{"id":4498,"date":"2018-02-20T14:40:32","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T14:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/?p=4498"},"modified":"2018-02-20T14:40:32","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T14:40:32","slug":"our-true-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/our-true-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Our True Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"transfiguration\"<\/a><\/h5>\n
March 12, 2006<\/h5>\n

Mark 9:2-10<\/h3>\n

The transfiguration of Jesus was a revelation to the disciples and to us. But what did it reveal? As Jesus stood in glory between Moses and Elijah, the disciples saw things they had never seen before. But what did they see? The most frequent answer to this question is that they saw Jesus\u2019 heavenly stature, that it was revealed to them that Jesus was divine. True as this answer is, it is not precise enough. Because the words which came to the disciples from the heavenly cloud indicate that what was revealed was not so much who Jesus is, as to whom Jesus is related.<\/p>\n

The revelation of the transfiguration does not center on Jesus\u2019 being, but on his connectedness to the Father.\u00a0 The words that come from the cloud are, \u201cThis is my beloved Son \u201c.\u00a0\u00a0 What they reveal is the intimate, unbreakable bond of love that exists between Jesus and the Father.\u00a0 What they proclaim is that Jesus is more than a prophet, more than a teacher. Jesus is God\u2019s beloved Son.\u00a0 The words that come next are every bit as important:\u00a0 \u201cListen to him.\u201d\u00a0 Why should we listen to him?\u00a0 What should we listen to?\u00a0 We should listen to him because if Jesus is in fact God\u2019s beloved Son, then we who are baptized into Jesus are truly God\u2019s beloved daughters and sons as well.<\/p>\n

The mystery at the heart of the gospel is that through Christ we participate in the intimate union of love that exists between the Father and the Son.\u00a0 This is the good news.\u00a0 This is what we must hear and believe in above all else.\u00a0 Why is it so important to hear it, to listen to it?\u00a0 Because the minute we forget our status as beloved daughters and sons of God, the Good News evaporates.\u00a0 The minute that we begin to substitute some other identity in place of our identity as beloved children of God, the Gospel vanishes.\u00a0 I can testify that from the experience of over 30 years of priestly ministry, there is no more common or fatal mistake made by Christians than to forget this basic identity.<\/p>\n

When we ignore our status as beloved daughters and sons and begin to see ourselves primarily as sinners, as victims, as unlovable, as flawed, as unworthy, the power of the gospel is lost to us.\u00a0 Do we sin?\u00a0 Are we flawed?\u00a0 Is there a real sense that we are unworthy of the tremendous love that God showers on us?\u00a0 Of course.\u00a0 But despite all of those flaws, we remain chosen and beloved children of God.\u00a0 It is only by claiming our true identity that we find the power to turn away from sin, the power to heal our hurts, the power to claim the dignity that God has so freely given us.<\/p>\n

Richard Rohr, the spiritual writer and lecturer, once admitted that he was a rambunctious and mischievous child. There was in his neighborhood an elderly gentleman, Mr. Brown, who was very protective of his property.\u00a0 He built a fence around his yard. He forbade all the children of the neighborhood to walk on his lawn and insisted that they stay away from his apple orchard which was his prize possession.\u00a0 Well this demand of Mr. Brown was seen by Richard and his buddies as a challenge. One day they climbed over the fence and stole as many apples as they could from the orchard.\u00a0 Mr. Brown spied them and came after them. They all escaped except Richard, who Mr. Brown collared and dragged back to the Rohr\u2019s home. He buzzed the doorbell.\u00a0 Mrs. Rohr answered. Mr. Brown immediately demanded, \u201cYour son stole apples from my yard and he must be punished.\u201d\u00a0 Mrs. Rohr said, \u201cMr. Brown, I\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 I\u2019ve told Richard over and over again to stay out of your yard.\u00a0 He\u2019s done what is wrong, and I will punish him.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr. Brown was not satisfied.\u00a0 \u201cWell what punishment will you give him?\u00a0 I want you to tell me!\u00a0 I want to hear right now!\u201d\u00a0 At this, Mrs. Rohr\u2019s back straightened a bit, and she said, \u201cMr. Brown, I\u2019ve told you that I will punish him.\u00a0 I will take care of it.\u00a0 Now have a good day.\u201d\u00a0 But Mr. Brown would not be satisfied.\u00a0 \u201cMrs. Rohr,\u201d he said, \u201cI don\u2019t think you are taking this seriously enough.\u00a0 You are forgetting that Richard did something that was wrong.\u201d\u00a0 Mrs. Rohr said, \u201cMr. Brown, I told you I will take care of it.\u00a0 I will punish him. But I cannot see Richard as you do. You are forgetting that Richard is my son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Rohr insists that this is how God looks at us.\u00a0 God never forgets that we are beloved daughters and sons.\u00a0 For all of our faults and all of our failings, God continues to look at us with love.\u00a0 This is what we must listen to.\u00a0 This is what we must never forget.\u00a0So when you become discouraged, when you find yourselves losing hope because of your faults, because of your inability to be as patient or as generous as you would like, because of your inclination to be judgmental of others, remember: God loves you with the same love that God loves Jesus.\u00a0 When things are going wrong, when you cannot find a way out, when you are beginning to think that God is punishing you, remember: God is not about punishing you.\u00a0 God is about loving you with a love that never ends.\u00a0 When you become overwhelmed with grief, with sickness, with an emptiness that will not let you go, remember: God\u2019s love for you is everlasting.<\/p>\n

You are not one among many people.\u00a0 Your dreams and your needs are always before God\u2019s face.\u00a0 Jesus himself assures you, \u201cYou are God\u2019s favored daughter.\u00a0 You are God\u2019s beloved son.\u201d Listen to him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The minute we forget our status as beloved daughters and sons of God, the Good News evaporates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":4499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/files\/2018\/02\/transfiguration.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}