Who are you?

They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven '?" John 6:42

A question that always rings in our mind is this “Who am i? It’s a question that society asks us or it can even come from the people around us. The close ones, the far ones, everyone asks this question “who are you or who am i?” or might be, they themselves would have asked this question. And, this was the same question that Pharisees asked Jesus when they confronted him on His identity, “who are you?”  I loved the response of Jesus to their question, instead of arguing with them and proving that he is not the son of Carpenter. He chose to reveal who He really was. In verse 48 he says “I am the bread of life.” Many a times we face similar situation in our life. Don’t we? Where people question our identity? Unless we know, who we really are and what our purposes are, we will fail to live a satisfying and enriched life.

Jesus knew where he came from and whom he represented. He knew that he was sent to earth with authority from God the father (Matt 28:18) and he represented Him. He had a heavenly identity. He also had his purpose in clarity. Jesus clearly states that through believing in Him there is eternal life. So how does it become His purpose? Jesus was saying that His coming to world was to become a bridge, a pathway or on escape route for people to come out of darkness and also to bring restoration to the broken relationship with God and man. Another thing that really struck me was the comparison that he makes as him as the bread of life and manna. If you study the bible both came from heaven. Manna was sent by God and Jesus was also sent by Him but both had different purposes. Manna was sent to revive the physical man but Jesus came to the world to revive the spiritual man. a person who ate manna died after years because of old age or someother reason. But, a person who tasted Jesus, in the figurative sense, never dies. Jesus came to this world so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. Eternity is to know God, live with God and to enjoy His presence.

From these verses (John 6: 41-51) we can understand two things - identity & purpose! Jesus identified Himself as the Son of God and as the way to eternal life. His purpose was clearly defined - to give eternal life to mankind. Now, coming to us we need to understand our identity and the purpose that we have. If we chuck out these it will destroy our very being. The identity that God gives us is that we are His children. We are heirs to the kingdom of God. (Rom 8:17) We belong to God which means that we have heavenly identity. In john 17:16 Jesus says that we are not of this world. So when we believe in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior and walk in obedience to Him our identity changes from that of the world to that of Heaven. World is no longer the home for us but heaven is. The purpose that we have is to grow in intimacy with God and follow what Christ did. He healed, brought comfort to the depressed, strengthened the weak ones & destroyed the Kingdom of darkness. Remember you have heavenly identity and heavenly calling! And, sometimes, some people like the Pharisees might not understand it or they might not get it because of their wiring! For an earthly or world focused man it will be hard to understand the heaven focused or heavenly man. So be faithful to the calling that you have!