Emphasis Preaching Journal

Seated among the learned rabbis in the temple, the young Jesus displays a remarkable awareness of who he is. In The Prayer of the Frog, Anthony de Mello tells a story of a grown woman who is in a coma, near death, and lacks such self-awareness. Suddenly this woman has a feeling that she is being taken up to heaven, and before she knows it, she is standing before the Judgment Seat.

"Who are you?" a Voice says to her.

"I'm the wife of the mayor," she replies.

"I did not ask you whose wife you are, but who you are."

"I'm the mother of four children."

"I did not ask whose mother you are, but who you are."

"I'm a schoolteacher."

"I did not ask you what your profession is, but who you are."

And so it goes. No matter what she replies, she doesn't seem to give a satisfactory answer to the question, "Who are you?"

"I'm a Christian."

"I did not ask what your religion is, but who you are."

"I'm the one who went to church every day and always helped the poor and needy."

"I did not ask you what you did, but who you are."

She evidently fails the examination, for she is sent back to earth. When she recovers from her illness, she determines to find out who she is. And that makes all the difference.