PROVISIONAL VS. ETERNAL IDENTITIES

If life is a journey, do you know where you are going?  Do you know where you are going?

·       Some of us have goals and bucket lists and progeny to care for, which could constitute a cluster of goals.

·       Many people just wander through time, day after day, looking back & sometimes feeling that their best days are behind them.

·       Others of us have our sights set on heaven, with the knowledge that our actions now have eternal consequences.

·       Others just take one day at a time; and still others are totally lost.

During the past 50 years, professional psychologists have maintained that we grow through different stages in life, and that each stage centers upon accomplishing psycho-social tasks in order to grow to the next stage.

Today I would like to speak about a two stage model.  In the first stage, each person is challenged to develop his or her provisional identity, answering such questions as:

·       What kind of teenager do I want to be?  What kind of adult? 

·       Do I aspire to a career?  Do I want to become financially wealthy?

·       Do I want to get married and to have a family?

·       Where do I want to live?  Do I want to own a home?

·       What kind of friends do I wish to associate with?

·       What will my morals and values be?  Do I want to be a just and fair person, or do I just want to get ahead at any cost?

So we spend decades answering these questions, and maybe we discover different answers as we grow.  But all of this is key for the development of our provisional identity.  And some of us are happy with our provisional identity as it is now; and we hope that it doesn’t change. But for others of us, pieces of our provisional identity are beginning to crumble, or bust, or have been stolen from us; or never developed the way that we had dreamed.

·       Loss of a job, the death of a loved one, divorce, poor health, economic hardship, trouble in the family, friends who are close, but who then drift away, & declining health and aging can all threaten our provisional identity.

The Apostle Paul describes his provisional identity in today’s first reading.

·       Paul was born to a wealthy family.   He had the best education possible, in the then vassal state of Israel. He was a highly renown religious scholar, a Pharisee.

·       Pharisees taught and lived a strict and harsh interpretation biblical precepts.  For the Pharisee, living one’s life in perfect obedience was your key to success.  In devotion to Phariseeism, Paul persecuted the new sect of Christianity—roughing them up, chasing them out of their homes, arresting and punishing them, and even being an accomplice to murder.  In all this, Paul felt more than justified—and that was his provisional identity.

·       But one day, the scales of anger and rage fell from his spiritual eyes, and he saw himself as he really was: murderer; abuser; prideful; furious; self-righteous; and alienated from God.  With that recognition came the complete shattering of his provisional identity; PAUSE and from that emerged the resurrection of his eternal identity.  You see, Paul was so full of himself, that God could not reach him; Paul was worshipping a God of judgement and anger; not the God of mercy & forgiveness, as expressed in the person of Jesus Christ.

·       So, God in his mercy confronted Paul with the reality of his life.  Paul repented and turned to accept Jesus’ love; and then Paul began developing and growing his eternal identity.  And in so doing, Paul spread the Good news of God’s love throughout the Roman empire.

Another story—from our Gospel:  Now, there is a lot that we do not know about the woman in today’s Gospel.  If she had been married, she was not now.  Either being single or divorced, met that she was considered to be the lowest of all.  So, her provisional identity was not good. 

She was either sexually promiscuous, or a prostitute, or both.  Her reputation was well known in town.  At some point, prior to today’s reading, she heard Jesus teach. She experienced his kindness, forgiveness, mercy and love.  Within Jesus followers, she found acceptance and friendship like she had probably not experienced since she was a child.  Thus, rejecting her provisional identity as a whore, she inaugurated her eternal identity as a child of God & a friend of Jesus.

This all takes place before today’s Gospel.  She had probably heard that Jesus was having dinner with one of his enemies. Scholars believe that Jesus was invited to this dinner so that his enemies could ridicule and belittle him.  You see, Jesus had accepted this invitation in the hopes that He might teach the host and his guests the good news of God’s love.  But, he arrived and was not greeted by the host. No provision was made of the washing of his feet, which was normally done by a servant.  Normally, oil would be offered to the guests so that they could straighten out their hair and wash their faces.   So, Jesus’ friend decided to come to his rescue. Where he was friendless, she came and stood by her friend.  She demonstrated her worship of Him as the Son of God by anointing his feet with oil. The Gospel is clear that this was expensive perfumed oil, the purchase of which would have been a sacrifice for this woman.  After she applied the oil, she then cleaned his feet with her hair.  And Jesus?  He was deeply touched.  And all this occurred as an expression of her eternal identity.

Now the fact is, many of us have been blessed by being initiated or baptized into our eternal identity, at a young age; and we have grown in our eternal identity simultaneously with our provisional identity.  In some people’s lives, they have neglected their eternal identity, which has stunted the growth of their eternal identity.   

·       As part of the preparation for the Confirmation of our young people, which occurred yesterday, each young person wrote an essay on “what Jesus means to me?” Although most of the young people requested that their essays be kept private, it was wonderful to read how they are embracing their eternal identity, name faith in Christ Jesus, as they grow and mature into young adults.   And I know that this is true for many of us here today.

Because one day, we will be stripped our provisional identities.  Maybe they will fall apart, or maybe they will just dissolve when we die.   Then, what we will have, is our eternal identity with an eternal destiny, by the side of King Jesus Christ, Lord of the Universe.  And  NOW,  as you continue to worship him, to study his word, to cheerfully give and serve him, you will lay a foundation so that when you meet him in heaven, you will not meet a stranger; but rather, you will and old friend, stretching out his open arms to welcome  you.  Amen.