I watched a recap of the Academy Awards ceremony. Guiltily, I watched celebrity after celebrity hear their names called, pretend to be surprised, look shocked and hug the persons near them who were basking in the limelight for a few seconds and then ascend the stairs to the platform of their own self worship.
I don't know why I watched. If there is anything in the world that I loathe it is groups of people on the 'inside' self congratulating and patting themselves on the back, smiling beautifully and smugly into the camera while some of the world marvels at what they call their 'craft.'
Let's put an honest face on it: these multimillionaires are paid to look beautiful, recite a few lines which they have the opportunity to redo and retake for as many times as needed, and then walk the red carpet to sit together at the beginning of every year to watch their fellow 'crafters' use the stage as their platform to either make fun of the current presidency, or to stroke their own egos.
And yet I watch. Odd, isn't it?
I wish I was paid to look beautiful, could have as many retakes as I needed with my job, receive congratulations and adoration every year and then receive my thirty-eight million dollar paycheck in the mail.
Who am I kidding, though. I'm not particularly beautiful by Hollywood's standards. I don't get retakes and being a celebrity is not all it's cracked up to be. There are all sorts of negatives with the kind of popularity that goes with being a great actor or actress:
You're never alone.
It's almost endemic to the community, but divorce is almost assured.
Although the money can buy things, it can't buy peace and it certainly does not buy happiness.
To be a celebrity means one lives one of the fakest lives available.
And strangely, as they mount the steps, as much as I admire their ability to capture an audience's interest, I feel sorry for them.
Does it really pay to be a celebrity?
Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, 'I am not the Messiah.'
John 1:19,20
Here was John's opportunity to be the greatest at his craft. Because of his celebrity status, people were flocking from Jerusalem to see if he was the Messiah - the one who would save them all. Imagine how much more popular John would be, how many likes he would have, how many hits his cavesite would get...
After the leaders pressed him, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?' John recognizes two things about himself - maybe he's been thinking about them awhile, or maybe the Spirit is speaking through him:
1. He is a spokesperson - one who speaks in a desolate place to people who are desperate for any kind of connection with God. His voice not only prepares the way for the Lord, but it guides the people to him.
2. He knows his place in perspective. Illusions (or delusions) of grandeur have no place and carry no value for him. The one who is coming is so great that John, even though he has a legion of people streaming out to meet him in the desert, cannot even touch Jesus' feet.
In essence, with all his force, John points the leaders in another direction. He is connecting them with someone who is already in their midst. Not a celebrity, but a Savior.
Who are the people in your life who, in great humility, point away from themselves toward the Savior?
Who are the 'celebrities' in your life who consistently speak the truth and straighten the paths for others?
The hardest question: "What do you say about yourself? Who are you in the kingdom?"
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