PostScript: Who are you?
When might we say, ‘Who are you?’ (John 1.22), and might our answers to that question illuminate this Gospel passage?
Context
Those who came from Jerusalem asked John, ‘Who are you?’.
As someone who wears hearing aids, I sometimes find myself asking the same question over the telephone. Over the last six months, since it became mandatory to wear face masks in indoor spaces, I have frequently found myself thinking that question, and occasionally asking it out loud. Unless a person has very distinctive eyes or a very distinctive hair style, even people we know well can seem to be a mystery behind a mask And in most previous contexts, like masked balls or those reputedly worn by highwaymen, masks have been designed precisely to disguise an identity rather than reveal it.
Reflection
The question ‘Who are you?’ can seem impertinent. But John takes it seriously in his answers even if he does not really answer the question directly. Those who asked this question of John were surely genuinely baffled by him. Was he a reborn prophet from the past? No; he insists that he is himself, not a reincarnated prophet. But perhaps puzzlingly, he is indeed one foretold by Second Isaiah.
When do we ask, ‘Who are you?’? We might ask a stranger at our door. We might ask it on a dark night when faces are unclear. We might ask someone we have never met or someone we have not seen for many years. I once had a telephone conversation during which a meeting was being arranged in a busy place and I asked, ‘How will I recognise you?’ Rather than being told what the other person might wear or carry, on this occasion the surprising answer was ‘I think that I will recognise you’. Until that moment I had not known that the person I was arranging to meet had been at school with me; crucially he was in the year below me and I had been fairly well known. Despite a gap of over 40 years and the fact that I certainly did not have a beard as a schoolboy, he did indeed recognise me.
People often do not want to be defined by characteristics like a disability or hair colour. And almost no one would answer a ‘Who are you?’ question with answers such as ‘I’m the one with ginger hair’ or ‘I’m the one with a broken leg’. A former colleague of mine was blind and recognised people by their voice. He used to make me think when he said, as he often did, ‘Good to see you’. But that comment helped me remember that he did not define himself by his blindness.
There are circumstances where we think we recognise someone but cannot remember where we met previously. If we bump into someone out of context we can be puzzled as to how we know them. As a preacher I have sometimes seen people in a congregation whom I thought I knew but could not place. I have been known to say, ‘I am sure that I should know you, but I cannot remember your name’ rather than the blunt ‘Who are you?’ question. But the intention is the same.
‘Who are you? is a question with several layers. It may be about someone’s name or their role. We sometimes speak metaphorically about people wearing a mask - or perhaps different masks at different times. Where a person holds several roles there can be the question as to which role is relevant. My daughter and I are both Church Council Secretaries in different Methodist Churches and we could need to speak to each other in those capacities rather than as father and daughter. And then there is the current additional complexity of the fact that most people are wearing actual masks most of the time.
Prayer
Creator God,
you have made us who we each are,
individual, distinctive, endowed with varied gifts and skills.
Help us to value others for what we each bring to any given situation.
And help us to value ourselves for what we may be able to offer
as we seek to follow the way of Jesus.
Amen.
Remember in your prayers those affected by the decisions on Brexit, which may (or may not) have been taken by Sunday.
Remember also those struggling with the need to do Christmas differently in these strange times as Covid-19 still stalks our world.
And remember to give thanks for the work of doctors and other health workers, for scientists who have created vaccines and for those managing the logistics of delivering them.
Questions
How do you answer the question ‘Who are you?’? Is your occupation your primary identity? Or are you first and foremost a parent or a child? And is your identity in church different - are you, for example, a musician or a welcomer or even a prophet?
All-age activity
Invite everyone to find someone else in the congregation who they do not know (or at least do not know well) and ask the question ‘Who are you?’ Listen carefully to the answer noting in particular whether people locate themselves in their family or in their employment or in some other characteristic. Then invite the person who answered to ask the same question in reverse.
Young people
Discuss your primary answer to the question ‘Who are you?’. Is your name enough? Or might you say more about yourself? Does it depend on the context in which the question is asked?
Dudley Coates is a Local Preacher in the Yeovil and Blackmore Vale Methodist Circuit and a former Vice President of the Methodist Conference.
KEY: icon indicates ways to connect faith with everyday life
Hypertext links to other websites are for the convenience of users only and do not constitute any endorsement or authorisation by ROOTS for Churches Ltd.
PostScript is also available via Twitter and facebook.
ROOTS publishes weekly lectionary-based worship and learning resources online and in two magazines. FIND OUT MORE.