Identity
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We’ve begun our journey on the road to discovering what Jesus meant when he told his listeners he had come to fulfill the biblical story, the story God has been telling from the beginning—the kingdom story. So far, Jesus has reset and reinterpreted the image of our Creator, the mental and spiritual impression of who he is and what he wants, by showing us our God is a loving, creative, life-giving Spirit, who values his creation and desires to heal it, restore it, and be near it. Last week, we added the concept of light to the Image, as the visual expression of the invisible presence of the Creator Spirit at the beginning of the symbolic creation story. We saw that light, set apart from the darkness and infused into all of creation. Jesus claimed that he was the visual expression of the Spirit, he was that life-giving light, and anyone who would trust him would no longer have to experience the effects of that light being obscured or absent. They would no longer have to walk in blindness and darkness, because he had come to open blind eyes and to separate light from darkness once again.
This week we’ll see why this reinterpreted image of our Creator as Light, Love, and Life is so important and why it impacts our lives so drastically. Our word this week is “identity”. Merriam-Webster defines it this way: “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual—one’s individuality”, as well as “a sameness in all that constitutes the objective reality of a thing—a oneness”. Think about that. Our identity is our “sameness” or “oneness” with something, as well as our individual uniqueness. On the surface, this appears to be a dichotomy. How can something be the same, and yet be individual and unique?
Jesus and the New Testament authors spoke of this paradox. In the Gospel of John, Jesus prayed for his disciples—a ragtag group of individuals each with their own unique character traits, personalities, talents, and occupations—as well as for the billions of unique individuals who would believe him in the future. He prayed, “I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world mayknow that You sent Me, and You loved them, just as You loved Me.” (John 17:20-23 NASB).
What does Jesus mean? You in me and I in you and they in us? And to top it all off, Jesus seems to be saying that all of this “in-ness” will result in the world knowing how much they are loved by God (John 3:16). It all sounds very confusing! And yet, when we return to that symbolic Genesis creation story again, bringing with us our reinterpreted image of the Spirit of God as Light, Love, and Life, we start to get some insight into what all this could mean, and how it could affect our individual and collective identities.
As we’ll recall in the story, after the Spirit of the Creator God infuses his light of life into the world and sets it apart from the darkness, he brings the rest of his diverse creation into being, declaring all of it “good”. Then, as his crowning masterpiece, the story says, “…God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26 NASB). Just a note here, we see the word “man” used in this creation story, but in Hebrew the word is “adam” and it is not necessarily gender specific, it means “human being”. The story continues, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27 NASB). Then God blessed them as an act of adoration, and when he saw all that He had made, he declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:28, 31).
There are a couple of interesting things to look at here. First, notice that God is using relational words about himself that signify more than one—Us and Our. Biblical scholars debate why this is so, but when we look forward in the story to the gospel accounts, we find Jesus saying things like this: “Father…You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24 NASB) and “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born I am” (John 8:58). Also, if we look back at what we discussed last week, the Apostle John told us that Jesus was the Light and the Word at the beginning and that he had always been in relationship with the Spirit of God—the Spirit Jesus calls “Father” (John 1:1-5).
Now, I know we’re getting into deep theology here. The concept of the Trinity—the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has been the topic of an endless number of religious books, essays, and scholarly debates, as well as being an essential part of Christian doctrine. We won’t get into all of that here, but suffice it to say, if we take Jesus at his word, he seems to be saying that he—the Son—has always been in loving relationship with his Father and the Spirit. This idea ties into what we’ve already seen, that the Creator God is love, and love is relational. It’s the giving of value, and it is made visible only when it is expressed and shared. So perhaps, one way to think about this relationship might be to say that the Son is the visible expression of the light, love, and life of the Father—the Source of Life—empowered through the Holy Spirit.
This concept of God as Father, in relationship with the Son and the Spirit is really beyond our comprehension. However, it’s important to our discussion of identity because in addition to our understanding of the image of God as Light, Love, and Life, we see that he is also a Parent, in loving relationship with a family. And it appears, this relational Creator desires to include humanity in this loving relationship as bearers of that loving, life-giving, light-filled image—as children of light (John 12:36).
That is a mind-blowing thought, but if we’ll consider the possibility, we can start to see the “oneness” in our definition of “identity”. As children, created in the image of this relational Father God, and invited into this loving, life-giving family, all of humanity was meant to be a part of the “oneness” of our Creator. We were meant to be caught up in his love, his light, his life, and then to reflect it out into his creation. Every single human being—no matter their gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical make-up, or abilities—all were created in the image of our Creator God with immense value and purpose.
If humanity’s identity as image-bearing children, created in the likeness of our Creator, Father, God is our “sameness” or “oneness”, then where does our individuality and uniqueness come in? Perhaps, just as light through a prism is dispersed into a spectrum of rainbow colors, the Image of Light, Love, and Life is made visible in the colorful diversity of the Image-bearing children themselves, and in how they reflect that Image into the world. A “oneness” in our relationship with the Creator and a “uniqueness” in how his image is reflected.
Gender, among the countless ways the human family reflects the diversity of our Creator, is one part of that uniqueness. The creation story says, “…male and female He created them.” An interesting detail to note is that although the word for “man”—“adam”—means “human” without a specified gender, there are gender specific words used here—“male” and “female”. Of course, these words have a literal, anatomical meaning, but perhaps they have a symbolic meaning as well. When you look closely at the definitions, the word for “male” in Hebrew comes from a word that means “to remember”, and the word for “female” comes from a word that can mean “designated or appointed”. I wonder, is it possible that the significance of the creation of image-bearing humanity in all its diversity, goes beyond mere anatomical gender and the act of procreation. Could it also speak to their intended human purpose—being appointed out of all of creation to remember who our Creator God is… and to reflect his likeness? Just a thought, and we’ll talk more about this later. In any case, our gender identity is one way we reflect the spectrum of the masculine and feminine likeness of our Creator, but it is certainly not the only way, or even the most important.
When we look at who Jesus and his followers interacted with in the gospel accounts, we see amazing individuality and diversity. Jesus valued both parts of our definition of “identity.” He recognized and welcomed peoples’ individuality and uniqueness, even as he spoke and prayed about them being “one” with his Father—the Creator God. He said that anyone who would believe his words and trust his Father was a part of his family—anyone, no exceptions (John 5:24). He broke down every barrier that labeled people; that told them who they were—their uniqueness—was not worthy of love; and he tore down every wall that had been preventing people from coming to him. Everyone who would come to him in faith, he invited in, no matter who they were or what they’d done. And those who trusted Jesus, those who believed what he said about them over what others said, or what their society or their religion told them, came to him and received his healing, his forgiveness, his love, and his renewed purpose for their lives.
And Jesus said that those who were a part of his family, those who would accept the “oneness” of their identity as children, in this Father-Son-Spirit relationship, would reflect the same light, love, and life he was reflecting (John 13:15). But, like the prism, they would reflect it in a spectrum of colorful, unique ways. They would use their individual personalities, their endless diversity, their range of abilities, their unique gifts, and their distinctive talents to reflect the Image of the Creator, revealed in Jesus, wherever they were, in whatever circumstances they found themselves, and in whatever way his Spirit would lead them.
Instead of seeing humanity’s diversity as an excluding barrier, or as something to ignore, look past, or homogenize, Jesus saw individual uniqueness as a reflection of his Father—the Creator of all beauty and diversity. Jesus enabled everyone who came to him in trust to see themselves differently—to see themselves as he saw them. He opened their eyes, their minds, their hearts and allowed them to see their true identity—their “uniqueness” as well as their “oneness”. And this new way of seeing themselves led to a new way of viewing others, which led to a whole new way of living.
Jesus not only reveals the Image of our Creator God, but he also shows us who we are. Through him, we find our true identity, our “oneness” as Image-bearing children of the Creator, and also, our “uniqueness” as a part of the colorful diversity of the human family and the beauty of creation itself.
Some questions to consider:
What are your thoughts about “identity”?
What lens have you been using to define who you are? Your job, your family, your gender identity, your race or ethnicity, your politics, your religion, your socio-economic status, your sexual orientation, your mental or physical abilities, your addictions, your past or present events, circumstances, or mistakes?
What lens have you used to define others?
Thinking about the “oneness” and “uniqueness” of our Image-bearing identity, how does Jesus help us think differently about who we are?
How does he challenge our thinking about how we view others?