Who Are You?
John 1:19-28
The television show CSI uses as its theme music the song, “Who Are You?” by the rock group “The Who.” Interestingly, the spin-off show, CSI Miami also used one of The Who’s signature pieces, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Who knew the Who had so many good forensic theme songs in them! I guess The Who, that’s who.
Who are you? That’s really a hard question to answer so we usually give it half tries. We describe traits – male, Christian, gay, white, American, Southern etc. would be some of mine. All of those traits inform who I am but none of them are the answer to my question.
Sometimes we answer that question by really telling others who we are NOT. I’m not conservative, not racist, not straight, not closed-minded, etc. It raises the old philosophical question that asks do you have to be against something to be for something. Sometimes, it seems.
Sometimes the question is put to us the way it was put to John the Baptist – are you the Messiah, Elijah, the prophet? Well, that’s who WE need YOU to be. We need a category to put you in, a slot where you will make sense for us. We need you to be “like” somebody else. Sometimes it is even clearer – you need to be somebody else, we are told. Who you are is unacceptable to us, so therefore you need to be someone else. Sometimes we even think that about ourselves.
Those of us that have ever had to say the words, “I’m an alcoholic, I’m an addict” know the importance of being able to verbalize such a powerful truth. Speaking the truth about who we are – even in the utter horror of the reality at times – brings healing. Later in recovery people learn that although very important, their addiction is not the ultimate definer of who they are.
John didn’t fall prey to the tempting comparisons that others made for him. He was clear who he was. He didn’t pretend to be someone else, even though he received lots of encouragement to go there. Somehow he grasped that knowing himself was the most powerful statement he could make about his life. “I have a call – a sense of purpose – on my life. I know what gives my life meaning. For me,” says John, “it is to prepare the way for another who will come after me.”
Growing up I always heard that the toughest instrument in the orchestra to play was “second fiddle.” John wasn’t bothered by that because he knew who he was – he was being authentic to the call of God upon his life.
I heard about Maria Shriver’s recent book “Just Who Will You Be?” and so I got it because I wanted to see how she struggled with the same question. You know her as the wife of California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, former NBC news correspondent, member of the famed Kennedy tribe or daughter of a vice-presidential candidate. She describes eloquently how putting on roles was how she used to define her life. She is famous. She has celebrity. She is privileged. Yet none of those things were the essence of who she is. This is what she writes about her own conclusion to the question, “So just who am I?”
Well, I’ve been amazed to discover that inside that tough, dutiful, responsible girl who always worried about what everyone else was thinking and always “got with the program” – why, there’s actually a free-spirited, adventurous and creative person inside.
After my hard-charging, competitive life, I’ve been amazed to discover I’m actually a nurturing and spiritual person who seeks joy, peace and meaning in her life. That’s who I am. And just who will I be?
I’ll be Maria, but not the same Maria with the same motivations I had in my twenties or my thirties or my forties. And that’s a good thing.
I will feel my way into who I am becoming.
I will continue to work on issues that are important to me – like trying to give a hand to help people out of poverty and shining a light on extraordinary things women are doing all over the country. I will continue to be of service in my community, because that helps give my life meaning.
I will continue to live the faith I say I have, because I’ve learned that when I do, it can actually sustain me.
I will continue to encourage my family to discover and pursue their own passions.
I will continue to pass along my life’s lessons, because that gives me joy. Remember: you are the only person on the planet with your story. What’s the point of being here unless you share it, pass it on and help somebody else?
But most important, I will try to live an authentic life that feels true to me – which means living life as myself, not an imitation of anyone else, and not the reflection of myself in anyone else’s eyes. (pg. 85-88)
So who are you? (who who who who?) Nobody can tell you the answer to that question but God has placed the answer within you. Finding it is a holy quest.
Sources:
Shriver, Maria: Just Who Will You Be? Hyperion: New York, 2008.