Jesus Defines Himself

This was the title of the sermon at my church this past week.  It was actually a case in which I got a significant amount of insight out of the sermon before I ever even heard it.

I drive by my church at least once a day.  My daughter goes to preschool there so I often drop her off or pick her up.  But truth be told the church lies between me and one of my favorite study spots.  No, not Starbucks.  Carl’s Jr.  Wide-tables, perfect temperature, booth seating…it’s a little piece of heaven for me.  Anyway…

The sermon was a great evangelistic sermon actually, but really my pastor discussed who Jesus declared Himself to be.  That is a part of it for sure though it doesn’t fully capture all of what it means to say that “Jesus Defined Himself.”

We all encounter consistent if not daily dynamics that seek to define us – to dictate to us who we are and who we are not, who we should be and who we should not be.  Leaders encounter this in spades.  I’ve been thinking a lot about Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve after reading some of Jay Lorenzen’s reflections on the book this past week.  The very title of the book speaks to the leadership condition that occurs when leaders fail to define themselves in the face of the systemic anxiety.

Jesus defined Himself not just by what He declared Himself to be, but He defined Himself also by what he refused to allow.  Many sought to get Jesus to meet their expectations of a military and royal Messiah, yet he refused to allow that to define him or alter his path.  Many sought to get Jesus to conform to their political and religious categories (Pharisees and Sadducees), but Jesus refuses to allow those categories to dictate His mission and ministry.  There are specific situations where attempts are made to define Jesus such as Peter’s rebuke of Jesus at the thought of going to Jerusalem, Judas Iscariot’s rebuke of Jesus’ choice to receive the worship and anointing from a woman with tears and perfume, and even his own family’s reactions to His claims, fame, and ministry.  Jesus refuses to allow these external forces and dynamics to define him.  He defines Himself – he lives out his mission with a clear security in who he is and who he is not.

I find it so easy to allow external things to begin defining my sense of identity and purpose.  Other people’s perceptions, expectations, wants and desires, and even unspoken emotional angst all at times provide a test as to whether I will live and lead securely or, in Friedman’s language, be exposed as having “A Failure of Nerve.”

We can declare ourselves to be a whole host of things, but we truly define ourselves through how we respond to the abundant challenges to our identity that occur in the daily crucible of life, relationships, and community.  In some ways this is where I see a tangible relationship between identity and the fruit of the Spirit, but perhaps that’s another topic for another day.