Sermonic Reflections: John 1:19-23
Who are you? Think about it for a moment. It is a simple question, but the simple answer isn't really the complete one, is it? The temptation is to respond, "I am (insert name here)." Well I am pleased to meet you, but I didn't ask for your name. Keep thinking for a moment while we briefly consider John the Baptist's response to the same question.
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 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. (From John 1)
John seems like a difficult character, doesn't he? He is asked a question that should have elicited a positive response, but he responds negatively. "I am not the Messiah."
In fact, not only does he respond in the negative, but his answer has some force behind it, "ego ouk eimi o Christos." The presence of the nominative, "ego" adds emphasis to the verb, "eimi." So John is not only telling them who he is not, but he is making every effort, through his language, to make sure that they never forget it.
Why is John so keen to offer up a denial, or a statement of who he is not? Especially when considering that they didn't ask, "Who aren't you?" I believe the answer is found earlier in John's prologue:
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
So John's marturion, his witness, his testimony, indeed, his purpose, was to testify to the coming One, Jesus Christ. While he is in the wilderness preaching he isn't talking about himself, he is preparing the way for Christ; everything about this guy is geared towards Christ's coming! Yet the Levites and priests come and ask, "Who are you?" They are focusing their energy and time trying to figure out who John is while John is focusing all his energy trying to explain to them that their is someone coming who is worth paying attention to. He must've been thinking, "Don't ask about me, ask about him!" Nevertheless, here they are:
Who are you?
I am not the Christ!
Are you Elijah?
I am not.
Are you the prophet?
No.
Finally, with frustration in their voices, they demand of him,"Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
"I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord.""
That's it? You're a voice that says something? John's final answer, though seemingly insignificant, is very revealing and worthy of our consideration, because in his answer we find how he see's himself, a vessel to be used by God, while also stating his purpose, "Make straight the way of the Lord."
What's even more remarkable is that after John comes refusing to establish his own identity:
I am not the Messiah; I am not Elijah; I am not the Prophet.
Jesus comes on the scene and emphatically establishes his identity:
I AM (ego eimi) the bread of life.
I AM (ego eimi) the light of the world.
I AM (ego eimi) the door.
I AM (ego eimi) the good shepherd.
I AM (ego eimi) the resurrection and the life.
I AM (ego eimi) the way, the truth and the life.
I AM (ego eimi) the true vine.
So, have you been thinking about the original question, "Who are you?" Perhaps we can take a page out of John's book and find the answer to that question firmly rooted in Christ.