(John 20:1-18)
It cost anywhere from $20-50 billion last year (depending on how cases are classified) and impacts multi-millions of people. Identity theft is serious problem. Its attempts are also so common that most of us can filter out the spam emails or even texts as soon as they hit our inbox or phone. For those who have fallen victim to identity theft, though, it’s not just a financial burden they face. There is the emotional stress of not knowing what someone who is pretending to be us may be trying to get away with, or what other personal information of ours they may have access to. Then there’s also the painstaking process of having to cancel this card or re-issue that I.D. to essentially start all over again with establishing your identity. Victims of identity theft face big challenges!
Maybe you’ve personally experienced identity theft; maybe you haven’t. But I am quite certain you’ve experienced what we might call identity “uncertainty.” Maybe you’re even going through it right now. What causes identity uncertainty? Any number of three significant scenarios might trigger it: a significant shift, shock, or shame/success.
We all experience significant shifts. A high school graduate is indecisive and overwhelmed by all the considerations for the next phase of life. New parents have to adjust to the shift of splitting their time from just between each other to now a new member of the family. Or, the other side of that shift back to being empty nesters can its own challenge. An occupational change that disrupts the workplace identity others have associated you with for so long is also a significant shift. Such shifts find you at a crossroad – now who are you?
The identity uncertainty could also be the result of significant shock. You experienced abuse or assault recently or a long time ago that still shapes how you see yourself and/or how you think others see you. A traumatic event or injury robs you of a unique trait or ability that has permanently altered how you function. The absence of a spouse means the two who became one has now unexpectedly morphed into a much lonelier one. Now who are you?
We might be going through identity uncertainty as a result of our own significant shame or success. It may have started at a very young age, possibly pushed or pressured by parents in specific direction academically or athletically. As a result, you either burned out or failed to excel after a certain level and don’t know who you are anymore. Or it could work the opposite way – you achieved a level of success that came so fast that you became ungrounded and forgot who you were.
Or, in your young adult life you accomplished something spectacular that brought about your fifteen minutes of fame, which then quickly fade and leave you scrambling to achieve something similar ever since. Or instead of fifteen minutes of fame, it was fifteen minutes of shame as a result of some past humiliating act or even a crime. Maybe you were the golden boy or darling at work who could do no wrong, nailing everything that came your way, until a new boss came along and made it a point to be unimpressed by your efforts. Now who are you?
So, whether it’s caused by a significant shift, shock, or shame/success, how do we address “identity uncertainty?” The advice that often seems to make the most sense is also some of the worst: take a good hard look at yourself or go on a journey of self-discovery to really find yourself; find out who you are by focusing more on you.
But if you follow that advice, it’s like trying to get from point A to point B only by staring at your feet the whole time. You’ll just spend the rest of your life correcting every time you realize you veered off course. You pursue a different identity only to be left unsatisfied or uncertain. You will remain on an endless chase, always coming back to the same struggle of who you really are.
If you want to know who you are, there’s a better place to start rather than looking at yourself. Start by looking in the Bible, specifically in the Gospel of John.
One of the themes of John’s Gospel is to make sure of what we’re looking at. Or better, “who” we’re looking at: Jesus. John he provides this direction to us as one with firsthand experience. In the first chapter he states, “We have seen His glory” (John 1:14). He didn’t say that he had heard about it from someone else or that he speculated or pondered what it would be like, but that he saw it with his own eyes. John saw God’s glory in Christ.
He highlights what he sees again later in that same chapter when, pointing to Jesus, he says, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29). Later, when Philip encourages Nathanael to find out more, he invites him to come and see. The Samaritan woman at the well does the same thing, pleading for the people in town to come and see the Jesus who told her things about herself that no one else knew. Seeing Jesus is a common theme in John.
Now, on Easter morning, Mary expected to continue that theme of John and go see the body of Jesus. Only, when she arrives, she sees something else: the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty. Her fear swells. She runs to inform Peter and John and then returns back to the tomb. Then, after the angels attempt to ease her fears, distraught, she turns around and… sees Jesus!
Only… she doesn’t see him. She doesn’t know it’s Jesus. “At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him” (John 20:14-15). Mary saw Jesus, but she didn’t really see him.
That can be the case for many people, sadly. They can look right at Jesus and not recognize him. They don’t see him for who he is. They might as well be blind. Let’s be honest. We all suffer from some kind of blindness. It may be that the pile of sin that I’ve accumulated over my life appears to me to be too big for me to see Jesus. Perhaps I can’t see Jesus because I don’t trust him to actually make a difference in my “real-life” problems that need fixing. We can even attend church occasionally, speak the words and sing the songs, and still never see Jesus.
When did it all change for Mary? When did she see Jesus? She didn’t give up. She continued to look at Jesus and listen to him. And finally she recognized his soothing, saving voice. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). (v. 16). She knew this was not a fluke or apparition, for she raced back to the disciples and burst out the words, “I have seen the Lord” (v. 18).
Speaking of the disciples, did you catch the message Jesus asked Mary to relay to them? “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (v.17). Jesus hadn’t called them that previously! This was new. Now, post-resurrection, they were “my brothers.” Jesus called them brothers! They had a new identity! The Resurrection had changed their relationship with Jesus! They were someone new!
So was Mary. This Mary is mentioned along with others as having accompanied and supported Jesus during his ministry. She was present at his crucifixion. Since Mary was a common name, and there were other Marys involved in Jesus’ life and ministry, this Mary is identified by Magdala, the seaside village from which she came. But it’s hard to imagine that any of these things carried as much weight regarding Mary Magdalene’s identity as another detail that the Gospel of Luke brings to light: this Mary had been possessed by seven demons, and Jesus had healed her. I can’t even imagine what that must have been like, and so I can’t imagine her really being identified by anything else more significant.
Until now. Now, she was not just the woman who had been possessed by seven demons. Now, she was the first one to lay eyes on the resurrected Jesus! Her identity had changed! She was someone new, made so by the Resurrection!
So are you. The Resurrection has changed your identity. Your identity is not determined by some significant shift or shock in your life, nor by some shame or success, but by your Savior. Your past doesn’t define you. Your sin doesn’t define you – how can it when it’s been forgiven and paid for?!? Your shame doesn’t define you – how can it when it’s been removed and cancelled along with your sin?!? None of that determines your identity; Jesus does.
In the book of Colossians, Paul wrote, “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4). When we see Jesus by faith, what we were, who we were, died. Now we are in Christ, hidden and unable to see he full glory that is ours until he returns on the last day, yes, but we are no less in him! Paul even writes that Christ “is your life.” That’s who I am now! That’s who you are! We are “Christ’s.” We are Christians. That is more than just one of many labels we attach to ourselves; it is who we are over and above every other label. I am a God’s child. I am a Christian. That is my identity. The Resurrection guarantees it!
Now what? What do we do we this new identity? Now where do we look? “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1-3). You still look at Jesus, only you look up at him, where he is seated at the right hand of God. And we heed the encouragement to set both our hearts and our minds on things above.
Why both? They work together. Your heart reflects what you desire. Your mind reflects what you think about and give your attention to. Like it or not, the two work together. So I cannot claim to desire something that I rarely or never think about. And, if I rarely or never think about something, then I won’t ever really desire it, either. On the other hand, whatever consumes or takes up most of my thoughts and attention – that is the thing I desire.
So an addict desires the next fix – why? Because that’s all the addict thinks about all day long. And when that’s all one thinks about all day long, that is what a person desires. The two – heart and mind – work together. And this can be an extremely destructive thing.
Or, it can be an extremely positive and powerful thing. For the believer with a new resurrection identity, it can be an extremely powerful thing. My new life in Christ doesn’t just mean that I think about Jesus once in a while, maybe when everyone else in my family goes to church. It doesn’t mean I can legitimately claim to desire Christ… if he is never more than a passing thought in my life.
No, when both the heart and the mind are focused on Christ, my true identity in Christ begins to take shape. So I can believe what Christ says about me, that in him I am new, I am his, I belong to him. But if I am to experience that to the fullest, it means the new me focuses both heart and mind on Christ. I desire more of him, and I think of him more, and the more I think of him, the more I desire him. The two feed each other in a beautiful cycle of spiritual growth and maturity! That’s the purpose and goal of my new identity in Christ – and life does not get any better than when we discover that.
I hope no one here ever has to deal with identity theft. But I hope everyone reading this knows and believes that because Jesus lives, you have been given an identity gift: you are his. Keep looking at him, with your heart and your mind, and embrace your true identity: you are Christ’s, Christian.
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