The Great "I am not!"

We love to play God, forgetting that we are not God.  Our greatest sin is god-playing. We forget that we are people. We are human beings, you and I, and we are created to bear witness to God and God's liberating acts.

In the same vein, there are a lot of people who think they are the Messiah. Many of them are pastors and priests.  These are those who are legends in their own minds. Those who believe that they are God's gift to the institutions and organizations they serve. Those who think they are indispensable, irreplaceable, and think that without them, all hell will break loose. 

I am pretty sure we all know people who have major messianic complexes.  Yet, our true calling is to bear witness to God's messiah and his liberating work. Just like John the Baptist.

If Jesus is the Great "I am" then John is the Great "I am not."

The religious leaders from Jerusalem ask John, "Who are you?" He responds: I am not the Messiah… I am not Elijah… I am not the prophet… I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness…"

Yes, like John we are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet.

We are called to bear witness to the messiah. And like John we are to do our witnessing in the wilderness. Not in the comfort and security of our own Jerusalems. Nor inside the four walls of our magnificent temples and imposing church buildings. Nor while we are seated in our air-conditioned offices with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

Wilderness conjures up a lot of ambivalent images for us who study Scripture. God appeared to a hard-headed Moses through the burning bush in the wilderness. The Ancient Israelites wandered almost aimlessly in the wilderness for forty long years. Many of them died there, including Moses. Like John, the wilderness played a key role in Jesus's ministry.  In Mark, the Spirit had to force Jesus into the wilderness after his baptism. There, Jesus had to deal with Satan.

The wilderness is not a very hospitable place.

Yet, we are called to bear witness in the wilderness: in places we do not want to go; to those desolate areas we fear, and among communities—poor, odorized, and otherized—whom many call "God-forsaken."  To proclaim the good news of the incarnation--that God has not forsaken; that God is not in heaven anymore; that God is here with us; that God is One among us as we struggle for life, for dignity, for justice, for peace.

John prepared the way for Jesus. He was alone. And he was executed. This time around, we are more fortunate. John gave his life to prepare the way. And Jesus is already out there-in the wilderness--be it the slums of Tinajeros and Payatas, among the internal refugees of Mindoro, or with our displaced and dispossessed Lumad sisters and brothers in Mindanao, or our kin up in the Sierra Madre mountains...

So let us take every opportunity to be the best what we can be, to be ready.  Always ready.

Whatever and wherever our wilderness is, we need not be afraid. We are not alone. We are legion.  And Jesus is already out there waiting for us….