Showing Up Self-Aware

How self-aware are you? Self-awareness is tricky. It can be elusive and hard to receive clearly. However, I think there is a gem for us to discover about self-awareness from one of the quirkiest characters in the Bible: John the Baptist. Let’s jump right into his story…

John the Baptist plays an important role in all four Gospels. When Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John sat down to pen their biographies of Jesus’ life, they all felt it necessary to include him. And among the brief stories about him, one caught my attention.

It’s found in the book of John:

“Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Messiah.’” (John 1:19)

It’s no surprise that the priests and Levites came to question John the Baptist. Part of their role as Jewish leaders was to assess the genuineness of anyone claiming to be a prophet or the Messiah, so they came to investigate John.

But John the Baptist flat out denies being the Messiah. Their investigation could have been closed at this point, but they continue.

“They asked him, ‘Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’
He said, ‘I am not.’
‘Are you the Prophet?’
He answered, ‘No.’
Finally they said, ‘Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’” (John 1:21-22)

Why the persistent questioning? The priests and Levites may not have recognized a movement of God in John’s words and actions, but they could clearly tell something out of the ordinary was happening.

What I want to zero in on, however, is John’s answer to the question, “Are you Elijah?” John replies, “I am not.” And his answer is puzzling.

Clinging to a prophecy in Malachi (4:5), first-century Jews were watching for the coming of an Elijah-like figure. Their teachers of the law taught that this Elijah would come before the Messiah, a teaching that Jesus affirmed was true (Mark 9:11-12).

What puzzles me about John’s answer, “I am not,” is that it contradicts what Jesus says about him. Later, after John the Baptist is imprisoned, Jesus says this about him to a crowd:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way before you.’
…if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Matthew 11:7b-10, 14)

Jewish Leaders: “Are you Elijah?” 
John the Baptist: “I am not.”
Jesus: “John is the Elijah who was to come.”

What is going on here?

The writers of the Gospels never clear up this conundrum. We just don’t know. But I have a theory.

I think John the Baptist wasn’t self-aware.

That’s a basic reality of the human condition, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure I’ve never met a person who was naturally self-aware. Self-awareness is something you have to work for. You can’t skip through life without moments of deep reflection or the courage to ask another person to tell you the truth about yourself and be self-aware. You have to pursue self-awareness to possess it.

Most often when we think about self-awareness, we focus on our short-comings and faults. We think self-awareness is about recognizing and acknowledging the ways we are lacking or prone to blow it. And I do think self-awareness involves a lot of that. In fact, I think John the Baptist did have this kind of self-awareness. When he proclaims about Jesus, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30), John showed remarkable humility and insight into his own limitations.

But self-awareness isn’t just about our faults; it’s also about recognizing the God-ordained gifts and opportunities we have been given.

When John the Baptist went throughout the Judean countryside ahead of Jesus declaring, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:1-2), he was living out the calling God placed on his life. I think he just didn’t realize he was Elijah. He underestimated his role.

Maybe it was his humility. Maybe, like so many of us, he struggled with insecurity. I wonder if he couldn’t claim being Elijah because it just seemed too preposterous to him to think it could be so. Maybe he thought, “My role in this story couldn’t possibly be that important!”

And yet, what is equally stunning is that I’d be willing to bet that you aren’t aware that you have a role to play in the story that is even greater than John’s.

How can I say that? Well, because Jesus did.

If we go back to that passage from Matthew 11, in between all the affirming stuff Jesus says about John the Baptist, he says this:

“Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11)

Did you catch that? Jesus says that even the “least” person in the kingdom, the seemingly most insignificant of his followers, has a role to play that is greater than the role of John the Baptist. How could he say this? How could this be?

Well, because John the Baptist lived before Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Did he have an important role in the story? Yes. But you? 

You live in an age when the way back to God has been thrown wide open!
You live in a time when the presence of God doesn’t just show up in a tabernacle or temple, but can move through any ordinary home, Walgreens, cubicle, or human heart!
You live in an era with complete, 24-7 access to divine power through the Spirit!

And yet, most of us will probably go through this day thinking, “My role in this story couldn’t possibly be that important.”

We’ll go to our jobs thinking we’re just there to do our jobs.
We’ll smile at the clerk assuming we’re only there to do our grocery shopping.
We’ll hang out with our friends and family thinking it’s just an ordinary day.

We forget that the Kingdom of heaven has now come near (Matthew 4:17), which means it is everywhere!

Everywhere you step today is holy ground, and you have the opportunity to be God’s agent of grace in that place.

You get to reflect his love, his kindness, his truth, and his power to the people there. You get to bring all that he’s created you to be to each moment he’s placed you in.

Others might not recognize the movement of God in you, but they will be able to tell that something out of the ordinary is happening. They may even ask you, “Who are you? What do you say about yourself?”

And then, rather than just tell them about someone who will be coming, you get to tell them about the One who already came. You get to tell a story that is greater, more wonderful than the story John the Baptist had to share. 

Don’t ever underestimate the role you play in the story. 

My prayer for you today, my prayer for me, is that God would give us eyes to see how he is at work and the self-awareness to fully show up as all he’s created us to be in that place.

“Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: ‘God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20 The Message)