1.6 Eyewitness Identification
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This blog was born out of two deaths in 2021: my three-year-old granddaughter, Millie, and my faith. The primary goal is to come face-to-face with what I genuinely think. My secondary goal is to leave a record of this exploration for my grandchildren and their children, hoping it may benefit them one day. I hope it will be of some help to you. Please note that I do not intend to offend or convince but to think out loud.
As a catalyst for my thinking, I engaged John's account of his friend Jesus. I took a step back and read it as if Huck were telling of his friend, Tom Sawyer, hoping to see beyond my preconceptions into the timeless truth. A full explanation is available in the introduction - 1.0 When Faith Becomes Collateral Damage.
In the previous segment, 1.5 Catch the Wind, we explored how we might see the unseeable by focusing on its effects and experience its energy by allowing it to flow through us. In this more extended segment, our eyewitness, John the Baptizer, begins the identification process - of himself and Jesus. In it, we will learn how to discover our identity.
John 1:19 This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 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.
I imagine a judge slamming his gavel and telling John, "Answer the question!” When he does answer, he doesn't answer - he quotes scripture.
It’s at this moment that I imagine Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live pointing at John and saying, "He's some wild and crazy guy!”
But seriously, two aspects of this exchange puzzle me: the voice in the wilderness and where John gets this idea for his identity.
“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.” I wondered, “In which direction is John the Baptizer crying out?” Is his back turned while he's crying out into more wilderness? I think not! John is facing his culture and “crying out” into it. Until each of us learns to decode the divine word within ourselves, culture will always need a prophet crying out into it - a lookout up in the crow's nest, watching for approaching hazards. Why? Because groups of people have a gravitational pull toward the status quo and survival, which leads to selfishness and its ugly sisters. I believe you and I must learn to translate the divine word* within our consciousness, put it into practice, and “cry out” into the culture with the example of our lives.
(*) Let's demystify or break down the meaning of "translating the divine word.” We've all been skeptical when someone claims, "God told me to quit my job and live on the beach." It's not about some illogical voice that justifies irrational urges like "Go ahead, eat the cake." We all get those thoughts. Rather, it’s that still, small voice that can only be heard in moments of solitude when we push away the world, quieten our thoughts, and listen. Our internal voice exists below the culture-level distractions and stands ready to translate the eternal code within our being, the DNA of our soul. A word of warning, though: it takes time and practice to hear it, but it's always there, waiting to be heard, much like the deep water words of whales. I'll dive into this more later.
“Because the Hebrew prophets, like other prophets in the ancient world, are called to deliver messages from their God, tradition marked them as preeminent bearers of the divine word.”
That brings me to the second point. Where did John get the idea of who he was - his identity? Can you and I learn from him where we should get our identity? Without considerable effort, our identity will simply grow into a reflection of others’ opinions and expectations of us. Most often, the result is not our true identity.
“You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” - Jim Rohn. Unfortunately, that becomes true - positively or negatively - for those who seek the approval of others and attempt to meet their expectations.
We will discuss our identity more in the paragraph below, but for now, let's focus on how the prophet, John, did not assume his identity from the expectations of the Pharisees, his parents, or anyone else. (Later, Luke uncovered that the angel Gabriel announced John's birth and told Zechariah who he was to be, but we’re not sure whether John knew about this, and hindsight's always 20-20.) In any event, John had to draw a picture of himself, for himself, from what he saw in his consciousness. In the silence of the wilderness, he decoded the divine word into a detailed description of himself and his purpose. “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.” We are no different than John. We must work to discover our true identity by creating our personal wilderness and periods of solitude. In this quiet place, you and I began to see the pixels fill in until our image, our identity, emerges. We can then walk out of the wilderness into our daily lives, allowing our true identity to unfold into a purpose and everyday actions.
Not putting in this work (and most of us don't) leaves you vulnerable to the expectations of others - becoming who we think they want us to be. The results could be good or bad, but it's most likely not our true identity. In today’s culture, with so many sources telling us who we should be, we see people struggling with their false or mirrored identities everywhere: individuals amid a midlife crisis seeking to "discover themselves," insecurities, gender dysphoria, addictions, and even suicide.
There has never been a time of more significant misunderstanding of our identities. According to the CDC, Specifically, according to Jones et al. (2022), the percent of U.S. teens who reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness increased from 26 percent in 2009 to 37 percent in 2019. Seriously considering suicide also increased from 2009 to 2019 (from 14 percent to 19 percent), as did actual suicide attempts (from 6 percent to 9 percent). The 2021 rates are even higher.
Here’s what I am learning now. Not doing the work and understanding our true identity can compound the agony of living with grief. For example, part of my identity was Millie's “Pa." She gave me that name, shortening the earlier moniker, "G Pa,” and did so with such unmerited and enthusiastic love that I truly felt like a better person. On February 8, 2021, I lost the part of me that was "Millie's Pa.” All bereaved parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, and friends experience this, losing a slice of who we are in this world. Don't get me wrong, Millie and I are, and always will be, connected at the level of the soul, but in this world, I have lost this role. If I dwell in this state of loss, I quickly spiral into the blackish-blue deepwater of despair. However, returning to solitude, I see who I am and hear a reassuring whisper, “All reflected identities are transient and temporary.” For a second, I recognize my internal voice as hers, see her invisible face, and feel the sunshine of her love once again.
“We grieve because a secret essence within ourselves has been awakened and then compromised. To grieve that essence is to reclaim it and give it the importance it deserves. Grief work helps clean the wounds so that we reclaim our wholeness.”
Let's move from our identity to see how we and others expect our actions to match the label given to us.
24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27 the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.” 28 This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.
The Pharisee's question contains the following principle: we expect to be able to connect the actions of others with their words and position. Simply put, people will anticipate what you do to be consistent with what you say and who you are. “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” Hidden within our conscience is that same principle, expecting what we do to be consistent with what we believe, say, and are. (See the diagram below.) We experience anxiety, guilt, and shame when there is a disconnect between what we do and what we believe. Later, Jesus will describe it as "missing the mark.”
During periods of reflection, I began to see this image in my mind as a way of showing how my thoughts become actions and later become my character. I call it "The Character Chain." It also disclosed to me that the most valuable investment I can make is where I place my attention.
In John the Baptist’s non-answer to the Pharisees’ questions, he introduced testimony about who Jesus was. Indeed, John had to do serious contemplation work in the wilderness for Jesus’ identity to drop into his consciousness. He had to overcome the reality that Jesus was his younger cousin, the son of Uncle Joseph and Aunt Mary. Both John's mother, Elizabeth, and Mary had the benefit of the angel Gabriel notifying them as to the identity of their sons. We can imagine that John was told these stories. In any case, John was now willing to “bet his life” on something he had no direct evidence about but had come to understand in his consciousness. The identification process continues below.
29 The next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John could have said, “Come meet my cousin, Jesus,” but it wouldn’t have the same appeal. Right? Yet, what he did say leads me down two different paths again: how did John's crowd hear it then, and what could it mean to me today?
Firstly, some Bible study background. In the above paragraphs, we saw that life expects us to do what we say we believe, and in this long-ago culture, everyone was expected to believe and do what God had said, and Moses had etched in stone. When they did otherwise, it was considered "missing the mark” or “sin" and left a residue of guilt and shame. Moses needed this concept of sin to forge a new society out of his multitude of formerly enslaved people. When you missed the mark, it required a penalty, “an eye for an eye." By John the Baptist’s time, it had evolved into an elaborate ritual sacrifice system to pay the penalty and receive forgiveness. In other words, to “take away the sin,” remove the scarlet letter with its guilt and shame. The priest, who controlled this process, could declare a person forgiven or clean and restore them to fellowship in the synagogue. If not, the person was unclean and unwelcome in their temple, synagogue, or society.
A historical note and skeptical comment:
The Gutenberg Press was invented in the 15th century, and the King James Bible was published in the early 17th century.
Until this time, the interpretation of the Bible was in the hands of the priests and their scribes, giving room for the temptation of manipulating people, by determining, what is sin and what is not, who is in and who is out.
History has proven that any time power and control are at stake; it can bring out the worst in people by triggering their inherent desire for self-preservation.
How could John's words have been understood in his time and place? Jesus provided a revision in dealing with sin with his blood as the required sacrifice. It is appropriated by the repentant believer, one sin at a time. The early church adopted this understanding, and it remains today. This process of administering forgiveness still gave the church an element of control over people by changing the meaning of what is sin and what is not. So, this could be one understanding: this repetitive forgiveness is how Jesus "takes away the sin of the world."
Is there another way to understand "takes away the sin of the world” in my time and place that actually leads to a change in behavior and a new “Way” of living? Consider that John is saying that Jesus takes away the concept of sin and this antiquated process of dealing with it. Could he say that Jesus provides a new way of living without focusing on sin? As I contemplated this, I began to see Jesus introduce and demonstrate a method for tapping into the divine consciousness (“I and the Father are one.'“ ““) and following its leading. (“He can do only what he sees his Father doing.”) He asked others to "repent” or to change their thinking and follow him, doing as he did, becoming "one with him" and "one with the Father.” This change in consciousness produced new behavior powered by the spirit that powers the universe, resulting in acts of love, truth, and grace. I noticed his early followers were called not "the What" but "the Way.” Could John have been thinking about this new way of living when he identified Jesus as the Lamb, who follows his Shepherd and takes away the sin of the world?
My intention is not to convince you but to encourage you to think. I would love to hear what you're thinking in the comments below.
Key Takeaways
Find your true identity and purpose within yourself.
Beware of the labels placed on you by others, and don’t put your labels on them.
Deal with your mistakes in a way that truly makes you less likely to repeat them. Become the person who would not do that in the first place.
In our next segment, I will continue to think aloud about what John the Baptist says about Jesus. Later, I want to reconsider how Jesus identified himself.
