Identity

by Jason Gate, Worship Leader @ MBC Loudoun

Identity is a hard thing. The reason it is hard is because so many variables go into making us who we are. Our friends, our family, our obsessions, our cities and scars all play a part in making us who we are.
Our DNA as human beings is determined by our experiences, and most of us can point to adolescence as the time period when these patterns were formed. For most of us, in the deepest recesses of our hearts, we don’t like what we see in the mirror because of these experiences and this causes our IDENTITY to be broken, weak and false.
I have often said that Jesus is the “Divine Interrupter.” He seems to show up in scripture and ruffle the feathers of all He comes into contact with by shaking them loose from the mundane and inviting them into a greater form of existence.

In Matthew chapter 4:18-22 Jesus displays this principle.

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers; Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Now this passage has always bewildered me for several reasons. Jesus had barely begun his public ministry so they didn’t leave because they wanted rabbinical fame. They didn’t leave because the money was better. And I have often thought, “How did this make their father feel?”

It wasn’t until I began to study the call of the rabbi in rabbinical literature that I came to understand this passage.
When a Jewish male reached the age of 6 they began the memorization process of the entire torah. Rabbi’s would choose the best and the brightest to follow them around the countryside and learn the truths of the scriptures. At this point in history, there was no greater honor for both son and parents than to be chosen by a rabbi for rabbinical schooling. By age 13, the final process of elimination was completed. If you weren’t chosen by a rabbi, you then returned home to do what was called “Ply your trade” which is what these disciples were doing when Jesus showed up on the scene. They were failures.
It was always the custom of the Rabbi to call disciples. But Jesus did something entirely different. As he began to travel the countryside searching for the men that were going to bear witness to his public ministry and learn His teachings on Torah, he didn’t choose the best and the brightest. He didn’t choose the young man who received the highest SAT score on his oral torah exam, or the one who answered the most questions on the bible quiz team. He chose the ones that didn’t make the cut. He chose the bench warmers. He chose the ones who were picked last in kickball. He chose the ones who were considered the lowest in Jewish society who had been collecting taxes for Caesar.
Now, before you let this fly right by you, think about this for a minute. God unzips the robe of divinity, zips up the robe of humanity and comes to earth to begin a revolution. He then proceeds to choose the bad news bears to be His team.

Now hear the word of the Lord…

1 Corinthians 1:27
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
I don’t know about you, but I am really thankful for this verse. It lets me know a few things about God’s character. It lets me know that I don’t have to be perfect, have all the answers, be the most talented, or have the most influence in order to make a massive difference in this world. I simply have to know where my IDENTITY is found, and then throw down my nets, and follow.
IDENTITY
There was once a first century rabbi who was walking along a dirt road around sunset studying torah as he walked. By mistake he took a wrong turn and ended up in front of a roman official’s house. At once, a Roman Centurion stepped in front of him with sword drawn and said “Who are you, and what are you doing?” The Rabbi paused for a moment, contemplated, and then responded. “Sir, what is your daily wage?” The Centurion responded “Five Denari.” The Rabbi then said this. “I will pay you double, if you will come to my house each morning at sunrise, and ask me those same two questions”.
Who are you and what are you doing?
The Rabbi’s response is profound, but it has even greater implications for us. Hopefully, when we are asked these 2 questions, we will not refer to our past experiences to define our IDENTITY. Hopefully we will not point to all that we have done or hope to do. Hopefully we will not point to what we are good at, or gravitate towards things that we regularly receive praise for. Rather, we will simply respond, “I am a child of the living God, and I am daily dropping my nets”