Who are you? Who are you really? What is your true identity? Are we not much more than meets the eye—more than the person gazing back at us in the mirror?
I am reminded of a silly mirror I once had. It was cheaply made, thin, and flimsy. And it was quite warped. Warped in a way that was quite flattering in the eyes of the beholder! When I stood in front of this silly mirror, something rather strange happened. I appeared much taller and slimmer. And somehow in this particular mirror my clothing appeared perfectly tailored. But the mirror, however flattering it may have been, was of little practical use to me, because what we really need in a mirror is an accurate reflection of our appearance—for better or for worse!
But the imagery of the mirror in tonight’s scripture reading offers us a more vivid and meaningful reflection. Much more than what meets the eye.
Imagine for a moment that we could gaze into a mirror that reflected back to us our true identity, or as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say, “the content of our character.” A mirror that revealed to us the inner workings of our soul—the essence of our spirit. Imagine what you would see if you were able to gaze deeply into such a mirror. What would this mirror reveal about your true and spiritual identity? What would you see in this mirror of the soul?
Now, before I go any further, I must acknowledge that the world we inhabit and the culture we are immersed in seems to flatly deny all that is spiritual and soulful, leading many of us to seek self-worth and find our identity in material things. Many equate their self-worth with their bank account balances, our physical stature, beauty, or strength, our power and status . . . The list goes on. Yet most of us yearn for meaning and purpose that transcends this soul-denying world order. Somewhere deep within us we believe there must be more to life than what meets the eye.
In response to this deep felt need for meaning, the book of Genesis declares that not only does an eternal, transcendent God exist, we humans are crafted in the image of that God. According to Genesis, we all bear the image of the divine.
And yet throughout the Bible we find that God’s chosen ones, God’s children and image bearers, just can’t seem to get it together. Like most of us, they struggle to believe in the unseen; they are overcome by fear and crippled with doubt; they are consumed by passion, palace intrigue, and the many cares of the world.
Now, in their defense, the God of Genesis and the Hebrew Bible is decidedly other-worldly and mysterious. Sure, the prophets of the Hebrew Bible were believed by many to be inspired by God’s spirit. They spoke of God’s nature and will. They were said to be God’s messengers and representatives. But even if the people believed in God, how could they know if these prophets were truly speaking on God’s behalf? How could they know for sure that the true voice of God wasn’t getting lost in translation?
Perhaps the people struggled with the seemingly wild and miraculous claims of the Prophets. I mean, who were these prophets anyway? Could they really be trusted to accurately reveal the truth of God? Maybe they were just another counter-cultural lot of long-haired rabble-rousers!
And that’s precisely what makes the story of Jesus as the Incarnate Word of God so compelling. Jesus shows up on the scene as more than another prophet or high priest; he is said to be the very “image of the invisible God . . . in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”
The prologue of the Book of Hebrews addresses this point, saying:
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being. (Hebrews 1:1–3, NRSV)
Which means that Jesus Christ is not just another wise prophet or teacher; nor is he just Messiah, Lord, and Savior; Jesus Christ is also the mirror that reflects back to us the glory of God, in whose image we are made. In this sense, the character and nature of God revealed to us in Jesus reflects to us the kind of person we were always meant to be.
Because we see in Jesus Christ the true character of the divine, and we are made in God’s image, our truest identity is who we are in Christ.
And so, I submit to you that the Christian life, the life of a truly committed disciple of Jesus Christ, is a long and sometimes arduous process of shedding the false, counterfeit self and learning to embrace and nurture the true self, which is who we are meant to be in Christ.
Our task each new day is to remember who we are as image bearers of God and to reflect our true identity in Christ. Accordingly, we must not let the counterfeit self, with its hungers and worldly desires, hijack our minds.
We must not allow the loud, echo chamber of outrage and political discord of the day prevent us from practicing the presence of God and listening to the still, small voice of the Spirit whispering its wisdom deep within us.
We must resist the constant barrage of media parroting back to us over and again what the carnival barker had to say today and what this or that talking head has to say in response.
We must not let our smart phones turn us into passive dullards and mindless consumers.
We must not waste our precious time getting wrapped up in social media and its amplification of culture wars; we must not flood our minds with shallow television programming; we must resist vain efforts to keep up with the Joneses. For such meaningless pursuits as these distract us from looking within ourselves, developing our character, and prayerfully seeking God.
If we want to find deep abiding peace, joy, and confidence, we must exercise restraint from the slew of mindless distractions that prevent us from looking within, and instead we must set aside time for prayer, devotion, and spiritual practices that help us to return to that quiet center to remember and reclaim our true identity in Christ.