Sunday, June 19, 2011

IDENTITY

To start with, let us look again at a portion of last week’s letter; Shemot - Names. In the Bible one’s name was often connected to one’s identity. YHVH chose to answer Moses’ request, regarding His identity, by revealing to him His name, “I Will Be Whom I Will Be”, or “I AM” (Ex. 3:14). Moses was drawn out of the water by Pharaoh’s daughter, and was therefore named by her “Drawn Out Of” (Moshe). Later, when he was asked to deliver the people of Israel out of Egypt, the first thing that YHVH told him to do was to enlighten the ruler of the land as to their true identity. “Tell Pharaoh, thus says YHVH ‘Israel is My son, My first-born’” (Ex. 4:22). To let my people go …. er…. know, who they were, was the order of the day then, as it is now. This is also the overriding theme of Batya Wootten’s book, “Who Is Israel and Why You Need to Know”.

Why is it so imperative that we know who we are?

Most of the great Greek philosophers’ quest for knowledge revolved around this question, "who am I"? This issue was, and still is at the forefront of man's concerns, as we see in the modern day disciplines of psychiatry and philosophy. However, these latter, in much of their probing processes are like those blind characters that Yeshua referred to, who were trying to lead others as equally visually impaired. In recent years, a book called “Man’s Search For Meaning” became quite popular in educational circles (and in general). This remarkable little book was written by a Holocaust survivor; world-renowned psychiatrist, Vitor E. Frankl. On the cover of the book there is a quote from the Los Angeles Times: “…the most important contribution to psychiatry since the writings of Freud.”

Frankl describes his harrowing years in the Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz. Everything that he and others had known themselves to be was stripped from them, especially their identity as human beings. With a number replacing their name, they found themselves in a situation where maintaining their identity became crucial for survival. During the three years of his incarceration Frankl was not aware that he had lost almost his entire family to the fires of this hell. However, through this experience he gained some simple, but profound insights into mankind’s grope for a higher meaning in life. Amidst his comrades, who in some cases struggled to survive and in other cases gave themselves up to death, he was able to detect in the depth of man’s being a duality which he describes thus: “In the concentration camps, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself” (p.213). When there was nothing tangible to cling to, for purpose or meaning, there were still those who had the resolve to live.

In the face of death, the driving force for their survival was, according to Frankl, based on three things: Doing a deed; experiencing a value, and suffering. As he watched men live and die in the most appalling conditions imaginable, he defined “man’s search for meaning” (or in my words, man’s search for his true identity), in these words: “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality. No one can become fully aware of the very essence of another human being unless he loves him. By the spiritual act of love he is enabled to see the essential traits and features in the beloved person; and even more, he sees that which is potential in him, that which is not yet actualized but yet ought to be actualized. Furthermore, by his love the loving person enables the beloved person to actualize these potentialities. By making him aware of what he can be and of what he should become, he makes these potentialities come true” (p. 176-177).

The scriptures tell us that “YHVH IS LOVE”. Interestingly, they do so in exactly the same three ways discovered by Dr. Frankl. Our God brought us out of Egypt with a strong and mighty hand - doing a deed. He showed us His love, kindness, goodness, mercy, patience, justice - demonstrating His values. And then, He himself came and suffered, identifying with our sufferings, as He still does today.

Victor Frankl ends his book with these lines: “Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who has invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who has entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord’s Prayer or the ‘Sh’ma Yisrael’ on his lips” (p. 214). Yes, our Father who inhabits the heavens is Holy and has called us His sons; His firstborn sons. He tells us to listen - “sh’ma Yisrael”. The main reason that we do not act or behave like sons is because we do not really know who we are. “We have died and our life is hidden in Him, but when He, who is our life is revealed then we will be like Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). How are we to become as He is? By believing what He reveals to us about Himself. For the truth is, in Spirit we are as He is.

Our “son of man” part has been deceived into believing lies about our true identity. An enemy has sowed these untruths into our mind. When these seeds begin to grow they become an integral part of our thoughts and behavior. Yeshua has come to reveal these lies and to speak a liberating truth, setting us free from the grip of fear and pain. If Satan worked so hard to keep us oblivious to our true identity in the “natural”(damaging our souls), how much more so now, that we have a new identity also in the spirit, as sons of the living God!

While here, in His earthen vessel, Yeshua was called “Son of Man,” yet He came as the “Son of God”. Like Yeshua, we too have a dual identity, it therefore behooves us to discover the truth in regards to each one, as together they have an ongoing destiny to fulfill, while we are here on this earth. To know who we are, as the seed of Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya'acov and also to know who we are in the Messiah, brings into focus the full intentions of the redemptive plan of YHVH.

As Son of Man, Yeshua humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death on the cross. He made Himself of no reputation and took on the form of a bondservant, and although as the Son of God, being in the form of Elohim, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with His heavenly Father. So let this mind be in you which was also in Messiah Yeshua” (ref. Phil.2:5-8).

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).

Ephraim

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