’m related to so and so, who shares my last name. Often our identity is tied to more than our name or profession, but who we are related to in the community. Years ago, I listened to a radio program where people called in and the host asked them who they were, and they would say, “I am my children’s dad or mom, or I am my husband’s wife or my wife’s husband.” The show promoted identity with family.
Our identity may be tied up with what teams we support, what political party we align with, or the group we identify with according to our faith. We might go out of the way to make sure others know what our identity is regarding these, and other matters. We might wear shirts, hats, have buttons, stickers, or signs on our person, our vehicles, or our lawns. We are telling people, “This is who I am.” Jesus asked the same question of His disciples about Himself. At a place called Caesarea Philippi, He asked, “Who do people say I am?” Later, He would asked them personally, “Who do you say that I am?” Our identity is more than what we support, or what we think of ourselves, but what do others say we are. Would they identify us by our words and outward symbols, or by our lives as well? Believers of Jesus in ancient Antioch were identifying themselves as people of the Way, but the community called them “Christians” Which meant, “Little Christs.” We might want to take another look at how we can identify ourselves. Jesus said, “By this will all people know you are my disciples, that you love one another.” It begins by knowing who Jesus is.
