What Do You Say About Yourself?

John 1:19-28
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?" He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,'" as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, "Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" John answered them, "I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal." This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

A few years ago, when I lived in Chilhowie, Virginia, I was out driving one night in Marion, Virginia. I pulled into the parking lot of a store and a police car pulled in behind me. Before I could get out of my car the officer got out of his car and came to my window. He informed me that my license tag sticker was two years out of date. He then said, “Who are you?” My response was, “I am a United Methodist minister.” I don’t know why he asked who I was rather than what my name was. I don’t know why I answered with the label of who I am rather than my name, but I did. My answer was like letting the air out of his balloon. I had the feeling that he was about to read me the riot act. However, when he learned I was a minister, he said, “You guys have a hard job. Tell you what I’m going to do. You get a new sticker first thing Monday morning and we’ll let it go at that.” I avoided a ticket that night and I’m not sure why, other than I was a minister. I don’t know what was going through the officers mind, but something was and my being a minister made him react in a different sort of way.

This was the problem that John the Baptizer faced as he was questioned by the representatives from the Temple.  “Who are you?” They then went through a list of who they thought that he might be. He denied being the Messiah, Elijah, or the prophet. Well, that left them perplexed. They had run out of options, they then asked, “What do you say about yourself?” He then went on to explain who he was in his own terms rather than in their terms. This meant that he knew his mission. It meant that he knew his reason for being. He knew specifically what God had called him to do and he was doing it.

I wonder how you would answer that question, “What do you say about yourself?” How would you explain yourself and God’s activity in your life? Think about it and share some of your thoughts with me.