Who in the world? Yes, who in the world do you think you are? "I don't know and I don't care!" "What's it to you?" Who's asking?" "The Queen of England, so get royally lost!" "I don't know and no body cares! (snivel, snivel.)" "A Vikings fan and proud of it!" "Go away! You bother me." "You don't wanna know, man!" "Give me a break, snob!" "You philosophical types, you're so boring." Of course that is a rhetorical question. And if you actually ask it of someone you are bound to get answers like the above. Remember when you were a kid and got a little self important and a friend asked you that question and tried to answer it for you at the same time ... "Who do you think you are, the King of England? " And you would answer, "No, the King of France." And you would all have a good laugh. It is that sort of question that everyone can have fun with. Sarcastic, jabbing and meant to make light of someone who is thinking a little too much of themselves. It's not the sort of question one would ask in a serious discussion around the table or around the fire or at a party. Questions like, "Hey man, what is the meaning of life?" and "Why do we go on?" fit into that category. But this question! No, you wouldn't normally ask it in those kind of situations.
People don't want to answer a question like that, really. That's why if we asked it expecting an answer we get ones like those above. To actually answer such a question could be construed as egotistical. If someone really did ask that question and expect an answer most of us would try to a least come across as self-deprecating. At least we would try not to brag too much. So in order to spare ourselves that awkwardness we avoid being serious with that question. That is, when we are out among friends, in a party, at a function - you know, that sort of thing. But actually, in a different sort of way and with completely legitimate reasons we do ask and answer that question many times throughout our lives. We never think of it in that way and never formulate the question in that way. But each time we take part in a job interview or meet and greet at a networking function we are asking and answering the question - "Who do you think you are?"
When we go into a job interview the person across the table is going to ask us questions about us. They are not there to ask us about the weather or the current rate on the stock exchange - though that might be a way for them to set us at ease. What they have called us into the interview for is to find out if our skills and experiences match the needs of their job opening. At a point like that it is okay to be humble, but not self-deprecating. This is where we get to say, "Who in the world we think we are!" without being seen as egotistical. If we have been successful at something we get to say how good we are and how successful we have been. Indeed the interviewer wants to know that we have been successful in our area of expertise and they want to know how successful. It is important to them because if they are going to trust this position to us they need to be assured that we will have a good chance of succeeding and improving the fortunes of the company. They want to know that if you say you are able to deliver "x,y,z" then you do have the skills and experience to produce x and y and z. And the best way for them to know that is for you to tell them how well you have done it before.
If we get to say in a job interview "Who in the world we think we are?", we get to say it with gusto. We get to tell the best of our work experience. We also get to tell a little bit about ourselves. Our personal lives. "What do you see as your greatest accomplishment?" "Tell me about a time when you wowed a customer." "Do you have any hobbies?" Have you been involved with any community projects?" "Tell me why you are the best person qualified for this job." That last question has "Who in the world do you think you are?" written all over it. The truth is, if you want the job you have to sing your praises at the top of your lungs." I don't mean that literally, but you can get the sense of what I am saying. And here is the amazing thing, the more important the job the more you must be able to say who in the world you are. Of course you have to be as good as you say you are. If you are not you will be discovered soon enough.
Let's take this thought a little further. Remember those questions we said were of the category that get asked around the table or fire. "What is the meaning of life?" and "Why do we go on?" Those are great rhetorical questions that are asked all of the time. Yet they rarely get answered in this world. We talk about them endlessly and go around in circles with our arguments. Rarely do we go home with an answer we can hang our hats on. The questions get asked so much by so many and from every walk of life and culture. They are universal questions and ones that probably everyone wants answered. We have religious leaders, scientists and philosophers everywhere that try to answer the question. But are we ever really satisfied with the answer? Doing a Google search on the question of the meaning of life and it returns over 1 billion results. The question that returns more results is somewhat related to our main question. "Why me?" returns over 6 billion results on Google. Indeed when we ask "Why me?" someone could respond - "Why not you?" It makes sense, I think!" With over 6 billion results being returned it seems that everyone is facing something they don't think fair. So, "Who do you think you are asking why me?" could be a legitimate response to that question.
I don't know if it has always been this way, but it seems that our own, personal plight is more important to us than the question of the meaning of life itself. That's because when we are hurting questions about the meaning of life seem ethereal. That question seems to be related to heaven and not what we are going through here, on planet earth. Heaven is far away, in another dimension, something we cannot touch. We hurt here, on planet earth, a place we can touch and feel. A place that our experience and body tells us is real. So when something happens to us in this realm we are more likely to ask "Why me?" than "What is the meaning of life?" An interesting question to ask is how many of us try to find answers to the first question and where do we look? Again, Google yields some stunning results. Here some some searches I tried to answer that question and the Google results:
How do I find a good hairstylist? - 26.1 million.
How do I find a good therapist? - 150 million.
How do I find a good private detective? 722 million
How do I find a good cup of coffee? 1.04 billion
How do I find a good doctor? - 1.1 billion.
How do I find God? - 1.78 billion.
How do I get an iPhone? - 1.96 billion.
How do I find love? - 4.67 billion!
It's amazing what we turn to to get the answer to life's problems. We turn to a system of interconnected electronic boxes that store information as a sequence of 1's and 0's. That's it. Unplug the power and all of that goes away. Introduce a software virus into the system anywhere and it could potentially corrupt the whole system in a matter of hours if not minutes. And yet we turn to it before anything else, even before we turn to God. But why turn to something that can be gone tomorrow. Shouldn't we turn to something that has more longevity, maybe even eternal? Carl Sagan, the Cosmologist once said, "The cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be."
1 He obviously borrowed that language from the Bible. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8. But you will notice there is one part of that language Sagan did not borrow. He left of "the Almighty." Sagan couldn't use that language for the cosmos. Indeed he rejected it because it refers to God, the supreme one. God the all-powerful, the omnipotent one, the preeminent one. The Almighty refers to the Supernatural being who created the cosmos. Sagan refused to accept the supernatural and only believed in the natural. In his mind the cosmos always was, but it was always natural and always will be.
Is Sagan correct. Is the cosmos all there is? Let's look again at the question we started with. "Who in the world do you think you are?" Some time ago a teacher asked his students a similar question. In his day the teacher was called rabbi and the students were called disciples. He said to them, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. (Matt 16:13-20) In effect Jesus was saying "Who in the world do you think that I am?" And after repeating a few of the popular choices Peter hit on the correct one. He didn't come up with that himself. God had revealed it to Peter. How? In effect Jesus was in a job interview with the disciples, only he was asking them to confirm his credentials for the Son of the Almighty. And they had a lot of evidence of his power to be the Son of God. He healed the sick, raised the dead, turned water to wine, calmed a ragging storm and saved them from drowning. He walked and water and told Peter to try it and when Peter failed he saved him and brought him safely to the boat. He fed the 5000, caused a lame man to walk and gave sight back to a blind man. And he changed lives, like that of Matthew and Zacchaeus. He endured the rejection of his own people and suffered the punishment of the Roman cross, though he was innocent. But most of all, he rose from the dead and rose to the right hand of God in heaven.
When it comes to the ultimate "Who do you think you are?" And his disciples proved that he was exactly who he said he was as they suffered for believing in him. Believing that he was the answer to even the question of who they are? They were made complete in him. How about you? Who do you think you are? Are you in Christ?
A drive through my neighborhood on Thanksgiving revealed the nativity scene which seemed strangely out of place among the snowmen, nutcrackers, Santa and Elves. Here we see the lowly couple huddled by the side of a basket that is baring their infant son. Far from being the center of this Christmas scene the depiction of the birth of Immanuel has been shunted off to one side and center stage is occupied by what seems as a legion of snowmen and other characters popular in today's Christmas regalia. I am not chastising the person who has created this scene. It is actually quite a delightful scene and the legion of snowmen is quite intriguing gathered as they are as a group - perhaps to sing Christmas carols or something like that. It is clear that this home owner enjoys the Christmas season and has gone to some length to give their neighbors something to smile about. I admit that the scene gave me a big smile when I first saw it and I made a point of returning to photograph it later. In fact I had not noticed the nativity scene over to the right at first. I didn't realize it was there until the second time I passed the scene.
