“Who Are You? Why Are You Here?”
A First Century Rabbi Challenges Our True Identity and Life’s Purpose
One evening in the first century A.D., Rabbi Akiva was walking home after studying the Hebrew scriptures. He was in deep meditation and was so captivated by the text that he missed his left turn to go home to Capernaum. Before realizing it, he had wandered directly to the front gate of a Roman military fortress, and found himself face-to-face with the occupying enemy.
Before Rabbi Akiva could turn around and retrace his steps, the voice of a Roman guard atop the gate boomed down on him, “WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?”
Startled, the Rabbi could only reply, “What?” The deep voice of the Roman soldier again resounded, “WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?”
The Rabbi asked him, “How much are you paid to ask me these questions?” The guard responded, “Two drachma per week.” To which, Rabbi Akiva told him, “I’ll pay you TWICE that amount, if you’ll stand outside my home and ask me those two questions every morning!!!”
Friends, Rabbi Akiva knew that in order to fulfill his Life’s Purpose, he had to be reminded daily of his True Identity. Who was he REALLY? Why did he exist at that precise moment in human history?
Friends, I pose the same question to each of us, “WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Who are we beneath this societal veneer? Why are we alive at this precise moment in history, amid this era of racial inequity and injustice?
We are undeniably living in era when racial inequity and injustice are laid bare, for all the world to see. We can either refute that truth or we can ask ourselves pointed, uncomfortable questions about our identity and life purpose. I’ve had to search my soul by asking myself the following questions and invite you to consider them, as well:
Can I see and acknowledge inequality and injustice and immediately feel compelled to act? Or do I sit idly by, content with the imbalance as long as my family and I enjoy the advantage that inequity affords us? Proverbs 20:23 says, “The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.” The Lord despises inequality, as should we all.
Can I claim devotion to “law & order,” yet remain silent when people are being abused? Should I not insist on law & order at the instant of mistreatment, or do I stand back and criticize people’s actions in the aftermath? Zechariah 7:9–10 instructs us, “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice. Show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”
Can I travel halfway across the Earth on a mission trip, yet denigrate efforts in our own city to address structural inequity? Do I enjoy the self-gratification of the former, yet decry the latter as a “handout?” Matthew 23:23 admonishes us, ““Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law — justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”
Authors Brett and Kate McKay recently wrote, “It’s easy to hold a set of values when they require no risk, no skin in the game, no struggle against a countervailing force. And while it’s certainly better to hold and nurture worthy thoughts and intentions rather than unworthy ones, it’s also good to frame these ideals with an ample dose of humility — to acknowledge that they currently exist only as hypotheticals, and that hypotheticals cannot form the full basis of identity. Values don’t become virtues until they are tested.”
Our values are being tested right now. Will they become virtues? The truth is that no person, organization, institution or country can truly be inclusive, if there isn’t equity and justice, first.
WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE?
Answer those existential questions. What soul exists inside you? Why are you alive during a time when the reality of systemic racism is laid bare for all of the world to see? What difference will you have made when your account is read from the Book of Life? Writer Tyler Kleeberger states it well, “Whoever we are becoming as human beings is based on how we answer.”
Rabbi Akiva was one of four great sages and his interpretations and teachings are some of the most important influences on Judaism. This story has been passed down for generations within the Jewish faith.
