And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
John 1:19
I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
1 John 2:26-27
Sarah Pickell
What a bizarre conversation it must have been for John the Baptist! He was asked in six different ways who he was. Each time, his answer was the same: I am not the Christ. But I am who God called me to be. In insisting that he wasn’t the Christ, he was pointing toward the One in whom his being and purpose was found—the one in whom he abided. This is what we then see John the Apostle exhorting the Church to many years later in his letter (1 John). Here he reminds his “little children” (and, by extension, us) of the reality of forces and people who would oppose Christ and his church, asking and demanding of us to declare ourselves, to say who we are.
Who, then, are we? The truest answer, as always, is that we are in Christ. Abiding in him, we know who we are. Interpreting this passage, Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase The Message says, “Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life.” That most original message is Truth—the truth of a God who both knows and loves us, fully and completely, who came to Earth as Life in a world of death, who draws near to us, calling us His own, saying, “Abide with me.”
Dear Lord, abide with us as we abide in you. Draw near to us as we draw near to you. May the gift of your son Jesus, whose arrival as a baby and presence among us a person, give us the grace to accept ourselves, accept others, and remain in you. Amen.
Abide in Me, Audrey Assad