Who Are You?
December 20, 2022
Who Are You?
Like Jesus’ disciples and followers, like the religious leaders and Romans—we are all fallen, rebellious, and reluctant to trust. We resist God’s rule in our hearts and lives. At best, we have failed and hurt those around us, at worst, we have harmed them.
Is this who you are? A failed and fallen human being?
I imagine this is how the disciples and followers of Jesus would’ve felt and described themselves in those hours after the crucifixion. Hiding in sorrow and fear, their identity under attack, they experienced very little peace.
Then Jesus stood before them, alive, glorious, and speaking peace to their hearts. Jesus explained why He had to die, the scriptures He fulfilled, and what their task was now (proclaim His resurrection.) Suddenly their understanding of themselves was shifted.
Then He said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
Luke 24:45-48 ESV
“You are [My] witnesses.”
They were to tell everyone about Jesus, starting in Jerusalem and spreading to all nations. Their role and their task would be supported by the power of the Holy Spirit. But foundation of their identity was being formed right here. Connected to Jesus and made new, at His side once more, with a broader view of themselves.
Is this who you are? A freed and forgiven human being?
Yes, they had failed and forsaken Jesus, but they had also repented and were now restored to Him. They could see more than just their past failures. Now they saw the ‘great mural of salvation*’ which includes past, present, and future.
It is unsettling to only see part of the picture. If we merely recognize who we are as rebellious, resistant, and reluctant to walk in God’s ways, without any reason to believe we can change, we fall into despair.
If we also recognize that we can choose repentance, rebuilding, and restoration by submitting to God’s ways, we find hope and relief. Salvation leads us to peace with ourselves, with who we are.
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.””
Luke 1:76-79 ESV
When we fully repent:
We find forgiveness, freedom, and transformation.
We find Shalom, the peace of God, the peace Jesus has and offers.
We find the way of peace.
Consider:
Do you focus more on being “failed and fallen” or “freed and forgiven?”
Remember:
When you listen to the Christmas story, read it, or hear a part of it quoted, remember that it’s only the start, the sunrise of salvation. The way of peace is through recognition of our rebellion, full repentance, and restoration.
Share:
Who was it that first guided your feet to the path of peace?
*Jesus underscores the truth of the resurrection and ensures that the disciples grasp fully how the past, present, and future of God’s activity belong to one great mural of salvation. –Joel Green (The New International Commentary on the New Testament: Luke, Page 856)